Forest of Dean Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• John - Verified booking

  I made this booking on recommendation from your online assistant.

  This was the first time I had used this facility, happily locating my own accommodation from your website in the past. I was looking for a cottage in Gloucestershire with a large double bed and was given several options, Rainforest Chapel being one of them. The name Rainforest Chapel conjured up an image of a peaceful location and the one exterior photo on the listing did not dispel this. We arrived in the village of Ruspidge to find our accommodation in an industrial village, a most unlikely holiday location, with the chapel sitting on a a fork in the road. The interior was as per the listing - an excellent kitchen, the property well fitted out and comfortable, but just a touch cool. The problem really lay in the lack of sleep, particularly the first two nights. The bed was indeed large - super king size but the bed covers were for a smaller bed. We alternated between sweating under the duvet and shivering as the covers were not large enough. Then there was the traffic noise from the road outside, perhaps 6 feet from the bedhead that woke us just after 6am each morning. This is not holiday standard! My emailed complaint to your office lead to text messages from the owner whereby bed covers to suit a super king bed were provided. That solved one problem but not the traffic noise. The owner explained that as it was a Grade 2 listed building he could not do anything such as double glazing to deal with this issue. So there you have it, we spent a week in a unique holiday building situated in the middle of a working class village being woken just after 6 each morning. But at least we had suitable bedding for the last 5 nights. Overall experience - VERY DISAPPOINTING.

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• Hannah - Verified booking

  The chapel was the most breathtaking place we have ever stayed.

  It's bigger than you'd think inside with lots of space. The area itself is absolutely beautiful and it's amazing for walking or you can explore so many different places. Our favourites were; Clearwell Caves (20 minutes away, spent 2 hours there), International Birds Of Prey Centre (1 hour away - very awkward to get to, spent 1 hour there), The Forest of Dean (5 minutes away, the biggest one is pay and display and does not accept cards !!, the best trail was the Sculpture Trail, 5 Miles and took about 2 hours). We found the best and nearest supermarket was Tesco, Lydney (20 minute drive and was a large shop which had everything we needed(. Every interaction we had with the owner was helpful and polite, he was a really lovely person. The downsides to the property are: There isn't off road parking - you park next to the chapel and have to carry all your luggage across and it isn't guaranteed that you can park right outside so may have to park down the road, there isn't a garden- when it states garden/patio it means the small patio outside the front door, finally bring your own fans if you're visiting in the summer as it gets really really hot - the bathroom windows open but the rest of the windows are the beautiful chapel style ones which do not open. If anyone is looking to visit the area, it's a really gorgeous place to stay and we would definitely return.

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• Claire - Verified booking

  In general we had a lovely stay in this unique and quirky accomodation.

  There were a few niggles that, if addressed, would make the stay even more perfect. 1. We did not have enough towels provided - this was rectified soon after arrival. 2. The bed in the downstairs bedroom was advertised as a super king size but was in fact a double. 3. The Xbox did not work on arrival - again rectified soon after arrival but would have been better to have been checked prior to arrival. 4. There were not many loo rolls or bin bags provided. 5. Batteries in some of the remote controls were dead and we were told it was our responsibility to replace! 6. No oven gloves or dishcloth provided in the kitchen - making it very difficult to wash up and use the oven! 7. It would have been nice to have more than one blanket provided as the evenings were sometimes a little chilly. 8. There were a few ants in the kitchen and bathroom. 9. There was a sharp edge on the coffee table in the living room - which my daughter cut her leg on. As I said, none of these issues were particularly major but lots of little niggles which added up to being quite annoying.

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• Heather - Verified booking

  Rainforest Chapel is a well presented renovation.

  It was very clean, dog friendly , with a well equipped , modern kitchen and bathroom, Sky TV package on two large screen TV's and Xbox upstairs in the second mezzanine bedroom. The shower is over the bath , which is quite high , so may not suit the less able. Sykes website photos were very accurate in their presentation of the accommodation,which did not disappoint. Ruspidge is not a holiday destination , and there is little to do there, but the stunningly beautiful Forest of Dean is on the doorstep, plus the chapel is central to day trips to Wales, Gloucester, Hereford ,Ross on Wye and the Cotswolds.The views at Symonds Yat are breathtaking. The small towns of Coleford and Cinderford are a short drive away for supplies.Parking is on the road opposite and there is no outside space as such, except for the gravel frontage, but that was not really a problem. Handy little pub and takeaway just down the road....I would highly recommend the quirky Rainforest Chapel for a break away.

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• Carol - Verified booking

  Rose Cottage and our host were lovely.

  The cottage was comfortable and the location is very good for exploring the Forest of Dean and surrounding area. The water pressure is not good upstairs if someone else is using the shower downstairs, but that was just a minor detail. Being right on the main road to Lydney would not have been my first choice but wasn't too much of an issue as the off street parking was good. There was no noise from the workshop opposite and having the sign outside made the cottage easy to find. The only issue I had whilst booking was with Sykes cottages and the very rude person we first spoke to who cancelled our original booking without consulting us even though we asked her not to and we were then left to find an alternative, which she also got wrong. Fortunately the second person we spoke to was nice and competent and sorted out the error. It does not make me want to use Sykes ever again, even though the holiday was eventually relaxing the stress beforehand was not what we needed.

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