Dog Friendly Cottages in the Lake District

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Deena - Verified booking

  Firstly the cottage has not been cleaned on arrival.

  With two children and after a 4 hour drive we had to them sit in a local pub for 2 hours whilst it was cleaned. (Sykes did give us some compensation however 6 days later have still not received). On arrival back at the cottage it was still not cleaned to a suitable standard. There was hair stuck to the carpets upstairs and fat splatted at the back of the cooker. The hob has residue left on it and the bathroom has marks on the floor. The parking situation outside of the cottage caused havoc. The advert stated roadside parking opposite the cottage. This is not true. There are double white lines painted therefor you cannot park opposite them, which when we were loading and unloading we were told by numerous ‘locals’ who would go out of their way to tell us we can’t park. There is also a parking warden issuing £35 fines. To find somewhere to park in a village of this size with no parking available was an absolute nightmare. I was baffled on arrival at the front patio which is actually the door step… you would also never want to sit out there on a main road through the village? To watch tv we tried using the sky box which asked us to insert our viewing card. Firstly it’s 2023, who still has these type of devices and secondly, if we did, why would we bring the viewing card on holiday?? Wifi is chargeable, we had to buy this daily at quite a significant cost. There are no instructions for the cottage left out we had to search cupboards but this was minimal. As there is no garden, there was also no access to an outside bin so the kitchen bin became very full and we had to start taking rubbish out with us to find a bin? The welcome we received was the most unwelcome I have had in any cottage I have stayed in over the years. There wasn’t as much as half a toilet roll in the bathroom… The whole experience left us baffled, frustrated and put off from ever staying with Sykes again. It was an inaccurate listing of a property. That said, the village itself had 2 nice pubs with very friendly staff.

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• Andrew - Verified booking

  This was our first Christmas away from home, with family.

  Which we had been really looking forward to. The main issue for us was, we had no hot water for a week’s stay. We used the contact provided several times to raise the issue. The guy who maintains the property came out once on the 23rd December, he was nice but not a plumber, he asked us to let him know if we continued with cold water, which we did, but unfortunately heard nothing back from him or the booking agent who we had been contacting directly! It is not much fun trying to boil water for warm washes for a family of 8! Or taking a cold shower. Half our party left after 4 days, we all left before the week had ended cutting the break short. As I said, we had gone to the property for Christmas so it was also disappointing to find no decorations or even a little Christmas tree. The property is spacious, does need an update without a doubt and the smaller living room is freezing. The kitchen is decently equipped and towels, bed linen are provided. There is only one small TV in the property, so if you are a family that enjoy games consoles or watching TV, that may be an issue. The views from the property are amazing and the local village Pooley bridge is lovely and dig friendly with lovely walks. I wouldn’t stay again, due to the issues and need for upgrade, if that was taken care of it would be a lovely place to stay.

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• Giulia - Verified booking

  The location, and the actual house are fantastic.

  That feeling of amazement and excitement that this was going to be our cottage was unbeatable when we first arrived. However, there were a few things that made it less 'shiny' of an experience. Firstly, there was no wi-fi for our stay - we were taken through to a page that said the wifi bill was not paid. We let Sykes know ASAP, and they told us they let the owner know and that hopefully they would pay for it before the end of our stay. Seeing as wifi was important to us (mixed working holiday and outdoors adventure) and was advertised, that was a bit annoying. Other facilities were also mildly difficult - for example, the lower oven door came right off its hinges. We had to put it back on. The plastic cap covering the joint between the shower hose and the wall came off, so I had to replace that. Something else we could have found useful was an itenerary of the kitchen items, because we ended up bringing a lot of our own items because we were unsure what the cottage held. Overall however, we loved our stay and the views from the house did not get old. The furnishings were lovely, the kitchen surprisingly well-equipped. The house was spacious, well-decorated, provided ample space, and was very charming.

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• Lucy - Verified booking

  We loved our stay at Horrockwood Farm, the house was very comfortable and found it extremely clean.

  The house did take us a while to heat but once we had the fire going the place seemed to feel quite toasty & warm. We didn't use the room with the TV in as the radiators in there just didn't seem to reach temperature and didn't attempt to start the electric fire in there. However the main room was such a lovely spot with the fire and stunning views although personally I would be tempted to put another sofa in there as we didn't really have enough seats for all 6 of us to sit comfortably on the soft seats, so some used the floor. The kitchen was very well equipped (although missed having a steamer for veg) but having a coffee machine & a french press was a perk and nice addition to have some basics like salt & pepper, washing up liquid etc. We generally always had hot water until the last day when none of us did and not sure why we did nothing differently!? The ensuite shower does make a rather magnificent squeaking sound which we rectified by turning the dial slightly, like cracking a safe! Overall we loved our stay and thoroughly enjoyed all the cottage and surrounding areas had to offer, we would definitely return without hesitation!

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• Ting - Verified booking

  We stayed at this cottage during the Christmas holiday and found it to be a mixed experience.

  The property itself is charming and in a beautiful location, but there were several issues that affected our stay. The heating in the house is not very strong, making it relatively cold during the winter months, and it cannot be adjusted, which was inconvenient. The shower water was also on the colder side, though still manageable. Additionally, the cottages are part of a connected complex, and one of the other houses triggered a fire alarm while setting up their fire pit. This disrupted all the cottages for about half an hour, including ours while we were enjoying Christmas dinner. We contacted the maintenance team, but they only recorded the issue over the phone and didn’t resolve it immediately. The next morning, the house lost power entirely, forcing us to change our plans and head into town instead of staying in. Overall, the place has potential, but these minor issues, especially during the colder months, detract from the experience. While it’s a decent option for a stay, I would recommend improvements to heating, water temperature, and maintenance response to make it more comfortable for guests.

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