“We had a good holiday at Shortner Croft, but the shortcomings of the accommodation means that we are unlikely to book this or any other cottage via Sykes again.”
Here's a list of the most annoying issues:
The cottage is described as having a fridge/freezer, but it actually has a fridge with an ice making compartment. We had booked a delivery from Sainsbury's which included frozen food, but discovered that the fridge had not been defrosted for a while, and we had to defrost the ice making compartment using bowls of hot water before the delivery van arrived, so we could fit our food in. We own a holiday home in France, and it is standard practice for guests to turn the fridge off and leave the door open when leaving. And please correct the description on your website.
The mattress and pillows are rock hard. I suffer from back problems, and I didn't have a single decent nights sleep due to the discomfort. Also, the windows do not seal very well, and we were both woken up every morning by the dawn chorus and other noise. We literally became so tired from the lack of sleep, we left and went home a day early.
The kitchen was tidy, but I can't say the same for the interiors of the cupboards. To put it bluntly, they looked as though they had been equipped from a car boot sale. There was far too much equipment, and the cupboards were totally disorganised. I couldn't find a set of saucepans with lids, so I had to empty several cupboards and rearrange them. There was a single cast iron casserole, which I couldn't pick up due to may bad back. One of the cutlery drawers was just as bad - I found 6 pairs of scissors, and about 8 bottle openers. It was a horrible kitchen to cook in. Our house in France has simple sets of matching cookware and tableware neatly arranged in the cupboards, with plenty of space for guests' food and equipment.
The shoe rack in the kitchen/diner was nice, but there was literally nowhere for us to put our personal things such as maps, guidebooks, torches, backpacks etc. The shelf unit was full books, leaflets, pads, pens and stationary (including a 2 volume dictionary). It's nice to have a few books, but we ended up storing our stuff on the end of the dining table. We regularly stay in Eurocamp caravans in France, and they have plenty of shelf and cupboard space for guests in the living area.
There were glass jars and vases all over the place. It's nice to have a vase for flowers, but they should be in a cupboard rather than on a windowsill where a guest may break it.
Finally, the website says 'the beautiful furnishings include an L-shaped sofa and armchairs'. Sorry, but there are actually 2 uncomfortable sofas - we didn't use them much as we were out and about so much, but you might want to correct the description.
As I said at the beginning, we had a good holiday in spite of all this. We liked Biggin, and the loved the area, especially the pubs, so we will probably be back. But next time, we will make sure that we are booking a cottage that is not so personalised, and is simply let as a holiday home (like our house in France) - it's a lot less hassle.
Thank you for your feedback. We do regularly defrost the fridge and like to leave it on so that it is cold, ready for people to put their shopping in, but we will amend the description. We provide two medium and two soft pillows, and a medium firmness mattress. We are in the countryside, not urban and love to hear the birds, sheep and other trappings of country life. The main crockery is plain white. We deliberately leave a drawer, a double wall cupboard and a vegetable rack empty for guests to store their food in. The L shaped sofa was replaced with two, 2-seater leather sofas last year, as people preferred a higher back chair, but the description will be changed. We like people to feel that this holiday cottage well equipped and has everything they need.
Sykes owner relations