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What have I done wrong? Trip advisor review
aventurine
Posts: 45 Forumite
Hi all,
We recently stayed in North Syke cottage in Ambleside (Lake District) and had a very disappointing time. The cottage descriptions just weren't accurate, and if we had known the exact set-up of this place we would never have booked it! I have submitted two reviews to trip advisor who we booked through, but they won't post it on their site. I wonder if anyone can help me as I'm presuming it must break their rules somehow, I will post the review below:-
We have returned four days early from a very stressful and disappointing stay at North Syke cottage. We felt we couldn't stay any longer and feel the cottage description is misleading and misrepresented.
Access is severely restricted via a sloping, winding driveway, archway and arbor. You must park your car in the end garage, which is a small single. Our car stuck out at the front, despite being reversed as far as possible inside the garage. This also prevented use of the washing machine, which is in the back of the garage. Drying anything you manage to wash is via the use of a wooden rack on the ceiling of the garage, which we were told needs wiping before use to get rid of the bird muck! We have a baby, as well as 2 teenagers, and this situation was unacceptable.
The owner lives in a wooden shack/converted outhouse in the back garden of the property, only a car-length away from the house. Therefore there is absolutely no privacy, as anyone who walks by can see into the dining room, kitchen and lounge and conversations can be heard in the dining room.
The property is advertised as sleeping 5, which in no way is true. We had to squeeze the baby's travel cot into the main bedroom, rendering the wardrobe useless, and barely having enough legroom to inch sideways between the bed and the cot, often snagging your clothes on the wooden bedpost in the process. The bed also doesn't have a proper headboard, so reading in bed is a no-no, plus pillows often fell off the bed onto the floor in the middle of the night. All the beds are also uncomfortable (family consensus).
There are not 2 bathrooms either. There is an upstairs bathroom, plus downstairs shower room that is a converted cupboard (looking very claustrophobic) and a separate downstairs loo, with no hand basin. Soap wasn't provided in the upstairs bathroom.
The gloom in the lounge is awful, it just doesn't get the sunlight, and smells very musty. The sofa covers feel greasy like they need a good wash. Some bibs I washed by hand took over 2 days to dry in the house. The beds also felt slightly damp.
In the kitchen there was no cloth or sponge scourer, despite the request not to put the saucepans in the dishwasher. The cutlery rack in the dishwasher had large holes in, so the cutlery often just disappeared into the bottom of the appliance. You had to break the tablet in half in order to get it into the dispenser. There were no spare bin liners, so a family of 5 were expected not to use more than one bin's worth of rubbish for an entire week. There was a lack of lidded saucepans and common utensils.
Outside, the seating area was basically right next to the driveway at the side of the house. On arrival, there was a leaking pipe which had caused water to pool all round the area, plus the main bench was broken. If you do decide to sit there, be aware that there is absolutely no privacy whatsoever.
Also on arrival, access to the driveway was blocked by an aggressive patron of the nearby pub. When I spoke to him, he told me it was the owner of the cottage's attitude that had made him refuse to move his vehicle. If she apologised, he would move, but we had to wait for the police instead. Apparently people parking in that spot is a common occurrence with the cottage owner having a police conviction for pouring horse manure through one offender's sunroof!
The owner had already been drinking gin with her friend, in the garden of the cottage, by the time we arrived, and was already slightly inebriated. She didn't show me where to get into the cottage, which wasn't obvious due to no sign on the outside of the property, plus the friend of the owner sitting in the garden near the open back door made me think I'd got the wrong place. The owner disappeared for so long, that I had to sit on the worse-for-wear garden furniture to give my baby her tea. The cot and highchair hadn't been put out, despite my mentioning the baby on booking.
With regards to babies who are mobile and young children - please avoid this cottage!! It is unsafe, both outside and in. There isn't any spindles on the side of the stairs, so young children could fall off the side of the stairs until halfway up, where the wall starts. Plus there was no way of having a stair gate at the bottom. The outside area with large gates near the archway is shared by others, so often the gates are left open, which means young children can easily escape unless constantly supervised.
The final straw for us came on the Tuesday morning when workmen came unannounced (we were told they were coming on Friday) and started work on the burst pipe. They were working right by the windows of the lounge, and knocked on the door a few times whilst we were trying to settle the baby off to sleep, although the front door is permanently locked, so we couldn't answer!
We are all so glad to be home!!
We recently stayed in North Syke cottage in Ambleside (Lake District) and had a very disappointing time. The cottage descriptions just weren't accurate, and if we had known the exact set-up of this place we would never have booked it! I have submitted two reviews to trip advisor who we booked through, but they won't post it on their site. I wonder if anyone can help me as I'm presuming it must break their rules somehow, I will post the review below:-
We have returned four days early from a very stressful and disappointing stay at North Syke cottage. We felt we couldn't stay any longer and feel the cottage description is misleading and misrepresented.
Access is severely restricted via a sloping, winding driveway, archway and arbor. You must park your car in the end garage, which is a small single. Our car stuck out at the front, despite being reversed as far as possible inside the garage. This also prevented use of the washing machine, which is in the back of the garage. Drying anything you manage to wash is via the use of a wooden rack on the ceiling of the garage, which we were told needs wiping before use to get rid of the bird muck! We have a baby, as well as 2 teenagers, and this situation was unacceptable.
The owner lives in a wooden shack/converted outhouse in the back garden of the property, only a car-length away from the house. Therefore there is absolutely no privacy, as anyone who walks by can see into the dining room, kitchen and lounge and conversations can be heard in the dining room.
The property is advertised as sleeping 5, which in no way is true. We had to squeeze the baby's travel cot into the main bedroom, rendering the wardrobe useless, and barely having enough legroom to inch sideways between the bed and the cot, often snagging your clothes on the wooden bedpost in the process. The bed also doesn't have a proper headboard, so reading in bed is a no-no, plus pillows often fell off the bed onto the floor in the middle of the night. All the beds are also uncomfortable (family consensus).
There are not 2 bathrooms either. There is an upstairs bathroom, plus downstairs shower room that is a converted cupboard (looking very claustrophobic) and a separate downstairs loo, with no hand basin. Soap wasn't provided in the upstairs bathroom.
The gloom in the lounge is awful, it just doesn't get the sunlight, and smells very musty. The sofa covers feel greasy like they need a good wash. Some bibs I washed by hand took over 2 days to dry in the house. The beds also felt slightly damp.
In the kitchen there was no cloth or sponge scourer, despite the request not to put the saucepans in the dishwasher. The cutlery rack in the dishwasher had large holes in, so the cutlery often just disappeared into the bottom of the appliance. You had to break the tablet in half in order to get it into the dispenser. There were no spare bin liners, so a family of 5 were expected not to use more than one bin's worth of rubbish for an entire week. There was a lack of lidded saucepans and common utensils.
Outside, the seating area was basically right next to the driveway at the side of the house. On arrival, there was a leaking pipe which had caused water to pool all round the area, plus the main bench was broken. If you do decide to sit there, be aware that there is absolutely no privacy whatsoever.
Also on arrival, access to the driveway was blocked by an aggressive patron of the nearby pub. When I spoke to him, he told me it was the owner of the cottage's attitude that had made him refuse to move his vehicle. If she apologised, he would move, but we had to wait for the police instead. Apparently people parking in that spot is a common occurrence with the cottage owner having a police conviction for pouring horse manure through one offender's sunroof!
The owner had already been drinking gin with her friend, in the garden of the cottage, by the time we arrived, and was already slightly inebriated. She didn't show me where to get into the cottage, which wasn't obvious due to no sign on the outside of the property, plus the friend of the owner sitting in the garden near the open back door made me think I'd got the wrong place. The owner disappeared for so long, that I had to sit on the worse-for-wear garden furniture to give my baby her tea. The cot and highchair hadn't been put out, despite my mentioning the baby on booking.
With regards to babies who are mobile and young children - please avoid this cottage!! It is unsafe, both outside and in. There isn't any spindles on the side of the stairs, so young children could fall off the side of the stairs until halfway up, where the wall starts. Plus there was no way of having a stair gate at the bottom. The outside area with large gates near the archway is shared by others, so often the gates are left open, which means young children can easily escape unless constantly supervised.
The final straw for us came on the Tuesday morning when workmen came unannounced (we were told they were coming on Friday) and started work on the burst pipe. They were working right by the windows of the lounge, and knocked on the door a few times whilst we were trying to settle the baby off to sleep, although the front door is permanently locked, so we couldn't answer!
We are all so glad to be home!!
"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change" - Wayne Dyer
DS1 (6/1998) DS2 (2/2001) DD (12/2012)
DS1 (6/1998) DS2 (2/2001) DD (12/2012)
0
Comments
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wonder if anyone can help me as I'm presuming it must break their rules somehow,
You are invited to review the cottage and its suitability as a place to stay.
So I think the summing up of the owner is the problem , she may well be not your first choice of a 'friend' and she may have knocked back a couple of gins, but that's not a remark to post on T.A.
But rest assured , you have made me unlikely to book a few days there next year.
0 -
Sounds hellish, although one or two points are very minor in my opinion your entitled to include if you wish.
I suspect the lines highlighted below should be left out - 'personal attacks' will block your submission
Also on arrival, access to the driveway was blocked by an aggressive patron of the nearby pub. When I spoke to him, he told me it was the owner of the cottage's attitude that had made him refuse to move his vehicle. If she apologised, he would move, but we had to wait for the police instead. Apparently people parking in that spot is a common occurrence with the cottage owner having a police conviction for pouring horse manure through one offender's sunroof!
The owner had already been drinking gin with her friend, in the garden of the cottage, by the time we arrived, and was already slightly inebriated. She didn't show me where to get into the cottage, which wasn't obvious due to no sign on the outside of the property, plus the friend of the owner sitting in the garden near the open back door made me think I'd got the wrong place. The owner disappeared for so long, that I had to sit on the worse-for-wear garden furniture to give my baby her tea. The cot and highchair hadn't been put out, despite my mentioning the baby on booking.
If you don't want the same experience again I strongly reccomend
http://www.qualitycottages.co.uk/0 -
Many thanks for your help! I will remove the suggested parts of the review, and see what happens
( it was written in anger, lol) "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change" - Wayne Dyer
DS1 (6/1998) DS2 (2/2001) DD (12/2012)0 -
aventurine wrote: »Many thanks for your help! I will remove the suggested parts of the review, and see what happens ( it was written in anger, lol)
If its THIS one then your braver than me and I often use cottages! Too little information for me, I like to have a look around from the air on Google maps and if available a quick explore with Google street view too. It doesn't look so bad in the pictures but it does look a bit twee.0 -
Did you complain to the owner? If so they may be refusing to admit you stayed.
We have our cottage on trip advisor, when a review is submitted I get to see the surname and month of stay before I accept.
I expect they would rather not have your review if they anticipate it being a bad one.Owner of a cute cottage in the North York Moors :j0 -
"The owner had already been drinking gin with her friend, in the garden of the cottage, by the time we arrived, and was already slightly inebriated. "
Unsupportable. All you can with certainty is that she was drinking WHEN you arrived. You weren't there earlier, so can't be certain that she was.0
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