Dog Friendly Cottages In North Devon

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Helena - Verified booking

  The house is on a slope, in the middle of the forest and in the middle of nowhere.

  Next to it is an empty old hotel. There is no mobile phone, only WiFi and a landline phone that was blocked for outgoing calls, only emergency calls were possible. Making calls via WiFi is only possible if the provider allows it. This was possible for me, but not for my wife. This means that if your provider doesn't allow this, you will be completely isolated in the apartment. It is important to note that emergency calls CANNOT be made via WiFi! A high outside staircase leads to the apartment, which, thanks to the waterfalls, is always damp to wet and therefore very slippery. Now in the fall, when the leaves are on the stairs, they are as slippery as soap. Our repeated requests to clean the stairs and ensure sure-footedness were ignored by the owner. The request for a broom so we could sweep the stairs ourselves was also ignored. At first glance the apartment seems good, the view is beautiful, the furniture is solid and not worn out, it looks comfortable, but at second glance the deficiencies become apparent. In both bathrooms there is a strong smell of mold. There are no mixer taps, just two taps for cold and warm water. Either you wash with cold or hot water. The shower head is permanently installed, there is no flexible shower hose. The bathtub also has two separate taps. This is all very old-fashioned and impractical. In the room with the washer-dryer and therefore in the hallway there is a strong smell of oil that is used to operate the heating. There are no fly screens on the windows, which is downright irresponsible given the huge number of mosquitoes, black flies, all other kinds of flies, wasps and hornets, especially since there is a wasp's nest under the roof right by the window in the master bedroom. We had a fly invasion one afternoon and around 40 flies in the apartment. The mattress protector was missing on the mattress in the master bedroom, you could see all the ugly, brown and yellow stains on the mattress through the thin sheet, which suggests that the mattress is very old and has never been cleaned or had a mattress protector. In addition, the mattresses were very uncomfortable. We washed the bed linen in between and then saw that the pillows and blankets also had stains. Large pots, pans and pan/pot covers were missing in the kitchen. We had to buy a large pot with a lid and a wok/large pan ourselves and left them in the apartment. The wardrobe in the master bedroom is tiny, but at least it has doors, in the second bedroom it is just a small open wardrobe, this means that all of your clothing will definitely collect dust. There are not enough clothes hangers overall. There is no wardrobe in the hallway or at least a few hooks for street clothes. Also there's no shoe rack. The owner has put a box for street shoes outside the door and obviously believes that you should keep your shoes there. Since the entrance to the apartment is at the back of the house and therefore on a constantly damp to dripping wet slope (waterfalls!), the street shoes in this box remain damp, or will definitely be so if they weren't already damp. In the morning you can put on your damp, clammy, completely cool shoes. There are no hooks for towels and/or bathrobes in either bathroom. Not even in the two bedrooms. There are also no towel hooks in the kitchen. The apartment is dog-friendly, which is very nice, but has very light (!) carpeted floors throughout. The dog owners should clean the dogs outside with the hose and cold water provided before the dogs go into the apartment, because the carpet in the hallway is also white and there is only a dark doormat. You can't really go for a walk with your dog anywhere, there's no garden or a meadow nearby but only narrow, busy road right next to the house that you can walk along, but since it leads directly to the slope on one side and to the steep precipice on the other, the walks are no pleasure. For a nice walk you have to drive a bit before you can safely walk with the dog. In the evening/night the street is completely unlit, it is then extremely dark and it is downright life-threatening to walk along the street. Since the house is really lonely, in the middle of nowhere, you don't feel very safe, especially since the other two apartments in the house were not visible most of the time. We stayed in the apartment for almost three weeks and would never book it again.

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• James - Verified booking

  Large period sash windows overlook the impressive view over town and sea to the Welsh coastline beyond.

  You will need to feed the meter £6 a day to at least keep the chill off on 2/3 low/med setting, but will require significantly more if you want cosy or if very cold or for running hot water. We went green and switched the immersion heater off and used electric shower and boiled water for basins, so spent £34 not including the £5 already in the meter when we arrived. Probably would benefit with electric blankets as the nights can be challenging. Jim Jams and bed socks a must. In the spring or summer I imagine it would be an absolute delight to stay there with all of the sash windows open and the sound of the tumbling river from the gorge below filling the main room. The furnishings, fixtures and fittings are in keeping with the historical character of the building and the kitchen has all the basic items for self catering. it has a very quirky and eclectic shared entrance, a somewhat theatrical emporium overflowing with wonderful potted plants, prints and paintings, a piano, and carefully arranged cushions, antiques and collectibles; a creative reflection of Gill - its warm and ebullient owner who clearly loves the house where she lives and welcomes her guests.

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• Mrs Binning - Verified booking

  The property was ideal for us and our two Norfolk Terriers. It is set in a peaceful valley which is off the beaten track but easy to get to with Parracombe and it’s fabulous pub and community shop and cafe a short drive away (or a good brisk walk away if you prefer that). The enclosed Orchard was brilliant for our dogs to roam around off lead safely and without being able to run off. The property is dog friendly and in the same way as we do at home, the dogs can safely be kept out of bedrooms/carpeted areas as child/dog gates are already installed, which we found very useful. The property has all the equipment needed for an enjoyable home from home break and we appreciated the complete peace. The owners were friendly and helpful and on hand if required, but basically left you to enjoy their hospitality and your holiday. There are so many fabulous places to explore in this part of Devon and we found lots of lovely places to eat, the owners have left lots of information on this too. All in all we enjoyed a relaxing time without stress and two nicely worn out woofies who enjoyed themselves too.

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• Wayne - Verified booking

  The view from this apartment is a daily delight no matter the weather.

  The apartment is in excellent condition with every modern convenience. The owners have excellent communication skills and even had a bottle of champagne for us in the fridge on arrival; completely unexpected. The surroundings are hilly and require a certain level of fitness to get to the beach and back but well worth the effort. The beach has a natural tide pool and I was amazed to see a few folks swimming even in April! The nearest hotel is Hunters Inn, which is very good and an hours walk from the apartment via a beautiful coastal path. There is building work taking place near the apartment but no noticeable noise that affected our stay. To find the property is challenging and the roads are mainly single lane and very steep but that is the price to getaway from the crowds. Lastly, bring everything you need with you, there are no shops nearby. The perfect place to getaway from it all.

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• Mrs Jones - Verified booking

  I have never stayed in a holiday home this well equip before. I cook a lot, I always found what I needed to use in the cupboard. Hosts were on hand if needed, but left us to our own devices. Property and the farm were lovely. Our boys (15 and 12) went off to roam almost immediately and were fine to explore wherever they wanted alone. Lovely local walks. Lots of land on the farm to explore. Loads of useful information in the file from the hosts covering literally everything from local food and shops, dogs friendly beaches. Well worth going to the local farm shop/butchers and the community cafe in the village. We also went to the storm in a tea cup cafe which was great. I cannot even think of constructive criticism, we had everything we needed, lovely location which felt like home. So glad we picked it.

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