1a Biskey Howe

Great location and a brilliant little flat that is perfect for a couple to use as a base and explore all the beautiful spots around the Lake District.

smell of damp on entering the property .

Obtrusive sink unit on entering bathroom. long vertical wall unit in bathroom not really needed. window did not open to allow ventilation.NO shelves in dated shower area for toiletries. shower controls outside of shower area. bedroom door does not open fully, hitting bed. shutters do not keep out light. dirty pan in cupboard. had to clean before use. area around sink not properly cleaned and sealed .H and C taps wrong way round .cupboard hinge needs repair. Skirting board mounted sockets around flat?? only one door to enter and exit, no visible sign of FIRE exit. No keys as explained in cutlery drawer for disposal of rubbish. Still no Wi-fi. was assured by Sykes that issues raised by previous guests had been rectified before our stay.

With only a couple of reviews that weren't that great, we decided we would give the cottage a chance as the owners had replied and addressed the issues in the reviews.

We were not disappointed with the cottage. It looked just like it did on the photos, was a good size and very clean. It did have a slight musty cottage smell, however everywhere was clean and tidy. The kitchen was a good size and had almost everything we needed - the listing states the fridge has a freezer but it did not. Explanations regarding the immersion heater and shower were clear. Yes the pressure isn't great for the shower but it was fine. Just like life was before power showers. Spacious living area and good storage in the bathroom with hooks for towels, though could do with something in the shower cubicle itself rather than having shampoo etc on the bottom of the tub. Bath towels were actually a good large size which was great. Iron and small board, and hairdryer available too. We took a mobile wifi dongle and placing at on the floor at the front door gave us the best signal and was able to get 4/5 g on our phones and watch our Roku stick on the tv. All in all really pleased with our choice. None of the little issues spoilt our break, just a couple of things that could make it much better. Good value for the money we spent.

Decent property in the heart of Bowness.

Old house fusty damp smell met us on opening. Initial impressions were favourable. Unpacking to put our clothes away we witnessed a Silverfish in the bedroom wardrobe drawer. Bathroom plug does not hold water so washing is a pain having to leave the water running. Very hot powerful shower was a great asset. On a few occasions we witnessed water dripping from the living room ceiling for about 5 minutes possibly from the flat above which we reported to the office. No wifi provided and virtually no signal can be picked up due to location. Good tv with many channels. Kitchen area very good. An ok stay for our booking but would not not book again n the future.

The mattress could do with being replaced & the hot water pressure is not brilliant but overall everything was good

The shower was weak and it was either too hot or too cold.

There was no way of washing up the pots, pans, plates etc because no sponge was provided or washing up liquid (I don’t see why we would have to fork out for that ourselves). The bed was so low and extremely uncomfortable, I couldn’t sleep very well for the whole time we were there and it made my sciatica worse. There was a painting on top of the bed which fell and almost smacked us in the face on our last night there. There was black bits all over the bed when we first arrived, the cupboard under the TV kept tipping forwards at the slightest touch, the TV remote was an absolute joke! Sticky keys, couldn’t change the volume, was a massive hassle to even put it on the normal TV setting. The fridge was also tipping forwards at the slightest touch. The sink was shambles. The hot water took forever to reach it, and it was a pathetic weak stream! Just like the shower but worse! Parking was shambles but that was fully expected. The upstairs neighbours LOVE to listen to the TV at max volume at 1am which made for a really restless night. Would not recommend and will not be staying again. I’ll be seeking some sort of compensation for a chaotic and awful stay. Forgot to mention the signal is awful and there is no WiFi (no WiFi is clearly stated on the ad), but if you’re after 4G/5G usage - forget it.

Overall a nice cottage.

Parking was an issue as there were limited spaces yet advertised as Parking available. WIFI would have been an asset.

If there was below zero rating.

I would give this. This was our first holiday after the birth of my son who is now 8 months. Our precious moments with him were ruined correcting the catalogue of failures in this house. Some of these are listed below. Upon arrival, the bathroom in which you cannot swing a cat was left unclean. There were skid marks in the toilet, brown fresh smudge marks the (size of two fingers) on side of the door, the sink had bits of someone’s mouths spit stuck on it Willis appeared to not have been cleaned for a while, the shower handle was sticky, the bathroom door handle did not lock and the toilet (the icing on the cake) had a huge crack in the ceramics the panel. Something which I’m led to believe the owner is aware of but has decided to not fix. The toilet crack leaks toilet water a very small drip leading to the bathroom floor (be it very slowly). My wife called lakelovers around 5pm (keys in safe place from 4pm) and various calls, messages and after number of hours wait, the bathroom is superficially cleaned. Our first precious moments with my child on his first holiday ruined. Our evening ruined. Same night, my wife decides to make my 8 months olds baby milk and make some porridge for him to eat. Noting this is a self catering house, the pan to warm his milk and make porridge is dirty with food being stuck on the edges. The utensils all have dried food stuck on sides which has been left uncleaned for weeks. This food had now started to darken, harden and had bits of dust catching onto the food which makes a beautiful view as one can imagine. Neither I nor my wife could cook that day, make food for our child or the day after. An issue again which was notified to the agent the same day of arrival who said they could not get someone out the whole of Sunday (noting it was around 5-6pm on Saturday when lake lovers were notified). Lakelovers offered to pay for two bottles of water (approx. £ 2.50) by way of reimbursement for our troubles. Now let’s move to the kettle - the kettle handle was sticky to a point that it could be mistaken for super glue. One would have to wear gloves to simply touch the kettle. Inside when opening the kettle we had mould like limescale built up over weeks on end of not cleaning. This being a hygiene issue could not be used to make milk for my child or be used to boil water. The Microwave plate - again with bits of food stuck to the plate. The oven, the hob and the fridge - well no surprises there, again same issue of uncleanliness. Now let’s move to the windows - these windows have issues with being opened and if you are to brave enough to cook then be warned the air from the food will remain in the house. There are no known fire safety measures. The sitting room carpet sheds and is quite sticky and smelly in places. Needs a deep clean. The room has a TV, but hopefully you can change the channel and watch TV as the button from the remote are falling off, they are just about intact. The sofa due to wear and tear could do with a replacement. The firmness of the sofa is lost and when you sit in, you will sink in. The cabinet door below the tv has no handles and does not close properly. The kitchen sink due to its design flaws, drips water to the cabinets and sides of your cleaned dishes every time you wash your dishes. Not a complaint but something you need to bear in mind. Now we move to the bedroom. The bedroom door will open one third of its full opening. Just enough for you to be able to go to your side and play to you to me with the baby and get into the bedroom. In the event of a fire, I hate to imagine how one would even get out, given such tight opening. Also just imagine if you are slightly overweight then good luck getting in. I guess it’s the owners way to discriminate against fat people. The room is just about big enough to allow for full opening, it’s just the layout of the room, so size isn’t the issue here. The bed - well. The woods underneath the bed keep falling in the middle of the night and these need to be adjusted for the mattress to then sit properly on. You need to do this once every few hours if you want a good night sleep. The size and depth of the bed mattress is the size and depth of your duvet, so if you want a good night sleep bring your own mattress. All of the above has been notified to lake lovers within the first two days of our stay. Whilst some issues like cleaning and parts of maintenance were resolved after spending days on end calling, emailing, sending pictures and then following up, some issues still remain outstanding after 7 days of stay. Note the cleaner has spare keys, and will enter the house without notifying you. This was a concern when my wife had just come out for a shower and was getting changed and the cleaner came unannounced to fix some of the above issues and used her own key to get into the property which we were staying in. Invasion of privacy I wonder. In summary, there are health & safety issues - crack in the toilet; bedroom door not closing; no fire safety equipment; windows not opening. There are health issues due to hygiene and cleanliness - kettle, microwave, oven, fridge, to name a few. There are ongoing maintenance issues such as bathroom door not locking, cabinet below tv stand, strengthening of bed base etc. There is a formal complaint in place and which I intend to request a full refund for. The quality of my stay was fully ruined. I would strongly recommend you stay clear from this property unless you want to learn on how not to let you holiday home. I hope the agent and owner take serious note of the issues as I have not ruled out taking legal action. There is photographic evidence of all the issues highlighted.

Lovely accommodation in a perfect location.

Few minor things that need some attention (missing door knob, over flushing toilet, sofa not the most comfortable), we also experienced some noise from the upstairs apartment however none of these things spoilt our stay, we had a lovely relaxing week.

Hi, Unfortunately we did have a few issues with the property during our stay.

Firstly there were no towels or toilet paper although this was resolved very quickly. The toilet appears to be broken or in need of maintenance. It was constantly trying to flush itself and was quite noisy. This kept us up most nights. I did take a recording of the problem which I can send over if needed. The cutlery was almost all dirty. We had to clean everything before we used it. Again, I took photos. None of the windows opened. We had to open the front door when we were cooking to let the smells out. Not great in a ground floor flat! Also the whole flat smelt very musty due to this. It looked like they were painted shut. Lastly, it looked like someone had thrown food at the wall and it had not been cleaned. Didnt really bother us but wasnt great. Again, photo taken. The location was perfect though, being able to walk into town was really handy.

Beautiful cottage - had all the amenities needed to make a great stay - located in the middle of stunning Bowness - we had an amazing time - thank you to the agents and owner of the property