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"This is our second visit to stepping stones, we booked our second visit as the layout of the cottage suits our family well."
However both the first and second visits identified that the house is in serious need of updating and repair. We were very disappointed that the sauna did not work and the sofa in the main living room is extremely uncomfortable and needs to be replaced.
As well as this some of our group were locked in the downstairs toilet as the handle on this door was broken as were others throughout the house.
I also found it extremely difficult to cook meals for a large group as the top oven would not heat.
Also the house does really need a deep clean , lots of the group were not too happy about the amount of spider webs on the ceilings etc.
On the plus side the beds are extremely comfortable and the towels and bedding were of good quality.
We loved the games room however the dart board was broken as well as the table football and were unusable it was just as well we brought our own snooker cues as the ones at the cottage were in very bad condition.
We love catterick Village however we would not stay in stepping stones again unless the house is refurbished and the cleanliness improves.
Reviewed by JacquelineJul 2022
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"Whilst the Property was fine and a good space the overall feedback is poor due to too many unacceptable issues primarily resulting from the failure of the Owner to respond to any calls and messages where there were issues with the Property which is not acceptable."
Generally we felt the Property needed some money spent on new pots and pans etc which were poor and insufficient for catering for the size of our Party. Toilet was leaking and sauna was not working toilet seat not correctly fitted and shelf loose. bedrooms should have at least a chair in them. Exercise machines not fully working. Tablet with instructions could not be found. Not what you would expect from a Property costing over £4,000 for what was only 6 days
Reviewed by AlanApr 2022
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"A fantastic house in a great location."
We are a family of 14 so it was perfect. We loved the space and the log fires and the games room and hot tub
The only criticism - there was no cafetière for the real coffee lovers! Also it would have been handy to have a note of useful information like where to buy logs from!
Reviewed by HilaryJan 2022
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"As a large family of 3 couples, 3 dogs, grandchildren and great grandma, we had plenty of space and lots to entertain us."
We have never stayed in this area before but a delight to visit. We walked along the stream outside of the door, feeding the ducks and on to walk by the river Swale.
There are plenty of takeaways in walking distance. We cooked a few night and the large dining table enabled us to laugh and talk together. The games room was a massive hit. Darts, table foot and the adults loved the full size snooker table. We played bingo and made cocktails. Everyone loved the hot tub and sauna.
The woiden floors made cleaning easy with the dogs. The whole property was safe and secure for children and dogs to roam inside and out.
The only thing we would have liked to know in advance was that we couldn’t access three bedroom from one side of the property upstairs.
Sean checked the hot tub every day, without being intrusive. Any problems we could have asked him.
A great home. Thank you.
Reviewed by HelenOct 2021
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"We have rented holiday homes throughout the uk for several years and are a large family group of 4 generations."
Our annual holiday together is important and we spend a significant amount of money and time in planning to make the most of the 7 day stay. Stepping Stones unfortunately ranks as the worst property we have stayed in with an owner apparently disinterested in his guests comfort and wellbeing. He contacted me the day prior to arrival to inform me that the dishwasher wasn’t working and that an engineer would attend the Wednesday- day 6 of our 7 day holiday. Also that a gas engineer would attend to service the boiler during our stay. Both of the above are unacceptable to us we expect the property to be fit for purpose and for routine maintenance to be carried out at vacant times eg change over days etc. Two of our party members are extremely clinically vulnerable and we had all taken great care to isolate prior to the holiday to keep each other safe -allowing strangers into the property was an unnecessary risk. The reality was the engineer attended unmasked and although he was relatively unobtrusive and polite he was in the property for sometime. The dishwasher repair never happened in our stay and this was never clarified by the owner as he failed to communicate at all once we had questioned the problems. The property itself is spacious and offers many potential benefits for a group such as ours eg games room, gym, sauna, hot tub however it is so poorly maintained and unclean this overrides any benefit. As I explained to the owner of the cleaning company on day one we can accept a house being shabby in its decor even but being unclean and poorly maintained is unacceptable and more so considering current covid precautions. He attended daily at random times to ‘check’ the hot tub accessing through the main house again unmasked and without any awareness of how intrusive this was for us. On arrival externally the property looked poorly maintained, shabby frontage, dirty web strewn windows, rickety key safe which took several attempts and manoeuvring to function. On entry the main staircase which is the first feature as you enter the property with the sun shining had hand marks clearly all the way up the handrail and the stairs had dust piled all the way up the skirtings. This was my immediate view of an empty ‘newly cleaned’ house. This theme unfortunately was consistent throughout and too numerous to discuss in detail but in summary: Unclean chipped crockery in the cupboards Dirty cups in a non working dishwasher Cupboards littered with food and condiments left by previous occupants over a protracted time as half of it was out of date. Coffee machine completely blocked with coffee grounds and warning lights displaying that cleaning was overdue. Discarded socks under one of the beds Detritus in the drawers and wardrobes throughout. Generally unclean bathroom in the cottage with cobwebs in all the corners, badly stained ceiling and grime on the shower screen. Unkempt garden with rubbish strewn round the edges and the only furniture being benches and a table. Grime and hairs all around the rim of the Hot tub. Unusable dishwasher which we were aware of but no provision of a draining rack to facilitate washing dishes by hand (which for 11 people is never ending). Fridge freezer was a fabulous size however the bottom drawer of the freezer wouldn’t open which meant we had insufficient capacity for our frozen foods. Badly marked conduction hob which turned itself off frequently whilst cooking and oven indication lights not functional so very difficult to know what it was doing. Poor provision of glasses, cutlery, baking trays, mixing bowls and serving dishes all of which we bought. Stepladders left randomly in the study Lamps and main light non functional in kitchen and main lounge. Outer gate to cottage broken latch which resulted in the gate being damaged during the high winds after banging continually all night Dysfunctional smoke alarm on the ground floor of the main house randomly alarming for no reason and eventually wouldn’t stop so we had to remove the battery. The small bedroom in the cottage is so small and poorly furnished it barely counts as a bedroom Despite all of the above we endeavoured to make the stay as successful as able and did enjoy the snooker room and the village setting but we were all relieved to get back to the comfort and cleanliness of our respective houses. I am baffled why nobody has commented on any of these issues in previously published reviews. We have always booked our holiday houses through Sykes as we believed we could rely on the standards being as stated and the quality reflected in the price. We would be reluctant to do so in the future.
Reviewed by SaraSep 2021
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"We had a great time."
Lucky with the weather. Location better than expected. Lovely walks nearby.
Reviewed by ChristineSep 2021
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"The house is huge with plenty of space for everyone."
The hot tub, sauna and games room were fantastic for a large group too. But there were serious issues with cleanliness - some surfaces hadn't been cleaned for months. And the 3 bed house next door is not fit to let as holiday accommodation.
Reviewed by ChristineAug 2021
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"Fantastic holiday home."
More rooms to chill in. Steam room and jacuzzi where amazing. Lovely village with ample amenities. Great family holiday would definitely go again. Loved it so much.
Reviewed by MariaAug 2021
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"The Dishwasher wasn’t working from the get-go."
We got hold of the ‘factor’ on Monday but it was pretty evident he wasn’t really that interested in solving the problem. (Voice messages not picked up & no progress feedback/apology throughout our stay). The Key Safe wasn’t functional either. We also felt there could have been better & more garden furniture to add to the comfort and better reflect the price being charged.
Thank you for your feedback
The keysafe has been checked and does work absolutely fine.
We understand that you accidentally broke the dishwasher on the third day of your stay and within 24 hours both the handyman and a plumber had attended to fix the problem. The problem was not fixable so the warranty was used, and the hotpoint repair specialist was called out but the earliest they could attend was after your stay.
Property Owner
Reviewed by RobertJul 2021
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"The house is amazing!"
The bedrooms are well presented and spacious, with comfortable beds. The kitchen suited our needs. We didn’t spend much time, if any, in the living rooms as by far the best aspect of this house is the games/snooker/bar annex. This was ideal, especially in the current climate. Somewhere to spend time with friends without the hassle of booking tables. We did ‘borrow’ the tv from one of the living areas which, along with an Amazon Firestick (suggestion for the owner), meant we could all gather and play snooker, games, chat and have a few beers at the bar in an ideal setting. The gym was mainly used by the kids and they enjoyed having another place of entertainment. The hot tub was warm and clean and large enough to fit 4 adults and 3 kids. The sauna was also a great facet, being able to exit the hot tub, walk through the gym and straight into the sauna was ideal.
We ventured into the Bay Horse for dinner on one of the evenings. This is pretty much next to the property and a nice place to visit. The food was typical pub fare and recommended.
The surrounding area is great for walks. Access to a walk along the river Swale takes 10 minutes with a feeding stream directly over the road from the property with families gathering on one warm day for picnics and a drink from the pub. A co-op is a similar distance away, along with take-always (Chinese and Pizza) and coffee shop.
I cannot recommend this property highly enough.
Reviewed by PaulAug 2020
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"Lovely house, with great amenities, beds were super comfy and found out on the day we left that they were Hypnos, which is why we all had great nights sleep."
Only a couple of niggles, the knives in the kitchen were quite blunt making it difficult to cut, there were no waste paper bins in any of the bathrooms and some of the cleaning could have been better - mainly around skirting boards. Other than that a great house to spend a week with family or friends.
Reviewed by SimonAug 2020
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"Lovely cottage would highly recommend."
Reviewed by DanielleJul 2020
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"What a gorgeous house."
It was ideal for the 4 families who visited to celebrate my daughter’s 21st birthday this weekend. The games room was great as were the hot tub and sauna. There was enough to keep all ages entertained and all in a beautiful setting. We’ll be back!
Reviewed by BarbaraDec 2019
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"We visited Stepping Stones for a week and had an amazing time."
The listing is accurate but the house is even bigger and better and exceeded all of our expectations. The property is beautifully presented and all of the beds are really comfortable. It's the perfect place to go with family because we could all sit down to eat together round the dining room table or spread out across the 2 living rooms (and the rest of the house). The hot tub, sauna and games room were great. We spent most of our time relaxing in the house but visited the local pub, café, chippy and Richmond is only a short drive away. We also took a walk round Foxglove Covert which is beautiful, worth a google and to check the instructions because you have to go through the army base to get to it. The local park run (Saturday morning) is also one of the friendliest we have visited. I would definitely recommend visiting!
Reviewed by KimberleyNov 2019
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"Great house for big groups with benefit of hot tub, sauna, snooker table and darts and local pub almost next door."
Would prefer pool table but knew that before we went. WiFi signal not great in snooker room where we spent most time. Take your own tea towels and oven gloves!
Reviewed by MarkJun 2019
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"Beautiful location and accommodation."
However there were a couple of things I would like to mention. The oven in the main kitchen was taped up when we arrived and was out of use for the whole of our stay. This left just one oven in the smaller kitchen which was not adequate for the size of our party. The gym/sauna area would benefit from having a shower as it would encourage people to take a shower prior to using the hot tub. At the moment you have to go back to the main house to do so. There were a lot of walls which had hooks/nails where pictures had once been but were now empty. Games room was a lovely area but could have done with some facility for music. We really enjoyed our stay however and the weather was idyllic.
Dear Mrs Hepworth, I'm pleased you enjoyed your stay at Stepping Stones.
Please accept our apologies about the oven - the previous guests had broken
the glass panel inside the door. We arranged for a Hotpoint engineer to
come out ASAP when we were made aware of it and they attended to the oven
during your stay. Unfortunately they didn't have a part on them to finish
the job while you were there but I can confirm they returned and have now
fixed the door. I share your frustration with the Hotpoint engineer for not
having the part with them at the time and apologise again for the
inconvenience of having to use the smaller oven instead. Thanks for the
feedback with the music in the games room - we have taken that on board and
bought a bluetooth speaker for guests to enjoy. We hope you had a safe trip
home and would love to welcome you back to Stepping Stones for any future
family get togethers.
Property Owner
Reviewed by SheilaApr 2019
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"A house full of character."
Good facilities to keep the family happy..
Lots to see and do in the area.
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Reviewed by SusanApr 2019
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"Beautiful house and location ."
Catterick village is lovely - lovely to walk by the river . Pub next door - very friendly staff and locals . Food was great. Everything we could possibly need for our weekend - nice touches like wine , bread and cheese left for us and logs for the fire, ice cubes in the freezer - just right for our gin and tonics , candles, bathroom toiletries and even a record player with records! Lovely comfy beds , the house was lovely and warm once we worked out the heating. The iPad which holds the instructions was broken ....
Hot tub was lovely but a shame we couldn't use the sauna at the same time as there were 14 of us staying .
A few minor blips though - the water tank was leaking massively - we had to keep emptying buckets of water in the cellar which was a bit stressful !
Cottage side could do with a bit of an update - downstairs loo didn't work very well and the door handle had fallen off !
Dear Mrs Wright,
Thank you for such a lovely review and we’re glad you enjoyed your stay at Stepping Stones - the property has recently been refurbished and modernised and it’s really rewarding for us to hear of guests having an entertaining time using all the facilities. I’m very sorry to hear there were a couple of minor snags which we sorted straight away as soon as we became aware of them – I’m pleased to say the iPad has been re-booted and the overflow valve in the new boiler has been adjusted to prevent any further water escapement in the cellar storeroom. The hot tub and sauna can also now both be used at the same time.
We would love to welcome you back to Stepping Stones for any future family or friends get togethers and hope you all had a safe trip home.
Property Owner
Reviewed by JudithFeb 2019