Dog Friendly Cottages In Kielder

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Moira - Verified booking

  I have written quite a long review, so accept it would have to be edited for publication The Lawson family has just enjoyed a long weekend in The New House ,in a very rural part of Cumbria.

  Take the advice of Sykes Cottages and don’t arrive without that essential bottle of milk, as you can’t just pop out to the shops. The house is very spacious and comfortable, with plenty of room for a family of 9 adults, as we are. The main living, cooking and recreational area is open plan and most attractive, leading out to a furnished patio, within extensive and beautiful gardens. The kitchen is well equipped for self catering, which we mainly did, but we also enjoyed a very high quality and reasonably priced dinner at athe Crossings, about 20 minutes away. All the bedrooms and bathrooms are upstairs, quite a long and steep climb to be expected in this high ceilinged property. There is a downstairs toilet and utility room with an extra fridge freezer for all those provisions. There are empty cupboards in the kitchen for other groceries. For anyone wishing to be away from the biz of the family room, there is another attractive and comfortable sitting room, leading through to a library, with its extensive and eclectic collections of books. There is also a small, formal dining room, which we didn’t even think of using, as the large (very covetable) table in the family room accommodated us perfectly. From the house there is a fabulous panoramic view for miles around, totally unspoiled by any modern intrusions, pylons, etc., giving a wide open feel to the hilltop house. It is set in a truly historic landscape, with the 4th century Bewcastle Cross, all 15 feet of it carved beautifully in sandstone, to be found at the bottom of the hill. A special exhibition, housed within the churchyard, is well worth a visit. A visit to Birdoswald Roman fort is a must. A huge amount of excavation has been done, and a fine exhibition and cafe all make for a great visit, ideal for Wall enthusiasts, like us. The New House is advertised as a family home, and it certainly has that feel, not at all a sterile holiday let. However, we felt the, to us, rather off colour cartoons in the main bathroom would not be to the taste of many renters. Probably because of its remote position, the WiFi was quite patchy. These two comments apart, our family would highly recommend this lovely house and setting to any prospective customers, particularly anyone seeking peace and quiet. And it was a lovely place for celebrating our 60 th wedding anniversary, the diamond geezers as we became known! Moira Lawson

  Read more less >

• Jane - Verified booking

  Over all my experience at New House, Brampton was very disappointing.

  To start with I was a bit concerned when I discovered after booking that the house keeping bond was payable to the property owner not Sykes Cottages. My concern was well founded. After paying the bond, 8 days before the start of the holiday, we struggled to make any further contact with the owner, Mr Barrington, and I had to speak to Sykes to contact him on our behalf, whereupon he did eventually manage to send the arrival details and the key safe code to us - just 36 hours before our arrival and after a full week of procrastination on his part. After departing New House on the 13th December it took until the 30th of December and 5 further phone calls to Sykes to have the good housekeeping bond finally repaid. Sykes have been extremely supportive. I think without their help I could be still waiting for my money and I am very grateful for their help with this. The property itself is ‘tired’ and we found it cold. The windows need cleaning, the settees in the main room are grubby. There are far too many grotty table mats, chipped pots and worn out 'no longer' non-stick pan and oven trays. It appears nothing old has ever been thrown away. The cutlery is an eclectic collection of bits and bobs. The fridge and freezer have seen better days and the cooker is very worn and was far cleaner when we left than on our arrival, especially the oven which we cleaned before using. The beds were uncomfortable and too well used. Out of 3 showers 1 leaked, one was either excessively hot or excessively cold with nothing in between, the 3rd was okay. On a positive note Mr Barrington is very generous with his toilet rolls. The small sitting room and dining room are elegant but they accommodate only 5 or 6 people, as a party of 8 adults we did not use them. The property is remote, big and spacious and the views are lovely. But this is not nearly enough to compensate. It is fair to say that the inability to contact Mr. Barrington and the irritation it caused spoiled our holiday as much as the other negatives which are also significant.

  Read more less >

• Joanne - Verified booking

  New House was perfect for celebrating my birthday with family and friends.

  Fantastic property, well presented with lots of character, it felt like home with photos and personal items not too fussy but better than being sterile and was very comfortable and relaxing. Kitchen was well equipped and included everything we needed. Bedrooms were clean and beds very comfortable. Plenty of room for all my family and friends to be together or do their own thing and the views were spectacular. It may be a little off the beaten path but worth it; wether you go walking or running or just want a relaxing time New House was perfect. It was an excellent base to use to visit local places of interest such as Hadrians Wall, Carlisle, Gretna Green and you soon get to recognise the surrounding area and villages. The local Bewcastle Church and Cross is worth a walk to clear your head after celebrations and is around 1 1/2 miles away. A local traffic jam is a herd of sheep or cows coming towards you which is a novelty but different to my usual commute and the memory will make me smile. My family and friends all enjoyed their visit over the week and confirmed what a good idea it was to do this. The house made the celebrations and Ross had thought of everything except a hair dryer, we couldn’t find one anywhere but anything else you thought of was there! The heating isn’t like your CH st home and it took some getting used to but that’s part of the charm and the log burners were a great focal point and additional heat source. First time we have used Sykes but will be doing it again. Fabulous time highly recommend New House.

  Read more less >

• Steve - Verified booking

  There's now a mobile signal for both voice and data at the cottage!

  This was on the 3 network. No signal yet on EE. I got 7mps down on data compared with 4mps on wi-fi, the latter being rock steady. Voice calls on mobile were nice and clear, although we mainly used wi-fi calling. We've stayed at dozens of cottages over the years and this was undoubtedly the best. It's extremely spacious to say the least. We won't stay anywhere that doesn't have a bath and a 3 seater settee. This has both. We consider these essential when we've been on our feet all day. The L-shaped sofa is particularly comfortable. The king size bed was too firm for our tastes, but most guests would probably love it. We slept in the twin room and found these beds nice and comfortable. The kitchen is extremely well equipped to say the least, and we appreciated the dishwasher. The only slight downside is the lighting, especially in the kitchen. The cottage is isolated, but the 2 mile single track road is tarmacked. It's about 15 minutes from the small town of Bellingham in the direction of Kielder Water. As a result stargazing here is exceptional with the bonus of a south facing rear garden. On the 2 clear nights we had I recorded a sky brightness of 21.4mag/arcsecondsquared even with the Milky Way overhead. Highly recommended.

  Read more less >

• David - Verified booking

  If you have got as far as reading this then you are interested in renting Shepherds Burn, don't look for other properties in the area this one is just great.

  Hiking, cycling, a base to start exploring from or just chilling out watching the wildlife then look no further book it. You'll find the cottage a couple of miles down a tarmac track which means no passing traffic, except the very infrequent farm or forestry vehicles (and I mean very infrequent). The cottage itself is beautifully maintained with everything you need for your stay and a large dog proof garden (how many times have I heard that phrase only to be disappointed - but not here) There are many tracks/bridleways through the forest that you can explore from the doorstep or a short drive takes you to Kielder reservoir and longer to every village and small town to the coast. The nearest village is Bellingham which is well stocked for your shopping needs, do look in the Country Store, possibly the most well stocked shop in Northumberland. From where I live we have the dubious joys of commuting up the appalling road work/accident filled A1 even that won't stop me going returning, to quote Mr A Schwarzenegger "I'll be back" A great cottage, in a great location rented from lovely people.

  Read more less >