“Dirty (unclean, human grease, flotsam) Hot-Tub on arrival (problem resolved by owner very quickly, but not a nice experience and it put us off using the hot-tub for the majority of the holiday)
External room where the hot-tub is located had a disgusting shower with a very rusty metal pole that the shower head was attached to and stains in the shower tray (with signs telling you to shower before using the hot-tub).”
Also the room is like sitting in a cold, sterile, faceless box, with nice brown splatters on the ceiling!
Both toilet seats do not stay where they are meant to, they are not the right size or type for the toilets and their fixings are not adequate and where not securely tightened
The property requires some general internal maintenance, there are some areas of damage to walls in a couple of rooms (which need filling and painting), also the internal walls have vertical cracks in many of the corners
All of the doors where showing signs of having dried out (since they were made) resulting in cracking, and the dining area door (to the hall) has a notable loose upper joint which needs securing (it looked like someone had used sellotape to fix it in place)
Two of the plate glass windows have large cracks
The metal framed window in the dining area could be opened from the outside due to the very old fixings not fitting properly due to their age (and likely listed status) therefore a secondary lock is required.
There was no welcome pack (I don't agree with the feedback I received via Sykes that this is due to avoiding any potential risk of "allergic reaction", it was just plain stingy, also the house had been stripped clean of any basics e.g. no foil, no cooking oil, not even a single dishwasher tab. Maybe we have been spoilt by other Sykes cottage owners but a few sachets of coffee and a couple of tea bags plus a small carton of milk would have been useful.
The Cottage information booklet is useless, it seemed to focus on their dislike of the Castle management team, it includes emails from the police (about the Estate Managers behaviour) and portrays the Castle in a very negative light even including negative web-based reviews of the castle and advising to visit an alternative one.
We didn't want a pile of takeaway leaflets (many out of date), we actually wanted local information, places to visit, country walks (yes, we all can use Google) but a bit of local knowledge goes a long way.
On a positive note, the property has great Wi-Fi
