Holiday Cottages In The Lake District

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What our customers are saying about our holiday cottages in the lake district.

1. Laura

   Verified purchase

   "We had a fantastic holiday staying at S84661 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 S84661. 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."

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2. Colin

   Verified purchase

   "I am conflicted with regard to this review, for while we would indeed stay at S84661 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."

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3. Julie

   Verified purchase

   "Stayed in S18630 for a full week after Easter. Lovely location. We had a great holiday. Comfortable cottage with everything you need (except towels, so don't forget to take some)! The kitchen and bathroom are lovely and modern, but shower seriously lacks water pressure. No big deal as there is the bath, but this could do with some attention, especially when the family have returned from a long walk and all queuing for a shower! The cottage had a good sized telly, CD player and outdoor chairs, which we used in the evening. The entrance area was brilliant for removing wet or muddy clothing and drying the dogs before entering the living space. Our dogs slept in there at night, in their own beds with no problems. The location is really handy for catching the launch across the lake. We got off at Howstown and walked back to Pooley Bridge. Fantastic walk with lovely views. Not too difficult either, it said it was 6 miles, but felt more like 4. The lakeshore walk from Glenridding to Howtown is supposed to be 7 miles and it felt like it too! Undulates all along to shore line so a very different walk. Lovely, but more strenuous."

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4. s

   Verified purchase

   "Excellent property in a good location and was just what we were looking for, but issues over the hot water supply meant we did not get to have a bath till the fourth day - this was disappointing as we were walking the "Coast to Coast" path and at 15 miles a day we needed a relaxing soak.There were signs over the heating system saying not to tamper with it or the settings but on trying to run a bath the water was tepid at best - there had been comments before in the book but the issue remained - we rang the owners who said we could turn up the thermostat which only resulted in very hot water from the kitchen sink "hence the safety concern below". I am an Engineer and eventualy worked out the problem myself - the water is on a full flow "on demand" system with no storeage of hot water - so turning on the Bath tap lead to too high a flow rate for the heating element, the only way to get warm/hot water in the bath was to just crack the bath tap open slightly and WAIT for a very slow fill - 1/2 hour+ - this episode was disappointing as having a bath was one of the reasons for chosing it."

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5. Jules

   Verified purchase

   "excellent holiday. Love this cottage been her 3 times now. Great for dog owners as you can secure the gate and dogs are safe while you are there. Noise was considerably less from A66 as think new windows and doors fitted since last visit. Couple of stupid things really I like to hoover and leave the place as I found it Hoover is so short you have to be 2 ft tall to use it no long hose so for me at 5ft 8 it was a chore and back breaking. Also washing machine is too small load to be fit for purpose 2kg when you have say a wet fleece you want to wash you have to so 1 item at a time. Please could you provide a washing machine of about 7kg with a 30 eco wash on as everything else appliance wise is brilliant. Also a couple of foot stools would be a great benefit when you have walked 10 miles and your legs ache. Other than that property is brilliant well upkept caretaker lady is lovely and very very thorough home from home for us. Love it. Thanks S85085 see you next year."

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