Dog Friendly Cottages in Windermere

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Felicity - Verified booking

  I am not a fan of publishing negative feedback when issues remain unresolved, however given the time frame passed since our stay and lack of meaningful update from Sykes I feel I have been left with no choice.

  We chose to stay over the Christmas period for a week. Indeed this was the first time that we have ever stayed away from home over Christmas. Positives: communication prior to stay, initial impressions of the cottage, amenities, lovely welcome pack and level of dog friendliness of the accommodation, which aside from some of the steps (mainly the uncovered ones from the dining area to the kitchen which one of my dogs had real difficulties with) really is unrivalled over anywhere else we have stayed. Negatives: upon arrival we noted a completely loose kitchen plinth laying on the floor, a leaking downstairs ensuite radiator and that Sky was not working on either Smart TV. I reported these issues on that first evening via the Sykes app. Non of these issues were an emergency so did not warrant a call to the emergency number provided, and I assumed Sykes would be in contact the next day. This however did not happen despite me contacting them on numerous occasions via the same message thread chasing an update and being mindful that given our stay included both Christmas day and Boxing day there was a good chance that staffing would be at a minimum. Cleanliness - whilst the cottage was generally clean, by the first morning my dad reported to me having to clean the upstairs shower tray due to it being blocked with hair and other detritus that would have caused it to overflow if left unattended. Oven - on Christmas day we were cooking a full meal and as such used both gas ovens. The oven to the right kept going out while we were trying to cook, leading to us having to swap items around to ensure everything was cooked properly and a delay in our meal. Outdoor area - there is a real lack of lighting on the courtyard particularly by the two steps leading down to the back gate. There are signs that the slabs become slippy when wet, however treatment of the green algae will assist significantly with minimising this. There are also signs for hot tub maintainence, however to our knowledge it was only attended to once during our stay. Sky TV - neither Sky Box worked for the duration of the stay. The box in the living room was constantly whirring, and simply did not work. Luckily the TV's are Smart and we could log into Netflix and Prime, however if you do not have these accounts then watching the TV is going to be difficult. It's a facility that simply shouldn't be advertised if they consistently don't work (noted issue on another review). It was Christmas week, and clearly we wanted to watch films/festive programmes during our stay. If some of these issues with the boxes are down to lack of system updates these should be checked as part of the cottage reset prior to new customers staying. Sykes response - I finally received a reply on the last full day of my holiday. No apology, basically blaming me for not making contact via phone, as apparently phone calls were being prioritised over the festive period. If this was true, then it should have been published on the website / auto reply. Since my return I have had to chase for updates; any person I have spoken to seems fairly uninterested in the issues raised, and no meaningful apology has been offered over the seemingly standard £50 refund and send some photos of the issues (of a non working oven, and a non working Sky box!). I have also been made aware of a recent BBC consumer affairs programme which highlighted similar bad customer experiences. So to summarise, with better maintaince the cottage would be amazing, however I would not choose to book any future holidays with Sykes.

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• Laura - Verified booking

  We had a lovely stay at Fellside lodge.

  There was 6 of us (3 couples) and 4 dogs and our 1 year old. The property is excellently situated and everything is so accessible. The house is lovely & cosy, and the hot tub is fabulous! The cellar in particular is a godsend with 4 dogs and how well they are included is amazing. The fact there’s a main bathroom, downstairs toilet and 2 en suites too is brilliant. There could be a few maintenance improvements to the property. For example, the tumble dryer took us ages to work out as it kept turning off. The Roman blinds in the bedrooms were a little tempremental, and the kitchen handle under the sink was loose so we kept having to screw it back on. The pin for the skybox would have been useful too as there was a couple of drama series we wanted to watch and couldn’t. A little cheap foldaway high chair would have been really useful too (we took our own but this would have saved us some space in the car). The third bedroom was also made up as a twin and all of us were couples, so that was a shame and it would have been good to have been asked how the beds should be made up prior to arrival (apologies if we missed that request however). We were disappointed on our last day as the cleaners turned up at 9am and sat in their car with the engine running which made us all feel on edge and a nuisance even though we were packing up and the check out was 10am. However, upon contacting the owner Claire, she was lovely and responded immediately. It was our first time in the Lakes and we wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again. It is a beautiful property and we could have easily stayed another week.

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• Joanne - Verified booking

  Old Droomer is beautiful, and has the wow factor in this well equipped house with plenty of room for big families.

  Garden is amazing although the pond is empty. Watching the robot lawnmower is novel especially in the dark when it has its headlights on! Now for the negatives... It could do with a series deep clean!! We had the stable bedroom at the far end of the house and in the corners on the floor and the ceiling there were big cobwebs with spiders. The dust in the small living room was unreal. There is a vase of plastic flowers in the window, and when the sun shines in it was covered with cobwebs and the vase had never been polished. There were cobwebs everywhere through the house. Along the front edge of the sofa in the large living room you could see a line of crumbs and also balls of fluff that had accumulated. Also cobwebs on every wooden window sill in there. The drawers in the kitchen need cleaning out, there is crumbs and general dirt in them all. I know the cleaning team probably don't get alot of time to do what they need to do but this is just basic stuff. Also the lights in the onsuite bathroom in the main side of the house has 4 spotlights and only 1 was working so it made it very dark. With regards to the access lane, it's not too bad, a little tight in places, but the more you drive it, you do get used to it. Great location and easy access to Bowness and Windermere, which are both walking distance. All in all we had a fantastic week as a family of 7. Would recommend for a peaceful stay

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• Daryl - Verified booking

  We had a fantastic stay at Old Droomer.

  This is beautiful and vast property. When we booked I thought the building may have been two properties, but it is the whole building as you see. I was a little unsure if the condition would be great before we arrived as a couple of recent reviews stated the decor was looking a little tired. This wasn't the case though, we found the condition of the house throughout to be very good and immaculately clean. The oak frame extension is a fantastic addition to the property and the underfloor heating throughout the ground floor was lovely (especially with it being freezing outside). The kitchen had everything you could possibly need and the bathrooms are stylish and modern. We were two families (4 adults and 4 children) and the house and gardens were perfect for us. The only slight issue we found were how steep the stairs (ladder style staircase) in the loft bedroom at the end of the house were. Definitely not suitable for children of a young age or anyone with mobility issues (or too drunk). We had a 3 year old sneak up and fall all the way down (fortunately not serious injuries). The other 3 bedrooms are all off a separate set of gentle stairs with low level lighting when dark. All in all we loved the house and location and certainly intend on staying again in the future. Thank you to the owners for making it such a great and memorable stay.

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• Michelle - Verified booking

  I used to camp at Limefitt when I was a child with my parents and have been many times.

  Now I have my own family we decided to return and I couldn’t have been more happy with how the site had been improved and cared for. It is in a great location and is very quiet. The views from the site are very nice. We walked up the hill at the back of the site (from the pub) and had a lovely view of lake Windermere and surrounding areas. The lodge was lovely. Very spacious, the decor and furnishings are very modern and looked new. No issues at all whilst we stayed and would book again. I am being very picky but there was dust under the beds and on some of the living area sides. Nothing major at all as I wiped it easily enough. Due to the time of year and the weather we had, it would’ve been good to have a place to put our walking shoes and coats as they got wet and muddy. But that is to prevent dirt in the lodge more than anything. But as I said before I would 100% book again as the lodge was comfy, warm and had home comforts. I brought my dog and felt he was included in our time away as we walked him round the site and used the dog field. Dogs are allowed in the pub too which is great. I would recommend the site and Lavender Lodge. I hope to return later this year as had such a brilliant 4 nights. Thank you to the owners of the lodge and the site for the time we had there.

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