Dog Friendly South West England Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Patricia - Verified booking

  Lowenna is lovely and bright and clean, and exactly as it looks in the interior pictures.

  We only had a couple of recommendations for Eric and Vicky - our towels were a little bit small! Perhaps less cream teas for us ?! and we ran out of matches for the fire, so maybe a lighter could be better? Otherwise this is a lovely property in a stunning place. My criticism is with Sykes and not the owners of the property. Only on the reviews and by looking closely at the listing on line for Lowenna could I see that it is in the grounds of Stoneycroft, the owners house, and as lovely as they are, we did not expect that from a description of 'detached.' Apologies if I have misinterpreted. The pictures do not show the owners house which is right behind where the tree and clothes dryer are, just for anyone wanting to book a completely secluded house. Having said that we hardly knew they were there and they always gave a friendly wave and hello, so I must state again that Sykes are at fault here. The owners have also stated once you are inside the property by a notice in the utility area that it is only a 'Dogs Allowed', not a 'Dog Friendly' house, unlike the description on the Sykes booking. The reason they gave for this was that the neighbours keep chickens and that there may be other dogs around, which is good communication from the owners, but again I wanted to be informed about this by Sykes, before booking, but as Sykes ignored all my emails I was not given the opportunity to check. I made several attempts to communicate with Sykes starting in March 2024, long before we arrived at Lowenna, (we only wanted to pay the rest of the booking fee and make double sure that the dogs were safe as one is slightly reactive etc.. ) by email and then in desperation by facebook messenger, all of which were completely ignored UNTIL my second deposit came out in August. I find this appalling, and once again not the fault of the property owners. I'm genuinely sorry if this affects the score for Lowenna - it is a reflection of my treatment by Sykes cottages and NOT the property owners.

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• Clare - Verified booking

  We stayed as a family of 5 at the old stables for 7 nights.

  When we arrived, we were impressed with how clean the property was and the facilities. My children loved the games room and that was a real bonus on the rainy days we had. The property was well kitted out with all the equipment you could need. Plenty of crockery, glasses and cooking utensils. I was especially impressed there was hand wash in every bathroom and the kitchen. There was rinse aid, dishwasher tablets and washing powder and softener for the duration of our stay. It was a lovely touch to have some biscuits and milk left for us after a long journey. We also arrived to fully stocked teabags and sugar. The location of the old stables is perfect and close to all amenities. The crown pub down the road is excellent. If I would recommend anything is improved, I would say the mattresses. They are so hard and don’t offer much support to your back and hips and even my children thought they were hard. Whilst I recognise the importance of durability, I think this is the only minor negative of the accommodation. We will definitely be back and I wouldn’t let the hard mattress put me off.

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• Susan - Verified booking

  We had an absolutely wonderful stay for two nights at The Old Stables.

  The accommodation was just perfect for what we needed and it provided easy access to some great countryside sights and the coast. Everything we could have possibly needed was provided - I've never seen so many cups, glasses etc ... and loved the biscuits :) The only downside was when we first arrived, I walked along the corridor to the end bedroom and hadn't switched the light on. I didn't notice the step, went flying and hit the floor on my knees. I didn't notice anything about the step on the accommodation details (of course I may have missed it), so it would be worth making it a bit clearer if possible as if my elderly mother-in-law had walked down there first, the situation could have been a lot worse. It didn't spoil our break at all - just tender knees for a few days ;) - and we will definitely be coming back. Thank you very much and wishing you all a wonderful Christmas in the meantime. Sue

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• Mark - Verified booking

  What a stunning cottage in a beautiful setting.

  The cottage was a little tricky to find (due to road diversions) but once we reached it, we found a stunning place, a hidden gem almost. We booked for our son's 18th Birthday as he is based in Blandford nearby and although it was a gruelling 5.5 hour journey from Nottinghamshire for us, the cottage made it all worth while. There were 5 of us and two dogs. The local area has some gorgeous dog walks and there is a lovely pub 10 minutes away called the Greyhound (highly recommend - stunning food). The cottage was part of two or three more cottages all surrounding a small courtyard. There was a fab games room there too for all to use. The ONLY negative about our whole stay was the time we had to vacate the property (10am). Is was far too early and put a little dampener on the morning of our son's birthday. 11am or mid-day would have been so much better to get organised.

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• Amy - Verified booking

  The Old Bakery is a beautiful looking cottage and very comfortable to stay in.

  It was equipped with everything you could think off and more. All the little extras were a lovely surprise. Mary, Richard and off course poppy were fantastic host and nothing was too much trouble. I would say the best feature is the garden, my son loved it. There were places to hide, places to run and play, places to climb and best of all the river. Richard took the time to show us what was in it. There was always something new to see in the garden each day. A fantastic place for little explorers. The cottage is a little way from the beach and other attractions but it didn’t matter to us too much, as it was nice to see new places and the scenery. The shops are a 6 minute drive and about the same for a pub meal. We had a lovely time staying here and would recommend it. Thank you for a great holiday.

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