Dog Friendly Cottages in the Lake District

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Rachael - Verified booking

  Claife View Lodge - Ambleside 77 We stayed here for a weeks holiday in November 2018.

  This was booked through Sykes Cottages as the lodge is privately owned. On arrival the lodge was freezing cold, the heating had not been on for days and it would have been nice and welcoming, to arrive to a warm lodge especially this time of year. The lodge did not appear to be very clean. The basics were fine; clean bedding, clean toilet and shower, and main floor areas ok. We moved the coffee table to make more space for our little baby and noticed the rug was quite stained and the part of the rug under the coffee table had not been hoovered for a while! We attempted to hoover ourselves but the hoover was pretty useless. The bathroom door handle was broken and we reported this 2 days after our arrival, and it was finally repaired the day before we went home. There wasn’t much storage in the kitchen as the cupboards were all full of kitchen equipment (not sure it was all necessary!) so we stored stuff on top of the kitchen cupboards only to discover it was thick of dust and very greasy. We noticed that the extractor fan wasn’t even connected to anything. Skirting boards were grubby especially near kitchen bin, so we cleaned this ourselves. (Who wants to clean while they are on holiday?!) There was lots of dirt and old sweets etc under both sofas. The shower screen leaked everytime you used the shower and the grout/sealant was mouldy in places. We found a hairball on top of bathroom cabinet and hairs/dust behind bathroom door. We found food smears on inside of curtains in living room, and inside of windows were covered in fingerprints. Decking area could do with a jet wash after the summer. We reported these issues to Sykes Cottages when informing them of the broken door handle. The cleaning team did visit the following day and cleaned the floors, removed hairs from behind door and left fresh towels but did not action the other issues. However, it did make us feel a little more comfortable about staying there the rest of our holiday. We had an ok holiday, the site is nice, clubhouse is canny, and the site is in a great location. However, this lodge needs a deep clean and a bit of TLC asap! Hopefully no one else will feel the way we felt while staying there, or have to do their own cleaning whilst on holiday, and that the owners of this lodge have dealt with all the issues we informed them of! Lastly, the third bedroom is quite small, with no cupboard space and is definetly a bedroom for children. I don’t think the lodge is really suitable for 6 adults.

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• Clive - Verified booking

  The property was spacious, particularly the bedrooms.

  There were four in my party, so we had a bedroom each. Storage for clothes was adequate, but if two people had been staying in my room (with possibly a child), I think it would have been a case of living out of a suitcase to some extent. The bedrooms were all en-suite, one with a bath only, the other three with a shower over a bath. The living areas and dining room were very good, being comfortable and roomy. TV's were everywhere, although none were used. The oil fired heating struggled to reach a comfortable room temperature in January, albeit that we chose not to use the wood burners to save time clearing the ashes each morning. This improved slightly after I realized my non-thermostatic bedroom radiator was not switched on! There was a slight smell of oil in some parts of the cottage, but not overpowering. The heating seemed to come on around 07:00, so was not on when we got up in the mornings. The kitchen was adequate for four persons but I feel would have been a challenge for eight adults and a couple of kids. The fridge was small, the freezer even smaller. Food storage was limited. Again, adequate for four people who did cook in the evenings. We were advised that another fridge was available in a garage, but this would mean going outside to access it. The cooker was a standard 600mm freestanding electric type. The dishwasher was a slimline model and for full occupancy would have been insufficient. There were bulbs which did not appear to be working and others that only came on dimly. Not a great problem and would probably have been sorted if we had mentioned it, but I feel this should not be necessary on a £1000+ a week property (January prices). There was Wi-Fi available, but noticeably slowed down by multiple users. There was no mobile phone reception on my network. Everyone we met on the farm was pleasant, friendly and helpful. Parking was more than adequate and adjacent to the cottage. The campsite was not open during our stay. So, to sum up, a comfortable and mostly spacious cottage in which we had a pleasant stay for a week. Facilities generally good. Some minor issues with the lights and the heating. However, I think I would have been disappointed with the kitchen facilities if my party was double the size. Would I stay again? Yes, assuming there were only four of us.

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• Susan - Verified booking

  Don't laugh when I tell you it was the wrong Troutbeck!

  ! My atlas showed only one Troutbeck in its back index, so I naturally assumed the one near Ambleside was it, in the area near to the 2 attractions my daughters or grandchildren particularly wanted to visit - Beatrix Potter attractions and Grisedale Sculpture trails.In retrospect I'm so glad it WAS the hamlet of Troutbeck, far from the Madding Crowd , as it were, which I only realised a few days before the holiday began, when I read the travel instructions! My fault of course, but there are some of us still using road atlases to locate a suitable holiday spot , not au fait with the gadgets most can use these days!My husband normally saw to fixing up holidays but sadly he died late last year. So, I want you to know we thoroughly enjoyed Gill Head farm with its peacocks, guinea fowl and RED squirrels as very special treats for us all, over and above the usual farm animals. The one problem we found - a window we could not close in the children's bedroom- was seen to immediately by the very pleasant owner as soon as it was reported. Very impressed.

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• Tracey - Verified booking

  A spacious and comfortable lodge.

  A nice quiet area with good access to places of interest. Easy key collection and lots of equipment in the lodge to make the stay homely. Unfortunately the cleanliness was an issue. The floor had not be cleaned at all, within 5 minutes our socks were covered in dog hair and dirt. Never have we had to clean on arriving at a property. The floor and carpets were so dirty. There was remnants of a dog bone under the edge of the sofa and it was clear that large items had never been moved to clean. Lumps of hair and grit were hoovered up and I had to wipe all the window sills. The dust on the router had been there for weeks if not months, it was covered. Dog hair all over the leather sofa had to be cleaned before we could sit. Other issues we had were that the fire did not work, shower leaks lots of watet all over the floor in the main bathroom, you can see this is ongoing as the paint has gone brown on the skirting board. Freezer drawers all broken.

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• Carolynne - Verified booking

  This property is beautifully situated with glorious views.

  Off the beaten track and therefore amazingly quiet. I would suggest care on the approach road as there are one or two bad potholes. The house is very well equipped, plenty of bed linen and towels provided and has enough bathrooms and showers so no-one ever has to wait their turn! The owners kept in good contact with us which was reassuring and the cleaners had done a very thorough job. I will mention that whilst some of the furnishings are a little dated it in no way detracted from our stay and made us feel rather more at ease with having young children and a dog with us. Whilst at Ghyll Bank House we did have an overnight power cut due to a bad storm. We found a few tea lights and had some logs for a fire but no means of making a hot drink. Perhaps covering this eventuality for the future could be considered? Overall, our family party had a wonderful week's stay and send many thanks to the owners.

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