“I have to be honest that we were a little apprehensive before arriving at this one, unlike all other Sykes bookings we had no direct contact with the owner and we were very disappointed with the communication with the management company and also with Sykes when trying to check on progress since some of the negative items in past reviews.”
I had decided to close my account with Sykes at the end of the year due to this but after speaking to 2 separate lovely members of staff from Sykes while at the property I changed my mind.
The bottom line is that all my fears were laid to rest once we got to site.
I think Sarah’s review in May 2024 is almost the same as our feeling but a few more things to add.
The place is old, it’s not shiny and new but its clean in the places that matter, yes we saw a few flies, midges and spiders, ...
I had decided to close my account with Sykes at the end of the year due to this but after speaking to 2 separate lovely members of staff from Sykes while at the property I changed my mind.
The bottom line is that all my fears were laid to rest once we got to site.
I think Sarah’s review in May 2024 is almost the same as our feeling but a few more things to add.
The place is old, it’s not shiny and new but its clean in the places that matter, yes we saw a few flies, midges and spiders, a few cobwebs but you are in the middle a wood (and such a lovely peaceful place to be) but the bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen / dining areas were spotless, this is a real home from home and very accessible for the elderly members of our family.
The drive was another worry, yes its long, narrow and a bit of a dirt track but we had a very small front wheel drive that managed just fine as well as a very large front wheel drive van. I would just suggest not trying to take a caravan or large motorhome up.
When we booked it said we could hire a hot-tub at an extra charge (£350 for 14 days) which the management company were dealing with but that was a disaster and a week in we were still waiting, in the end they allowed us to hire from a local company called Duchy (lovely people, professional service, 1st class hot tubs), I would recommend doing this if you can, it’s the perfect spot for one ! (just make sure this will be OK before you book).
We had no problems with the pans or the hob and more than enough kitchenware for 17 of us. We did take a small fridge and a camping fridge for the cold drinks and glad we did, there is no mention or pictures of the utility room but this was a lovely surprise, old but commercial dishwasher, washing machine & tumble dryer as well as an American Style Fridge Freezer.
There was mention of the boiler in here, it’s not run by gas, the fuel is oil and you always get a harmless smell with oil.
We didn’t manage to get to the Cyder farm but plan to do that next year, 2 weeks went in a flash.
Because we had many questions which were not answered before we arrived, I would be more than happy to share more of my experience with anyone wishing to visit, we learned a lot and now we know the place we can’t wait to get back again.
As others have said 5pm is very late for an arrival and 9am is very early, we ended up leaving a day early, I appreciate a large place like this would take a lot of cleaning but one solution would be to provide a chargeable early access to part of the building, its big enough to manage that so customers could at least get a sit down and a cuppa after a long drive, all it takes is some communication once in the area and would have made a big difference for our large party.
One other thing we would suggest is if you have some camping chairs take them to sit outside and watch the lovely sunsets.
