“My husband and I stayed at Sycamore Tree Farm from 30th June to 5th July with our two labradors.”
We chose this property due to the location of the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District.
I have listed both the pros and cons of the property for an accurate review of our stay.
Pros:
The Owner Shirley was very lovely and was a phone call away if we needed anything.
The building itself was lovely, a very charming building and had all the bits and pieces you would need for a stay. there was a TV with various DVDs which was great for the evenings after long days out.
The fireplace was great, even though we had hot days, we still had cool evenings so made a couple of fires. which was great for the dogs to fall asleep in front of.
The kitchen was fully stocked with pots, pans, plenty of cutlery and cups and glasses. the Larder was brilliant, it stored all our food and stayed relatively cool even in the heat.
The Location of the property is brilliant. there is so much to see and do in the area. and the local town of Kirkby has everything you need to either dine out or stock up with.
The house can sleep 6 in beds comfortably. There are two toilets, one upstairs in the bathroom and one downstairs, which was a good convenience.
The sunshine in the afternoon was lovely, we sat outside tanning in the sun with cold drinks, that was our favorite part of the holiday. there were also various board games, which was great and we played a few in the evenings.
There was also a huge list of different walks in the area, and maps if you wanted to take out with you for the day, along with local restaurant menus and recommendations.
Cons:
The day before we arrived we were told we cant drink the water as the bore water UV light wasn't working so wouldn't be safe to drink. The owner did have a 4 litre bottle of water for us at the property which was kind, but overall it wasn't very convenient as we had to keep buying bottled water which was also for our dogs, and in the heat wave, we went through a lot. also as i am pregnant, i was worried particularly brushing teeth etc, so we had to still use bottled water for that too. Hopefully this issue is now resolved for the property.
The hot water system had to be turned on each time you wanted Hot Water and it took about 45 minutes to an hour to heat the tank to be able to have a bath. There was no stand alone shower, and the shower head in the bath was very weak and would run either hot or cold depending on how you held it. We were advised not to leave the hot water system on all day as the tank was in an upstairs cupboard and gets too hot. This became a bit annoying when trying to wash dishes at different times of the day.
A couple of hours into arriving we had a call to tell us there was a large Wasps Nest under the outside table. we were advised to spray fly spray in the hole at the bottom of the nest, we didn't feel comfortable with that and having two dogs who like to explore, we had to fence off part of the enclosed garden so the dogs wouldn't accidentally get too close or knock the nest.
The living room main double sofa needs an upgrade, it is very worn and not very comfortable. Overall the house needs a deep clean, it was extremely dusty. we arent very fussy people and have rented many holiday cottages, but my asthma was particularly bad in the house, you could see all the dust every time you opened or closed curtains, or moved a blanket. I think if that was done it would make a huge difference. *** Owner Response*** Thank you for your feedback and your positive comments, the issues relating to the UV & wasps nest have both been dealt with. Thank you once again. **
