Dog Friendly Alston Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Jacquie - Verified booking

  All in all, a pleasant stay.

  Beds were extremely comfortable, with crisp white linen, and lovely views. The lounge was large but cosy and well appointed easily accommodating 6 people (although there were only 2 of us). The kitchen was very well equipped. A few niggles now but I guess it's difficult for the owners as we learned they live in another part of the country so don't see the visitors book. On arrival, in driving rain and wind, getting the key safe open was really difficult. It's clearly broken, same issue when trying to close it up on departing. The grass in the garden was something of a mine field due to dog mess not being picked up, I don't envy who has to cut it but my diary dog would not step on the grass. Unfortunately the shower head was awful, covered in mould, as were many of the tiles round base of the shower. There was also lots of debris down the side of the cushions on sofa so maybe missed when hoovering. The description said fuel for heating supplied but there was only 3 logs and kindling although it has been made up really to light. Maybe I misunderstood. Some of the crockery could have been cleaner as had to wash 2 plates and saucepan. However, we're aware that the owners are intending to upgrade the cottage over the winter so I hope these niggles will be sorted. Please also leave instructions for things like where to put rubbish, where the heating controls are, where to buy logs etc, as when we arrived there was no heat on and it was freezing and dark. Once the thermostat found, the heating was very good. The views from the cottage are beautiful and it's literally 5 minutes in the car to Alston. The neighbours are also very friendly.

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• Kevin - Verified booking

  Neither property or Alston suitable for us I'm afraid, we decided to cut our holiday short and come home after 4 days.

  We're seniors (50s/60s) with the aches, pains and mobility issues which comes with older age so the sofas were out of bounds as you are practically sitting on the floor, we ended up moving the little table into the middle of the room and sitting on dining chairs. The kitchen pictures show shelving on the walls but they aren't there anymore, crockery and glassware tucked away in a bottom cupboard hard to bend down to. The shower isn't powerful and the outside space is not inviting, a tiny concrete square between buildings at the back which means a 360 view of brick walls. Similarly, the view from the living room is also of a large brick wall and the upstairs tenants car which is parked a foot away from the living room window when he's in. Alston has several independent shops, a post office, a Co-op and a handful of pubs/eateries. Recommend Alston House, food & drink was great. Don't recommend the 'take-away' pizza was awful. Drove to Penrith one afternoon, travel time 30-40 minutes over the hills with wonderful views. We wanted to be much closer to the Lakes/larger town/decent views but the blame for not getting that in Alston is all ours as we didn't carry out the appropriate amount of research needed to source it. Cathy & Kevin, June 2023

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• Catherine - Verified booking

  Bedroom very comfortable bed and bedding.

  Bathroom,kitchen perfect for our needs. lounge settees to low and drab,curtains defeat the object of long radiator by blocking out heat (far to long) and dead plant not a inviting look. The noise from upstairs is ofputting we appreciate they are a young family but a peaceful holiday it was not. As a couple in our eighties the Parking was an issue.within a few hour of arrival we were blocked in. it took my grandson 15 min to reverse out of parking spot. when we returned it was impossible to re park our car. ,luckily a local resident came to our help and asked the person from Gilmore house to move his car. This he did he also stated that the place were he parked came as a private parking space with the property he was renting.This issue needs sorting out. He was very concerned that as my husband is disabled he kindly offered to park on the high st for the rest of his stay,he also called the next day to say he was sorry for inconvenience he had caused .

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• Laura - Verified booking

  The cottage is well equipped and the biscuits/coffee/milk was a nice touch.

  Decorated to a nice standard and the cleaning was ok. Overall this is a nice place to stay, we chose this place mainly due to the paddock for the dogs, but unfortunately our dogs escaped through the broken fence As soon as we arrived we let the dogs have a run in the paddock there was a hole in the wire fence which my 2 dogs managed to find straight away to get into the next field and chase the poor sheep. Luckily they have good recall and came back very quickly but it could of been a lot worse had it of been different dogs. I found cable ties near the fence so the owners are aware of the issue and I managed to temporarily fix it but this certainly should of been checked before we arrived especially knowing we were bringing dogs. Despite this we did have a nice stay. There was no fire starters or kindling which we had to go out and find so that was a bit of a disappointment especially during cold nights.

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• Gillian - Verified booking

  When we stayed here there was a ladie underneath us, and omg did she have problems!

  All she done was bang the doors all night long and we never got any sleep. We had enough so we left early and as we was packing our cars she thrown a pair of her knickers at us, and omg we was shocked. We did not feel it was safe as she clearly had issues. Tony and Susan offered another week end stay for free as a gesture of goodwill, which was so lovely of them. We have just came back from staying there again and had a peaceful chilled stay. Massive thank you to them. We loved it there and we will be going again well long as that unhindge women is not there again haaaa. Sorry I no she won't be lol but we will be. If you want to go anywhere with beautiful views walks and amazing I would definitely recommend staying here. Thank you again xx

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