“Great location, lovely little house which is very modern and well presented. Big garden perfect for dogs & very dog friendly. We will be booking to return!”
“It was easy to book our holiday with Sykes Cottages. We needed to ask some questions before finalising and the person we dealt with was extremely helpful. They held the booking for us whilst we waited for an answer from the owners, which came back very promptly. We were kept informed and updated right up to the day we took over the property. We would recommend Sykes and will be using them again in the future. A very satisfactory experience all round. Thank you.”
“THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE PROPERTY, NOT SYKES COTTAGES AS A COMPANY.
We have been very happy with the service and quality of accommodation we have stayed in via Sykes Cottages.... up until our last stay at Garden Cottage, Loversall, Doncaster.
The location of Garden Cottage is first-class - easy to access via major routes, yet enjoying a real 'get-away-from-it-all' feeling and exactly as described.
The property, unfortunately, was a different matter - in fact, I contacted Sykes via live-chat on the first evening of our arrival (Sunday 31st August) to advise that we intended to leave the following morning! We did, however, decide to give the property the benefit of the doubt, in case we had acted hastily, and remained - returning home, in the end after only 4 nights instead of 5!
Upon arrival, we had to empty the dishwasher, which was packed full with crockery and frying pans. Several items had to be washed again as they still had quite copious amounts of food residue on them. Quite a few of the plates/mugs were chipped and there were not enough mugs for 8 people, should the place be fully occupied.
The instructions for the Aga (supposedly in the back of the information pack) were nowhere to be found and it transpired that, should you wish to use the washing machine or tumble drier, you had to ask for access to the 'second utility room'.
A warning in case of power cuts and instructions on how to reset the fuse box (above the eye-level cupboards) suggested the use of a small stool to stand on. There was no torch to hand 'in case' of need. We did have to reset the fuse board and it was necessary for me to climb up onto the worktop to access the switches. I am an average 5' 6'' in height and 70 years old!
Sleepers, that were used to form a seating patio area outside the sun-room, literally 'see-sawed' when you stood on either end and the summer house didn't appear to have been cleaned for months.
Several light-bulbs were missing from the fittings around the house and there were no plugs in two of the wash basins in the bathroom and ensuite.
The small bin in the master en-suite was still full as it hadn't been emptied and, I suspected, smelt - as did the master bedroom. However, in the end I convinced myself it was because it was an old property. It took us a while to locate the light switch in the master ensuite shower room. In the end, we found a very short, broken light pull that had been knotted twice at the end. It had obviously been like that for some time as the end was discoloured with use. We did alert the owner to this and the response was, "thanks for letting me know". No-one came to fix it during the duration of our stay.
We are familiar with the 'quirks' of old properties but that does not excuse/explain sloppy housekeeping or Health and Safety issues.
By the middle of the week we decided that our stay was causing more stress than relaxation (for my husband's 80th birthday treat!) so we set about packing up to leave on Thursday 4th September, instead of the following day. I pride myself on leaving properties as clean and tidy as when I arrive but I could not sweep or vacuum the floors as there was not even a dustpan and brush available!
The final straw - when emptying the bathroom bin that we had been left by previous occupants, into the rubbish to be bagged up and put into the outside bins, it uncovered a used sanitary item in the bottom! So I certainly hadn't 'imagined' the smell!
Couldn't get away quick enough!!
Please be alerted, Sykes, as this property certainly does not live up to usually high standards. I think the expression is, "all Top Show!" We were extremely disappointed as the break was supposed to celebrate a special occasion. I can certainly think of better ways of spending over a £1000!!
I did receive a prompt reply to my initial email with yourselves (31st August) on 1st September , giving me a named contact (Louis) but was unable to reply as I was not sure how to use the WhatsApp method requested.”
“Had a number of holidays booki gs with Sykes. Quick and easy to book. Never had any problems with either Sykes or the properties mostly with friendly and helpful owners. When unfortunately this year we had to cancel a booking for medical reasons which proved simple snd straightforward. Would definitely recommend them. Already booked for next year.”
“We enjoyed our stay immensely. A very spacious property and probably the best Syke's property we have stayed at. We did have to move the settee so that we could watch the television comfortably. Everything worked and was easy to use but written instructions on how to open the French windows would have saved us time. The markings on the cooker knobs need to be replaced and one of the handles on one of the mugs was chipped and was also cracked but as there were four of them this wasn't a problem. Well equiped with everything we needed. Our small dog did not like the bear wooden stairs and we had to carry her up and down as there was no carpet on them to stop her slipping. Likewise something to prevent slipping occuring in the shower would have been good. The television upstairs was too quiet but the view of the surrounding hills and mountains was superb, but they couldn't be seen from downstairs as the hedge around the property needed cutting. Small points indeed but attention to these would have raised our opinion from good to superb!”
“The cottage was Comfortable & clean, quiet & good location. The kitchen needs some TLC, for those guests that like to cook. For those who don’t The Cod Mother was very handy 😁.”
“Never failed us yet . We have three more booked with you to look forward to.As we must have had at least fifteen over the years I think that says it all .”
“Enjoyed our break the cottage was old but cosy the staircase should have a handrail it is very unsettling when going up and down we couldn't sit in the garden as it was very overgrown!”
“We had a wonderful holiday in Polzeath. The only problem was the linen service at the end of weeks 1 and 2. Twice in the first week a man came to collect dirty linen when we had only been in the house for a few days. Then on the middle Friday no fresh linene was delivered. We chased this up 3 times on the phone, and eventually went in to the local office on Saturday morning. The clean linen was eventually delivered on Saturday afternoon. Then on the Thursday, fresh linen was delivered for whoever was staying after us, and they collected a very small amoun of dirty linen, but did not leave a bag for the rest of the dirty linen (in this case their problem not mine)”
“Wonderful comfortable place to stay, lovely and clean, comfortable beds and location of the property. Need good legs to walk to and back from town and then up the steps but the views from the house are well worth it.”
