“UNCLEAN AND NEGLECTED.”
This cottage is not worth the money we paid. When we arrived it smelled fusty and we immediately noticed the property is in no way as appealing as the online photos suggest. The kitchen had greasy oven trays, dirty glasses, a rusty toaster, a limescaled kettle and the floor was unswept. We even found oven gloves covered in grime and crumbs. The living room appeared not to have been vacuumed with dog hairs, dust and cobwebs in all corners and behind the door. I suffer with asthma so this was not ...
This cottage is not worth the money we paid. When we arrived it smelled fusty and we immediately noticed the property is in no way as appealing as the online photos suggest. The kitchen had greasy oven trays, dirty glasses, a rusty toaster, a limescaled kettle and the floor was unswept. We even found oven gloves covered in grime and crumbs. The living room appeared not to have been vacuumed with dog hairs, dust and cobwebs in all corners and behind the door. I suffer with asthma so this was not ideal. Additionally the sofas were tired and uncomfortable we used our own blankets to cover them as we did not like sitting on them. The place is full of old books and nick-nacks creating an environment that feels cluttered and unclean. The carpets upstairs were similarly not deep cleaned and there was a giant clump of hair at the top of the stairs. The walls are covered in marks and could do with a repaint. The bedrooms are small with limited facilities - two sets of drawers and a minuscule wardrobe between three rooms. The bathrooms have no windows with poor ventilation. There is mould in the shower room, on the ceiling, along the bath and sink, and shower head was black with it. The toilet flush was loose and kept jamming, this was noted a couple of years ago in another review and has not been sorted (May 2023). Likewise another reviewer wrote of wobbly taps which are still there (April 2024). We spoke to Sykes and a cleaner did come out to rectify some of the issues though I can honestly say almost everything was in the exact same condition we originally found it in. It has been stressful trying to get Sykes to understand our complaints and we were on the phone or emailing all week, a huge inconvenience as we were on a long-awaited family holiday. I will note that Sykes say they will rectify some of these issues for the future. That being said the changes needed to improve the cottage from previous reviews have not been made in the many years since they have been posted. The house is also next to the main village thoroughfare and is difficult to see round the corners when exiting the driveway by car. It can be quite noisy in the mornings as the bedrooms all have windows facing the main road. The garden being separated did not bother us but the rusty garden furniture did. The cottage is in need of refurbishment and extensive deep-clean. The cottage is presented as being quaint and cosy but it is uncomfortable and neglected. It is not a 4 star cottage as listed. The positives I would share about this cottage is its potential to be nice, location in a lovely village, close to a charming pub and a short walk from Hive beach.
