Dog Friendly Dorchester Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Roger - Verified booking

  There is much to like about Deer Leap Cottage, its wonderful grounds and amenities, not to mention the deer!

  However, based on our experiences, there are a number of important issues which I feel I should share with others who might be considering booking. We were a party of 4 adults, 3 children aged 9, 4 and 17 months and a dog. A couple of weeks prior to our departure my daughter made a number of unsuccessful attempts to communicate with you about the provision of equipment. There was never an answer or reply, so I used the online facility to request a high chair and a stair gate prior to our visit. When we arrived, a high chair without a tray was provided but no stair gate. We tried to make contact again immediately but again no answer or reply. We had to improvise with a make-shift clumsy and inconvenient workaround until a stair gate arrived. It never did, for the entire duration of our stay. Believe me, this is a big deal if you have a highly mobile toddler. If you don’t have a stair gate or have no intention of providing one, then please don’t pretend that you will, and make this clear in your pre-booking information so visitors can properly evaluate if the property will meet their needs. There was no pool code readily provided to us upon arrival as promised. Our neighbours in the main house kindly provided us with it from their information booklet. Our information booklet went undiscovered for a couple of days until we noticed it in an unmarked folder in an unexpected location. There is no WiFi in the main living accommodation of the cottage. This is a plain fact, not an opinion. Huddling up against the interconnecting door to the adjoining main house to tap into their WiFi does not cut it. As a consequence of no useable WiFi, access to the claimed Netflix and Sky services is not available, Freeview only. I notice that from previous reviews that this is an ongoing situation. If the subscription payments are being made you need to raise this with your service provider immediately. If you do not intend to rectify this then please be honest about it instead of accusing your guests of tampering with the equipment. Mid week, our neighbours kindly provided us with a high chair complete with a tray that they did not need after they heard about our difficulty using the provided one at meal times as it did not match the table height in the kitchen. On our final day of our holiday my wife finally tracked you down while you were visiting the main house, hoping to discuss our unresolved issues with you before leaving. When presented with our numerous unresolved issues (more than I have had space to communicate in this review), you declined to discuss these issues with us so my wife returned to the cottage for a couple of minutes to provide you with a written list. During the few minutes that it took for us to provide you with the list, you hastily departed from the premises, leaving it to the housekeeping staff to make your excuses that you had “needed urgently to leave due to a sudden family crisis” . We hope all is well with your family and I have deliberately delayed writing this review for a week in the hope that you might contact us with some explanations. None have been forthcoming. Based on our experience, we could not recommend staying at your holiday accommodation as we do not have confidence that you can deliver the service and provision that you advertise and accept full payment for.

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• Leanne - Verified booking

  The plus side is the location, beautiful setting, close to a wonderful pub and near to towns and beach.

  The cottage has a lot of potential and the owner is very pleasant. But...the kitchen is very poorly equipped, 3 saucepans and two small baking trays, no frying pan, no grill rack, lots of empty cupboards. There is a decent sized fridge and a freezer (but no ice tray) no dishwasher which is desirable in this sized cottage. There is simply not enough catering equipment for 6 adults (potentially what the cottage can sleep). Being a self catering cottage you would expect to be able to adequately cater for the whole family, not in this case. I tried to speak to the owner but mobile signals are non-existent and when I tried to find the owners I was told they were at work, the children handed me a small frying pan. The single beds are extremely uncomfortable and creak every time you move, the pillows provided were very thin. Only one room had spare pillows for those of us who like two pillows each (a must if the pillows are this thin). We were provided with one small bath towel each, no hand towels in any of the rooms or the bathroom. Fortunately there were only 5 of us so we hand one extra towel and three of us had bought pool towels with us just in case we had a swim in the pool. The heating is controlled in the main house (where the owners live), there is no option in the cottage to switch it on or off. If the owners switch it on then you can turn it down at the thermostat or radiators. But if it off in the main house there is no heating in your cottage. Two of the bedrooms did not have any heating as the radiators did not work. A light in the kitchen kept flashing and we had to turn it off. This is a dog friendly cottage but understandably dogs are not allowed upstairs, with this in mind to keep the dogs downstairs there should be a stair gate or something to block the stairs. There is not enough seating in the lounge for 6 people unless you all sit upright and right next to one another on the sofa. The dining table in the lounge is not needed as there is sufficient dining area in the kitchen, the dining table could be replaced by two easy chairs. The weirdest thing were the connecting doors to the main house, downstairs is a door in the hallway which links to the kitchen of the owners house, it is an internal door and we could plainly hear them talking and moving around on the other side of the door, at one point I was aware of someone stood the other side listening to our conversation. Upstairs on the landing there is a similar internal door linking the cottage to the main house. Both doors had bolts on which prevented them from being opened from the main house but it was a really strange set up and made us feel uncomfortable.

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• Donna-Marie - Verified booking

  The cottage was lovely and very well equipped, very clean and set in stunning grounds.

  Hannah was on hand and responded to all messages, however there are some points I believe should be addressed as it did ruin our week. Deer Leap Cottage seems to come secondary to Deer Leap House (both properties attached) due to the size difference. Deer Leap House has seven bedrooms and as such there is space for 3 families or 14 sharing adults….. Deer Leap Cottage has 3 bedrooms so 1 family or 6 sharing adults. Therefore those staying in Deer Leap House monopolise the pool (as in our case) and tennis courts etc. This was not clear when we booked. We paid for the use of the pool and other facilities but barely got to use them due to the other family. They did nothing wrong as they were using the facilities they paid for, which is what we SHOULD have been able to do! We got in the pool for about 1 hour in the evenings when the other families and children were out and 1 day when the other family left early. NOT what we paid for, I believe there should be a week-on / week-off rota for fairness. Had I been told I would be sharing a pool that’s barely big enough for 5 adults with 15 strangers I would not have booked it. The pool is just is not big enough to accommodate that many people from 2 separate properties. Also anyone staying in Deer Leap House have to walk right passed the front of Deer Leap cottage to get to the pool. The other family kept apologising as we were trying to relax in the cottages garden. This is the only garden area for the cottage, Therefore you have absolutely no privacy, whereas the house does! Those walking passed also can see right into the lounge of the cottage as there are no net curtains so again no privacy. Perhaps a hedge or fence to protect privacy of those staying in the cottage would be an idea, or at the very least some net curtains. There was no parasol over the seating area of the cottage yet the house had parasols, garden swing seats etc. I did ask but did not get one so during the heatwave we had no parasol and no pool (as it was over run with the guests from the house). Therefore we sat indoors, not what we paid for! The joining doors in the cottage to the house are thin and you can hear everything. Sadly we had a family that was very loud at night, lots of screaming arguments and swearing, not the owners fault but quite frustrating. Although the listing does say the pool is shared its not explained very well. We feel quite let down, the property is not the cheapest due to the wonderful faculties on offer, sadly we just didn’t get to use any as we would have liked due to the sheer numbers of the occupants in the house

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• Family G - Verified booking

  Greygles is a wonderful cottage in beautiful surroundings. Our group consisted of 6 adults (of varying ages) and an 8-month-old baby and all of us felt right at home. The two seniors were happy to take the bedroom downstairs and used the bathroom with the shower. The facilities provided for babies/children (cot, highchair and stair gate) were certainly satisfactory and in general, the accommodation is well-stocked (kitchen appliances, cooking utensils, towels, tourist books, dvds, washing liquid, dishwasher tablets, etc). Although the weather was slightly too chilly to sit outside often, there are supplies for the garden, too (parasol, table, etc). Even if you can't sit outside, the living room, dining room and two of the upstairs bedrooms look out over a large stretch of fields, which were full of linseed when we were there, colouring purple in the sunshine. Absolutely stunning! The cottage was very clean and tidy when we arrived and dustbins are provided in every room, as well as a vacuum cleaner, to make it easy to keep it that way. Checking in on our day of arrival was a breeze with the key box, which was also very convenient when our group went their separate ways for the day so the key could remain on-site. The owner was abroad during our stay, but he called us on the first day to make sure everything was in order and we had settled in nicely. We also had a lovely chat about local activities and must-sees. For any problems that might have occurred during our stay, he provided us with details of someone who lives close by. On the day before we left, he called again to hear how our stay had been. This was a very nice courtesy! Melcombe Bingham is a small village, but a great starting point for short and long walks alike, taking you through a varied landscape. It's also quite central for many day trips, either to the coast or further inland. We stayed at Greygles for 10 days and didn't get to see everything we wanted in the area, so there is a lot to do. There is a Brewery shop in the village, which can provide you with basic groceries, but there are supermarkets a short car ride away.

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• June - Verified booking

  I think most of the issues I had are highlighted in a previous comment last month by Roger.

  If you dont mind an extremely messy pool area with dozens of old deflated pool toys and pool house with a pool cover that does not function the way it is supposed to and it means the cover has to be manually pool off and back then you wont mind this house. There is no wi-fi in the cottage and definitely no sky tv or netflix available only basic tv channels. The owner is extremely unhelpful and virtually impossible to contact. The only time I could speak to her (Hannah) was when she came to check the pool. She did not return any messages I left. The blinds in the kitchen did not work which makes it very hot for most of the day plus the shower was quite dirty and obviously hasnt had a good clean for a long time. I found it very frustrating that what was advertised was not delivered - no wi-fi unless you sit in the corner by the front door and no sky tv. My grandchildren and myself like to watch a film in the evening to unwind but this wasnt possible at all. The house is in a lovely location and grounds but does not deliver what it advertises!! Please read Roger's comments before booking. I left the property two days early as I was on my own with 2 grandchildren by then and did not feel confident having no wi-fi in case of emergencies. June Lacey

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