Dog Friendly Barnstaple Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Helena - Verified booking

  The house is on a slope, in the middle of the forest and in the middle of nowhere.

  Next to it is an empty old hotel. There is no mobile phone, only WiFi and a landline phone that was blocked for outgoing calls, only emergency calls were possible. Making calls via WiFi is only possible if the provider allows it. This was possible for me, but not for my wife. This means that if your provider doesn't allow this, you will be completely isolated in the apartment. It is important to note that emergency calls CANNOT be made via WiFi! A high outside staircase leads to the apartment, which, thanks to the waterfalls, is always damp to wet and therefore very slippery. Now in the fall, when the leaves are on the stairs, they are as slippery as soap. Our repeated requests to clean the stairs and ensure sure-footedness were ignored by the owner. The request for a broom so we could sweep the stairs ourselves was also ignored. At first glance the apartment seems good, the view is beautiful, the furniture is solid and not worn out, it looks comfortable, but at second glance the deficiencies become apparent. In both bathrooms there is a strong smell of mold. There are no mixer taps, just two taps for cold and warm water. Either you wash with cold or hot water. The shower head is permanently installed, there is no flexible shower hose. The bathtub also has two separate taps. This is all very old-fashioned and impractical. In the room with the washer-dryer and therefore in the hallway there is a strong smell of oil that is used to operate the heating. There are no fly screens on the windows, which is downright irresponsible given the huge number of mosquitoes, black flies, all other kinds of flies, wasps and hornets, especially since there is a wasp's nest under the roof right by the window in the master bedroom. We had a fly invasion one afternoon and around 40 flies in the apartment. The mattress protector was missing on the mattress in the master bedroom, you could see all the ugly, brown and yellow stains on the mattress through the thin sheet, which suggests that the mattress is very old and has never been cleaned or had a mattress protector. In addition, the mattresses were very uncomfortable. We washed the bed linen in between and then saw that the pillows and blankets also had stains. Large pots, pans and pan/pot covers were missing in the kitchen. We had to buy a large pot with a lid and a wok/large pan ourselves and left them in the apartment. The wardrobe in the master bedroom is tiny, but at least it has doors, in the second bedroom it is just a small open wardrobe, this means that all of your clothing will definitely collect dust. There are not enough clothes hangers overall. There is no wardrobe in the hallway or at least a few hooks for street clothes. Also there's no shoe rack. The owner has put a box for street shoes outside the door and obviously believes that you should keep your shoes there. Since the entrance to the apartment is at the back of the house and therefore on a constantly damp to dripping wet slope (waterfalls!), the street shoes in this box remain damp, or will definitely be so if they weren't already damp. In the morning you can put on your damp, clammy, completely cool shoes. There are no hooks for towels and/or bathrobes in either bathroom. Not even in the two bedrooms. There are also no towel hooks in the kitchen. The apartment is dog-friendly, which is very nice, but has very light (!) carpeted floors throughout. The dog owners should clean the dogs outside with the hose and cold water provided before the dogs go into the apartment, because the carpet in the hallway is also white and there is only a dark doormat. You can't really go for a walk with your dog anywhere, there's no garden or a meadow nearby but only narrow, busy road right next to the house that you can walk along, but since it leads directly to the slope on one side and to the steep precipice on the other, the walks are no pleasure. For a nice walk you have to drive a bit before you can safely walk with the dog. In the evening/night the street is completely unlit, it is then extremely dark and it is downright life-threatening to walk along the street. Since the house is really lonely, in the middle of nowhere, you don't feel very safe, especially since the other two apartments in the house were not visible most of the time. We stayed in the apartment for almost three weeks and would never book it again.

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• Karen - Verified booking

  At an early stage of our holiday I contacted Sykes to detail many issues with the cottage and will provide them with photographs to evidence what I have said.

  We would not book the cottage again and cannot recommend it. We have booked many Sykes cottages and this is the first negative review I have ever posted. On arrival the owner’s driveway had numerous potholes. The external appearance of the property looked very tired. We arrived in the dark and there was a trench dug in the front garden and a grid cover had been removed that was a health and safety risk (we were not made aware of this and our dog has poor eyesight). There was old wooden fencing and furniture left in the front garden in a large pile and in another part of the garden a gate had fallen down and had just been left on the ground. On entering the property it looks exactly like the pictures posted on Sykes, nothing has changed, and the owner had 5 plug in air fresheners in use. On switching these off there was an awful smell throughout our stay that seemed to come from the utility room, which was very unpleasant. On booking the cottage the Sykes website stated that we could walk through the garden back gate and through the woods to a Nature Reserve. We could not do this as the gate was blocked off by 2 metal gates. This was a major factor in choosing this cottage and could not be done. The window in the main bedroom was very dirty and on walking into the bedroom for the first time the dressing table mirror was dusty. The ensuite shower was only ever lukewarm and never hot and the light above the mirror was extremely dusty and had not been cleaned. There were a number of lights that were just bulbs with no light fitting on them. We did not speak to the owner about our many issues as we were on a holiday and did not want our overall holiday ruined by this. The owner must be fully aware already of the external appearance and how their property looks. The scale of issues was also not quickly resolvable in our view. We loved the North Devon area and beaches. The cottage back garden was large with a scenic outlook and it was lovely to listen to the birds. The owners welcome pack was extremely generous and included a cream tea, coffee and tea and many different biscuits and chocolate. On the approach to the property some of the lanes are very narrow and some have no passing places and this needs to be taken into account. During our stay the external lights at the front and back of the property were not working and I would expect this to be checked for handover. The front door also was sticking and was hard to open and close at times and needed some attention. I also found the blue rug in the bathroom to be potentially unhygienic, unless it is being washed after every handover (the same rug as in the Sykes pictures). A welcome guide would also be helpful for the house and the area for guests to refer to.

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• Shirley - Verified booking

  Access to the property was down very narrow roads it would’ve been of help to have been told this in the description even though we are used to driving down these kind of roads others may not be.

  The welcome by the owner was a little lacking she stood by her front door and shouted the keys in the door. Normally when you arrive at Sykes cottages there is a welcome pack and information / emergency pack none of these were available to us even when the electric went off on the first evening if we hadn’t of gone outside to the owners House, It’s doubtful if they would’ve come to see if we were okay. We rang the owners mobile twice but got no answer or call back . The TV was difficult to set up for viewing via sky (only half dozen channels available) there is no instructions . On the listing it said board games available none were to be found in the whole of the cottage. It was a concern that no electrical items showed signs being patt tested apart from one fridge freezer. The use of air fresheners in every room seemed excessive. There was three toilets and a minimal amount of toilet paper in each. The garden was okay but unkempt - obviously the rain at this time of year brought more weeds and growth than would’ve been expected. The owners did redeem themselves at the end after I left two pairs of shoes behind and even though at first it stated I’d have to pay £30 I was not charged for this so that was kind of them. I guess it made up for not having a pint of milk or a pack of biscuits on arrival. Shirley and Donna Somerset

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• Rosie - Verified booking

  We had a really fantastic stay in this amazing cottage.

  The hosts were really friendly and accommodating and we were surprised and delighted by the very generous welcome spread in the kitchen on arrival of: tea, coffee, milk, biscuits, chocolate, as well as delicious home-made cream tea scones and a Victoria sponge cake – complete with a bone china tea set for the occasion! The Shippon is very spacious and as other reviews have mentioned, equipped with everything you could possibly want, but the hosts are nearby and happy to help if needed. It was nice and clean and very spacious (with lots of storage), and the beds were really comfy. Great views (including sunsets) and the garden was lovely – a really big open space, yet completely private, surrounded by woods and farmland. It’s a lovely rural spot and the silence (apart from the birds!) was noticeable and very welcome –a perfect place to relax. A massive thank you to our hosts for making our stay so fab –would definitely return again to The Shippon – a perfect base for exploring this beautiful area, including the North Devon Coast with its lovely sandy beaches and the breath-taking scenery of Exmoor.

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• James - Verified booking

  What an absolutely great cottage, we honestly couldn't have asked for anything better.

  On arrival the owner greeted us and made us feel so at home after a long drive. The cottage it's self was very clean and tidy, it was also alot bigger than expected. There was wood for the fire if you wanted to use it, if not the central heated worked perfectly and made the property very cosy. The garden was brilliant for our dog and so big for him to run around but completely secure so we didn't have to worry when we let him out. The location is great and only a 10min trip to the centre of Barnstable, there are multiple shops a few minutes away. I love that the property is in the countryside and so very peaceful. The property is supplied with everything you need and there are even children books stored in the cupboard, this was great for us as we had forgotten our toddlers bedtime books. The owner obviously takes great pride in the property and keeps is so well maintained. I would really recommend this property and we will be staying again.

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