Laura - verified booking

"We had a fantastic holiday staying at High Crest in July and the house suited us reasonably well. There is plenty of parking space for at least 3 cars on the drive. The location is good, and we were able to enjoy a walk in to Keswick each day down the main road on the pavement before dropping on to the old railway line. The walk in to town takes about 20 - 30 minutes depending on the number of children in tow! There is a Spar shop at a petrol station about a 10 minute walk away, then in Keswick itself there is a Booths and Co-op supermarket. We were a group including 4 adults and 3 children. The house catered well for our needs - upstairs both the double bedroom and one of the twin bedrooms were plenty big enough for a travel cot in each. One was provided in the house, the other we brought with us. It was helpful that there is a separate toilet to the full bathroom. The bathroom includes a shower over a bath which worked well for all of our party. The banister at the top of the stairs is very low, only about knee height, which is an issue if you have toddlers with you, as we did. We placed some luggage in front of this for the duration of our stay to prevent any disasters!Downstairs again there is plenty of room, with a spacious hall, lounge, dining room, kitchen and conservatory. We were really disappointed to see that the conservatory door is still broken - which has been commented on in the visitors book in many previous entries, which meant access to the garden was far more difficult than it could have been. One of the main reasons we had booked the cottage was the child friendly garden - it is indeed child friendly once you're in it! It is fenced on all sides, and if you shut the gate across the drive it is entirely enclosed. There are some steep drops of 4 foot or so at several points, but there are either wire fences or flower beds in between the lawn and the drops, so our toddler didn't come to any harm with these at any point. The lawn is a good size for playing on, and there is a small patio with some outdoor furniture to be able to eat outside. But as the conservatory door was broken, access is via the back door, which involves 2 small sets of steep stone steps to get from the door to the garden, which wasn't ideal for our 20 month old, and certainly meant that the children couldn't go in an out as they pleased, but required help each time.The lounge and the dining room are spacious and well equipped. The TV worked well and the internet access was good. The entire house decor is slightly dated, but there were no issues with any of the furniture and it was clean on arrival. For a house that sleeps up to 6 adults, the kitchen isn't really adequately stocked. We had taken some basic cooking utensils with us, for which we were grateful. There wasn't a baking tray or baking dish big enough to cater for our meals, and there were only 3 mugs (which were small at that!). Being northerners who enjoy a decent brew, we rectified this problem by purchasing some cheap mugs from a local charity shop. There were plenty of decent sized pans. There is a large 3 or 4 drawer freezer, but the fridge is on the small side, and so for extra storage space we needed to keep some of our food cold using our coolbox and freezer blocks. The fridge also had a remarkable ability to keep the food at the front at just below room temperature, whereas it froze the food at the back. Trying to defrost an entire jar of olives was one of the more comical moments this gave us! There were a couple of tea towels provided, as were some basic cleaning supplies. The hoover is kept in the cupboard in the kitchen and works well. The back door in and out of the kitchen is possibly the worst designed access door I have ever come across. It only opens to 90 degrees and directly in front of the door in the kitchen is a worktop with the washing machine underneath - the combination of which means getting in and out of the house with any sort of luggage (bags/ children etc) is a very tricky manoeuvre as it requires some sort of body contortion to shut the door to allow you to get past the worktop to get in to the kitchen. My advice therefore on arrival is to get the keys from the box outside the back door, then use the front door to bring in all of your bags!There is a washer/ dryer in the kitchen, and a very helpful clothes horse in the outdoor cupboard, as well as a standing drier which we used in the conservatory and outside. We used the washing machine which worked well, but not the dryer so can't comment on that! Overall, we had a really lovely holiday, and would recommend High Crest. It would be beneficial if some of the issues mentioned above would be sorted (particularly the conservatory door, especially since that seems to have been a problem for some length of time now), but none of them were completely insurmountable, and none of them spoiled our holiday, just maybe made some things slightly more tricky than they needed to be! We would go again."

Colin - verified booking

"I am conflicted with regard to this review, for while we would indeed stay at High Crest again, it would depend on whether things are put right in this potentially excellent accommodation.Let me deal with the negatives first. On arrival, we discovered immediately that whoever cleans the cottage in readiness for the new occupants clearly likes to cut corners. The cutlery and crockery were dirty and covered in grease and there were stains on some of the bed linen. Although the website had stated that towels were provided, there were no towels in sight, and it took a couple of phone calls to the rental company before someone arrived with the requisite number of towels.The house had a tired, unloved look about it, and it was clearly in need of some attention. In the bathroom, exposed wires were left hanging under the towel radiator, and we had to caution everyone not to use the shower until the issue had been addressed. We were also dismayed to find that the conservatory door which leads into the garden had a "Do Not Touch" sign on it. This is a property that has considerable pride in its garden, but the garden remained inaccessible from the conservatory for the whole fortnight because the workmen sent was unable to repair it. In fact, the workmen told us that the door was "unfixable". We interpreted this as an indication that the workman simply didn't know how to fix it, for conservatory doors are not exactly a rarity, and a call to the company that provided the doors in the first place should have been made - but it wasn't.Other minor niggles included: a pack of cards that was only half a pack; a TV that was too far away from the sofas to be comfortably visible; a front door with a dodgy latch; a fridge that was far too small to cater for six people; lack of wood for the fire and no indication as to where wood might be found or purchased; a light in the pantry with a dead bulb; only one set of house keys; absence of kitchen scissors; a really dirty oven and grill tray, which took ages to clean; and a shower guard in the bathroom that was next to useless, with major spillage occurring every time someone tried to shower.But there were positives. The website, if I remember correctly, said that the property had only one WC, but there were two: a separate loo and a WC in the bathroom. The website said nothing about the property having WiFi, but it had very good WiFi connectivity. The beds were extremely comfortable, as were the sofas. The kitchen could do with more workspace, and there should really be a bigger fridge, but it wasn't difficult to cook there and it was adequately equipped. The location, of course, is absolutely superb, with a view to Lattrig from one side of the house and a wonderful view of Blencathra to the other. The property is accessed from a private road, absolutely full of potholes, but also very quiet. While the decor is rather dated, it is perfectly adequate and the house actually feels very comfy once you are used to its quirks. By the end of the first week, we felt absolutely at home, and we had already decided that we would use the property again. However, it is overpriced, particularly given that it does not do what it says on the tin. The garden was definitely not 'child-friendly' and the fact that we were unable to access it from the conservatory detracted somewhat from the enjoyment that we could have derived from it. Had we had older or frail people in our party, unable to navigate the stone steps leading to the driveway - and the garden - from the kitchen, they would not have been able to access the garden at all. And for that reason alone, the property was not worth the £800+ a week that we paid for it. So, while the negatives are not slight, we would stay again if the price was lowered. We were inconvenienced almost as soon as we arrived - no-one likes having to phone in complaints on the first day - and the conservatory door issue was a source of disappointment throughout, not least because the toddler in our party was unable to make use of the garden without considerable trouble. Having said all that, the location more than made up for the minor niggles, and that will be the main thing that entices us back."

A FlipKey verified reviewer - verified booking

"This ground floor apartment at the front of the house is one of six in a refurbished farmhouse, c1850, and set in one and a half acres of beautiful gardens with lovely views towards the mountains. To access it you have to go up a long drive, so it is a lovely quiet get away destination. Each apartment has its own parking bay and for this one it is right outside, so great for anyone who has mobility problems - the other bays are away from the house so do not cause any noise. The apartment itself is very warm and comfortable, beautifully decorated and extremely pleasant; with a very comfy bed and lovely bedding. The kitchen area is very well equipped with all the mod cons, including washing machine, dish washer and freezer - and guideline booklets for each appliance. Internet access was problematic, even though there was a router, and it was difficult to get a vodafone signal inside the apartment but EE worked ok for texts. It is a couple of miles from Keswick, so for those who are less mobile or energetic, the car is needed to get to all amenities. Keswick is a lovely town, with a lovely theatre and great cinema - we saw a TheatreLive production of Frankenstein whilst on holiday and all for £10. The Pencil Museum is well worth a visit, also, and houses some really interesting facts and information about the history of local pencil making and how they aided the war effort - fascinating!"

Margaret - verified booking

"This was our second year booking Peel Wyke and we were pleased with the cottage again apart from one or two things that could do with upgrading. The carpet in the lounge and twin bedroom could do with a clean. The radiator in the bathroom needs cleaning and painting.Clearer heating instructions would help for those not used to the kind of boiler that is there.I had to pull the dressing table out to retrieve something that had fallen down the back and I found dirty tissues and a great deal of dust etc there which looks as though it had not been vacuumed for some time.Last year I reported that the door leading outside from the dining end could not be opened. This had not been attended to, which meant we could not have fresh air coming in there on very warm days.We hope to come to Peel Wyke again and would recommend it without hesitation to friends. The above comments are not criticism rather notes to make it even better.The beds are very comfortable however the whole place just needs a little more love.The views from the dining room picture window are amazing."

Mr Demetriou - verified booking

" At first impression's the apartment looked very nice, but it was slowly getting obvious it was in need of a little TLC. The toilet seat was about to fall of, lucky I had some tools in my car, and the door handle leading to the main entrance was also loose. I have no idea what happened to the sofa nearest to the bedrooms, as the legs were so loose and about to come off, we didn't use it. The most annoying thing was the lack of service to the property. You can not have a kitchen worktop in a corner with no lights. The tubes were not blown, they were completely missing and not replaced, The lovely clock on the wall was not worth a 50p battery to get it working. I would have replaced it, but didn't want to mess incase it broke. These are silly things that would have made a difference at a small cost. I have to say it was very clean and warm, and very convenient for the visits into town or the short walk to Castle Rigg stone Circle. which is a must for any visitor. "