“We’ve stayed at Underhowe three times over the past three years, and while the property remains lovely and in a fantastic location, it’s beginning to feel a little tired in places.”
The TV setup needs attention—the HDMI adapter kept coming loose, and the Xbox connection was unreliable, often going to a blank screen mid-game. The electrics also need a review: light switches are confusing and don’t always correspond to the room you’re in. Some switches didn’t work, and a few lights were out. One dimmer switch near the kitchen had knobs that kept coming off, which felt unsafe with small children crawling around.
Cleanliness was another issue—the house was quite ...
The TV setup needs attention—the HDMI adapter kept coming loose, and the Xbox connection was unreliable, often going to a blank screen mid-game. The electrics also need a review: light switches are confusing and don’t always correspond to the room you’re in. Some switches didn’t work, and a few lights were out. One dimmer switch near the kitchen had knobs that kept coming off, which felt unsafe with small children crawling around.
Cleanliness was another issue—the house was quite dusty, and I had to vacuum several times during our stay. It’s also frustrating that a log burner is advertised but no logs are provided. For the price of the rental, an initial bag of logs would be a nice touch, along with clear guidance on where to buy more.
There’s a noticeable draft around the kitchen door and the main entrance (there used to be a curtain here, which is now gone). The draft under the kitchen units, especially near the sink, needs attention. Small touches like dishwasher tablets, which were provided in previous stays, were missing this time.
Overall, we still love the property and its setting, but these issues meant extra expense and time spent on things like cleaning and buying essentials—something you don’t expect at this price point. With a little maintenance and attention to detail, Underhowe could easily return to being the perfect Lake District retreat.
Dear Jon, thank you for your feedback.
Please be assured that we take maintenance very seriously - the electricians are at the cottage this week as unfortunately we were not able to schedule them pre-Christmas. Decorators are also in this week and you'll hopefully have seen from your previous visits that we regularly update and replace furniture, soft furnishings, kitchen equipment and amenities such as Pure Lakes toiletries.
Your comments around cleanliness will be fed back to Lakelovers as they are our provider of cleaning services, similarly we pay them to provide a welcome pack (including dishwasher tablets, and a box of chocolates) in the cottage so it should have been there for you. Unfortunately they don't offer us the option of a log starter pack - we have requested it before as we would love to provide it for guests but for owners like us who are not local, we don't have a facility to provide that for each rental. Logs are available at the Co op, 2 minutes walk away.
Thank you for your feedback and we hope to welcome you back to Underhowe again.
Kind regards, Dagmar (owner)
Property Owner