Dog Friendly Cottages on the Isle of Wight

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Karen - Verified booking

  Following 2 weeks of storms, the track is now only 4 wheel drive friendly.

  The hot water tap in the kitchen cannot be regulated and goes to full power unexpectedly. The bathroom tap was loose and leaking. A plumber was called and the problem solved efficiently by Sykes. 1 guest slipped and fell on mossy pathway at rear of house, probably not a normal issue but gutters did not cope with the rainfall. We had read reviews of a small kitchen so were prepared, however, it was the lack of storage space for food that was a problem. Only 1 small cupboard in the kitchen was available for storage, all the others were filled with an unnecessary abundance of crockery. There was a lack of storage space in 2 of the smaller bedrooms. The ground floor bedroom only had a small understairs wardrobe, a bedside cabinet with 2 small drawers and a small dresser with 2 small drawers, difficult for 2 adults. A lot of our clothes had to be stored on the window ledges. The small upstairs bedroom only had a chest of drawers which we couldn't access because we had to put up a travel cot in that room. All toddlers clothes were laid out on the spare bed which wasn't too much of a problem, but might not be quite as acceptable for older people using that room. We loved the space both inside and out. The location was quiet and close to walks. Contacted Sykes re the possibility of an external washing line rather than using the tumble dryer, with 8 people this would not have been environmentally friendly. We were pleasantly surprised to find, on our arrival, that a line had been installed, plus pegs. We were staying for 2 weeks and were pleasantly surprised that after the first week, someone came in to change bedding and towels. The only thing that would prevent us from using this holiday venue again was the narrow lane that leads to the track because there are few passing places and there were often bottle necks where we had to spend a lot of time either reversing or waiting for other people to reverse. Whilst this was frustrating, it wasn't as frustrating as coping with people who didn't seem to appreciate that you have to slow down on small country lanes when you cannot see around a bend.

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• Julie - Verified booking

  What a beautiful location and cottage.

  The views are amazing to wake up to every day especially as the sun shone for us! The dog loved the garden and all the smells each morning plus the many walks directly from the cottage through Freemantle Gate. We saw lots of visitors every day going through, one even ended up in the garden as didn't realise where they should be going. The cottage itself is much bigger than I expected with a well equipped kitchen, fairly comfy sofas, lovely soft bed, excellent shower and masses of light. We could've done with more than 1.5 toilet rolls, 1 sheet of kitchen roll and only 1 tea towel but not a massive issue. The upstairs is really warm so we opened up the windows every time we were home. The gardener came on our last day and cut the grass which made it look even prettier. I loved this cottage and the peaceful feel and even missed it when we went onto our next cottage in the New Forest! Filling some of the potholes and repairing the massive "ledge" on the road between the gate and the car park for Freemantle House would be appreciated as I scraped my car every time. Also, better directions/sign posts as we ended up somewhere completely different twice whilst finding the property. Luckily it was daylight. After that though, we felt like Lords of the Manor approaching the cottage every day!! Just beautiful :)

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• Andrew - Verified booking

  We holiday on the Isle of Wight every year, have done so for more than two decades and this is one of the finest cottages on the Island.

  We first found it during lockdown, when we wanted somewhere quiet - and that's what you get by the bucket load here, peace and quiet! You also get a very well equipped and comfortable place to stay in a glorious location. There are cyclists and walkers doing the Worsley Trail plus the odd horse rider, but mostly they don't disturb you. The cottage is clean and well presented - although I'm personally not a fan of artificial hanging baskets :) ! My only very minor niggle is the lack of a shower caddy and a grab rail in the bath, although the power shower is a big plus. There's a well-equipped kitchen and we can very much recommend staying in for the evening and just watching the wildlife. Red squirrel, green woodpecker and from the late afternoon the buzzards emerging from the copse and circling the fields. But beware - if you leave the door open after dusk keep a glass and a piece of card handy - two nights running we were visited by hornets! Highly recommended place to stay and already booked for next year.

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• Tracey - Verified booking

  We expected this time of year unsettled weather as I used to live on the island.

  The briddle path is used frequently even in bad weather and it was lovely seeing all walks of life passing by. But some of the potholes were really bad,so maybe just check some and if they can be filled in if needed in best way possible that would help cars for renters immensely. It was in need of a deep clean in areas. Especially the kitchen. And bath and shower door didn't look good. I did my best with what was there to clean it. Maybe also leave more cleaning products for renters to use when on a stay. And plenty of bags for rubbish and recycle luckily we travel with spares. Sofas are a bit tired but still comfy. The bedrooms were roomy and comfortable and even in bad weather still lovely views. The place is well equipped and great to let the dog have a run around in the enclosed garden. And so peaceful and quietLovely touch welcome pack partner loved the wine after a long journey. Couldn't leave a message as no book left to thank James for otherwise a lovely stay in Freemantle.

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• Laura - Verified booking

  The barn was fantastic!

  We all loved it, the garden was large and secure, the games room entertained the teens for hours, the house was lovely, the beds were comfortable and everything was well presented. Kitchen was well equipped. I loved that the house had 2 separate upstairs bits. The bath took a while to run, but you could just set it running a bit earlier to solve that problem. The bad reviews I felt were really clutching at straws. I dont know what some people expect when they go away, especially to a dog friendly family sized house. The only small issues were the showers: the downstairs one got water everywhere somehow, and the upstairs one didnt work. If we were to return to IOW I would definitely use this place as a base; it's a fantastic location down a dirt track and away from other people, so you can have music on and play outside later without worrying about annoying people. It's easy to get anywhere on the island aswell, nowhere seemed to take longer than 45 minutes to get to.

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