Dog Friendly Cottages In Helmsley

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Neil - Verified booking

  Wonderful springtime stay at the Arches last week This cottage and its surroundings are absolutely wonderful.

  As others have said, the photos don’t do it enough justice. Its rustic, spacious but cosy at the same time. There was nothing quite like sitting outside, enjoying the beautiful view as the sun rolled across the dale, sipping a Whitby Gin and listening to the newborn lambs and their mums getting settled for the night. The reviews for this cottage don’t lie – the Arches really is superb. I was also delighted to note that the owners do listen and action feedback. On arrival, there was milk, biscuits and a very special treat in the fridge thank you! The owners were just such lovely, kind, caring people and clearly love their animals and farm. The Arches and the Old Cart House are a converted barn, so you can expect the odd critter (we have stayed in October when the big mummy spiders like to visit - you have been warned), but I must emphasise how clean the cottage was – we didn’t find any old webs, ash or dust! The heating booster setting warms up the cottage very quickly, and there’s plenty of wood provided for the log fire. Lovely comfy big beds in the upstairs rooms; the bedding and giant bath towels were spotlessly white and soft. Extra bedding was provided in the cupboard. The shower is over the bath (be careful climbing in) – but its very powerful and hot, just what you need after a long day’s walk. We took our 12 year old poodle with us and he was happy trotting around outside on the graveled front - the cottage does ask that dogs are well behaved as it’s a working farm so bear this in mind when the sheep are lambing and the gate must always be shut. Expect to drive to the nearest shops/supermarket, the Moorside Store is worth a visit for the homemade pies that you just stick in the oven back at the cottage. We ordered steaks from Farndale Farm (the leaflet is in the draw by the TV stand) and the owners kindly delivered them to us at the Arches – puts all supermarket quality to shame! Lots to do in North Yorkshire particularly if you are an English Heritage member but, at the same time, if you just want to relax in peace in front of the cottage fire, the Arches is perfect. We will be back later in the year without a doubt.

  Read more less >

• Yvonne - Verified booking

  This property is in the most fantastic location, with superb views.

  That, along with the local pub, made our stay a wonderful one. HOWEVER… when it comes to cleanliness and comfort ability, the property fell far short of our expectations and what the previews failed to point out. Had it done so we would not have booked here. Pro’s Fabulous location for lovely walks Safe, enclosed garden for the dog Good internet speed Netflix King size beds, not double Lovely upstairs bedrooms although 4 poster bed mattress very thin and had to move rooms on day 2, and no tv aerial in 2nd bedroom. TV in 4 poster room complicated to use. Clean bedding and towels. Some printed local walking maps in the property Cons Settees need replacing as no support at all. We used the dining table chairs and rocking chair for the whole week. General cleanliness was poor throughout the property. Dust webs, dirty worktops, mucky radiators, dining table felt sticky, dusty mirrors…I could go on. Kitchen lacked the most basic essentials that have been in every other Sykes property we have stayed at, such as salt, basic oils etc-petty I know but when you’re staying in the middle of nowhere, these things are important to know so people can go prepared with a full stock of at the very least, the basics. The last thing you want to do is have to go back out to purchase these things, as the nearest shop is many miles away, along some tricky roads.. The tumble dryer didn’t work and tripped the electrics a number of times. Owner notified, who said a new washer dryer has been ordered, sadly too late for us. Logs provided, but no kindling, paper or matches, so useless unless you have brought these. I hope this will be helpful for the owners to improve the staying experience, because had all the above been addressed, we would no doubt have used this as a regular base, but we were glad to get home and sit in comfort.

  Read more less >

• Catherine - Verified booking

  We alerted the property owner and booking.

  Com of the time of arrival . Received an email suggesting they would be there to hand over the key.I had no other information given to me at this time. When we arrived at the property there was no one there. We hung about for an hour then went to the local pub to try and phone for help as we had no signal on our phones. We waited on the phone to Booking.com on the pubs land line for nearly an hour with no answer. At this point we were very hungry and tired (also aware of using the pubs phone)and went to another local pub to get some food. I did go on chat at booking .com for advise and also emailed sykes holidays , booking.com several times. I could not get a signal. On chat they said they would get back to me within half and hour. I had told them that I had no signal. At 9pm we went back to the property hoping someone would have come or left a note etc. On looking around outside we realised there was a key in the key lock but at no point have I been given a code. My son tried for nearly an hour to get into the code and eventually cracked the code and got the key. I am unsure what we would have done as I expect everywhere was booked. We would probably have had to drive all the way home. You can check the emails and chat and at no point did anyone give us the code. When I eventually got in we had access to wifi and noticed that Booking .com had tried to phone us at 8:30pm. This was useless as we had no signal and I had clearly told them that on the chat . Very stressful and annoying start to the holiday. We were not expecting to go out for a meal due to covid and had brought all our meals to cook. I would like some compensation for this awful start to our holiday!

  Read more less >

• Pam - Verified booking

  The cottage is in a lovely position with wonderful views across Rosedale and a very pleasant garden.

  There was, however, an issue around space. The ground floor open-plan living/dining/kitchen area was tiny and smaller than it appeared in the photographs. Even with only two guests and a dog, we were cramped for space and we certainly wouldn't have wanted to be in a party of four. We felt that we would have had more room to move on a narrowboat. There are some small inaccuracies in the cottage description. The first floor bedroom does not contain a standard sized double bed and fuel for the wood-burning stove is not included as implied. There was enough for the first night but the expectation was that guests would provide the rest. Most cottages state this explicitly but this cottage did not. It is also not made clear that neighbours have access through the garden. The cottage was clean and well presented but evidence of a previous canine visitor was clearly evident on the lawn when we arrived and had not been cleaned up. We do not have satnav and were concerned that directions to the cottage were very poor, being both confusing and contradictory and bearing no relation to either a standard road atlas or an OS map. Sadly, the two requests made for further clarification from the owners went unanswered. We were greatly helped by the Phillips Street Guide to North Yorkshire which enabled us to make some sense of otherwise incoherent instructions.

  Read more less >

• Danielle - Verified booking

  Sykes Staff have been nothing but friendly and accommodating, they were not to fault for our unsatisfactory stay.

  The property however had dust webs left in corners (despite cleaners) and offered no QR code/Covid guidelines, no antibacterial hand wash or sanitiser (good job we took our own). We were greeted by a wasps nest by the front door obviously using the property’s roof. The door with its large double glass windows offered no privacy from passers by using the shared drive and communal laundry room given the fact the shower and toilet were right behind it which resulted in us having to hang a towel over the door. The pictures of the garden were misleading. It clearly shows a grass area which had been cordoned off and belonged to another property which only left the stoned area you see in the pictures which would have been fantastic if it weren’t for the fact they are not friendly to the paws of our fury friends which meant our pet friendly get away wasn’t in fact so pet friendly at all and his off lead play time went out the window. The directions to the property are not clear, even using ‘what four words’ we had difficulty. In the end we were forced to contact Sykes which then had to contact the owners who added another couple of steps to the directions. Frankly if it weren’t for the fact we had to rely on a family member for travel and our signal was so spotty we never would have stayed.

  Read more less >