Forest of Dean Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Jayne - Verified booking

  The property is becoming rundown and tired.

  There is chipped kitchen floor tiles and the kitchen units are very worn. The oven was filthy and looked like parts of it were being held together with some sort of blue tack. The inside of the microwave was dirty too. We didn't use the dishwasher, so we don't know what state that was in. The kitchen and bathroom floor tiles were really dirty. The laminate flooring throughout the property was dirty too. We spent part of our first morning sweeping and hoovering all the floors, including under beds etc. We swept up so much debris. The sofas had debris and dog fur on them. We hoovered them as well as we could. We then got on our hands and knees and tried to clean the kitchen and bathroom floor tiles with hot soapy water. Not the best start to our holiday. The water was dark brown. The grouting needs a scrubbing brush to sort it out, but we certainly weren't going to do that. There was too much laminate flooring to clean. The mop provided was dirty, so all we would have done was push the dirt around. The bathroom wall tiles and the shower screen need black mould and limescale removed from them. The back door is ancient. The front door sounds like you are entering a haunted house. The double glazed window in the lounge has blown. The driveway is full of weeds etc. The decking is very springy. The back garden is the local cat toilet. We had to regularly hose the cat poo away so our 2 dogs didn't try to eat it. The walls are grubby and marked. The visitor information book says the property is in the progress of being sorted out. It certainly does not say that on your online details. If it had, we would never have booked it. The property has such great potential to be lovely given it's layout, garden and position. it is such a shame it has been allowed to get so bad. We have rented out lots of holiday cottages over the years and never had such problems with cleanliness etc. We were very disappointed.

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• Kelly - Verified booking

  When we arrived at the accommodation, it had not been cleaned from the previous guests.

  Dirty bedding and towels, rubbish left, dirty dishes etc. Sykes arranged for a cleaner to attend but we had to find somewhere to go for four hours! The cleaning company paid for us to have dinner which was welcomed but we still had hours to wait to get into the accommodation. The accommodation needs a thorough deep clean. Behind the TV was lots of insects; underneath the sofas were really dirty; there was mould in the bathroom; the bottom of the bed was dirty; the outdoor wood burner was full of cigarette butts; some of the crockery in the cupboards was greasy and dirty; there was dirty underwear in one of one the drawers. Outside, the decking area (shown on the website pictures on the and booking details) had been removed and piled up in the garden; sharp metal fixings were left sticking out of the ground where it had been screwed down. This was dangerous for dogs and children. There were building materials in the garden and the garden gates are not secure for small dogs who can fit through the gaps - our dog escaped twice and we had to block the gate with bins and old bricks from the piles left in the garden.The front driveway is full of weeds and the plants are overgrown - one covers a front bedroom window. Many of these issues were mentioned in the purple breakage record, previous reviews and the guest book, but the problems remain. It seems to me that the owners don't really worry too much about the condition of the accommodation. I really did not want to stay and reported these problems, with photos, to Sykes on several occasions during the week; I received responses telling me that the problems had been passed to the property team or that the customer relations team would be in touch. No one contacted me. We vacuumed underneath the sofa and throughout the accommodation and cleaned all the crockery before we used them. This is not what we expected from Sykes.

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• Des - Verified booking

  Badly chipped tiles in kitchen,toaster half of it didn't work,and not kept clean, kettle needs either descaling or replacing.

  Bath needed cleaning as when arrived had hair In it.no garden maintenance or upkeep grass not cut rotting apples all around,and part of garden fenced off with 2 road side cones and mesh??. The fire pit had been used as an ashtray not cleaned out.could benefit from a radio.no review book.driveway still not addressed as other reviews state.stll catches front of car and did reverse on my car is not low is only a fiesta.also no maintenance as in needs weeding and large bush needs trimming,did not state when booking that this was a work in progress,only found out when looked through the pack that was left for us.if I knew this before hand I would not of chosen this property.not many good points but the beds were comfortable,and was in a quiet area.i have stayed with Sykes many times,and never had any issues with thier propertys, sadly I was disappointed with this place and would not recommend it,the pictures that are on Sykes website are out of date (theses need updating).

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• Barry - Verified booking

  The bungalow is very nice, clean and comfy, welcome pack of milk, cheese's, tea, coffee and biscuits were brilliant.

  The garden at the rear is enclosed and great for dogs. A few minor maintenance issues were found, but this is a new project and the owners have already supplied new dishwasher, washer/dryer, and fridge freezer. I presume the cooker and hood are next on their list. The only drawback is access into the driveway if you have a low car, with a sleeping policeman type hump to start followed by a steep concrete drive. To be fair the owners imformed us the day before our arrival, a bit late to be fair, it should be mentioned in the details before purchasing the holiday, Sykes gave us the wrong keycode to the keybox, with only 3 digits, after travelling from Scotland that day it was not helpful. Confusion followed trying to contact the owner and Sykes, but access was eventually gained. Hopefully the records have been amended for future clients. Overall though a very nice holiday property.

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• Lynne - Verified booking

  My mum and I wanted to stay in the area to meet up with various friends from when we used to live there.

  We were very happy with our lovely, quiet stay in this property. The rooms were all of a good size and, despite the cold, wet and windy February weather outside, the bungalow was always cosy and warm. The large garden was very tidy and well fenced. A very welcome, unexpected touch was the lovely local food that was there on our arrival, which included the best cheese I have ever had. We would both be very happy to stay here again, and probably will do.

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