Fairholme

Positives: Cottage is spacious and comfortable and in a fantastic location - a few minutes walk to the shop, 5 to 10 minutes walk into the centre of Port Isaac with a selection of shops and restaurants.

The lovely Port Gaverne beach a similar distance. Negatives: a little more attention to detail would elevate the experience - the cups would not fit in the coffee machine, there are no flat baking trays for cooking pizza, etc. Hand towels should be provided in the downstairs toilets at least so that you don't have to wander around the house with wet hands looking for a towel. A washing line for wet swimwear would have been helpful (although I did find the clothes airer on the last day). No welcome pack is provided. I appreciate that these are at the discretion of the owner but we have always received a pack with other properties and after a long drive it helps to make guests feel welcome and appreciated.

This was a really lovely place to stay and waking up with a view of the sea and Tintagel was amazing.

We would definitely stay again

A clean, spacious and well-equipped property in a good location for local facilities and walks.

First impressions, the property felt cold and impersonal, lacking any welcoming touches we have always experienced in other properties, especially over the Christmas period. E.g. an undecorated tree but no note to say where any decorations were kept. No logs supplied for an initial fire and no welcome pack. Conflicting information in the manual and on the laminated sheet regarding what to do on check-out and check-out times.

Great location for exploring Port Issac and surrounding areas.

Parking alongside the house. Good size house, large kitchen with everything you need, lovely big dining area and 3 bedrooms, all comfortable. 3 showers was plenty. Lounge area is top floor (open tread stairs to lounge/master bedroom) with sea views and on a good day you can see Tintagel bridge! Great small garden for our small dog. Loved our stay of 11 nights. The property was exceptional clean and warm. No welcome pack so remember your milk!! (Shop is a very short walk away). Had a great stay.

Lovely property, ideal location for walking into Port Isaac.

Comfortable, extremely well equipped, quirky property which immediately felt like home. Parking right outside was a huge bonus. Really enjoyed our visit.

The location is excellent and the house has lots of space inside.

The size of the bedrooms is very good and the showers and toilets are more than enough. We felt that the smaller of the two double beds was extremely uncomfortable and very small. Other than this, the house was absolutely great. Would’ve been 5 stars if for a more comfortable bed.

We had a brilliant stay.

The house was very comfortable and spacious with a lovely view of the sea. One minor issue is I hit my head a few times on the cooker extractor fan hood as it was quite low.

Lovely property, well equipped with everything needed in kitchen.

Great to be able to park outside.

We enjoyed a wonderful stay.

It was ideally situated, very comfortable, well equipped, spacious and perfectly charming. It has been lovingly cared for and suited all our requirements.

As a whole the house was beautiful.

It had everything we wanted. The only slightly odd thing was the chairs at the dining table were a bit too low but it certainly didn’t detract from our enjoyment of the house. We will be back!

Hello GENERAL We were absolutely delighted with the property.

What a lovely house. The following criticism is only meant to be nit-picking: We missed not having a welcome package. The waste bin instructions were good ,except empty bottles were not mentioned. INDOORS: Was spotless and a delight. OUTDOORS: The garden table was very dirty and the windows outside needed cleaning. The grass was very long. Having said all that, we understand what awful weather had preceded us. PARKING there was plenty of space for two large cars. What a premium!. It was further from the Main Public Car Park to Port Isaac than from Fairholme. We highly recommend Fairholme. Regards Stephen Pearson

Very good base for exploring Port Isaac and Port Gaverne on foot and getting to the coastal footpath.

Handy to have the Co-op shop 200 yards away and the holiday home management company next door to that for a couple of questions we had. Well stocked with kitchen equipment if you're wanting to do cooking with empty cupboards for food. Good enclosed back garden to let the dog out safely. The open riser wooden stairs up to the livingroom might not suit everyone/every dog. On the whole, a good holiday home in great location.

Fairholme is a lovely property and we had a perfect stay, we will definitely stay there again

Substandard accommodation where even the fire blanket was missing from the kitchen!

How many rules and regulations are being broken there, I wonder?! Clearly, basic checks are not being carried out. The bed in the upstairs bedroom is of inferior quality, every time you roll over, it creaks and we are of average height and build! The bed linen was tired, the pillows were flat, lumpy and uncomfortable. When I stripped the bed, as you are unbelievably asked to do before you leave, I could see the pillows were so cheap and nasty that the filling had disintegrated. Many of the towels had marks and stains on them; thankfully as there were just two of us, we were able to find cleaner looking towels from other rooms. However, like the bedlinen, they have seen better days. Nobody likes a thin, scratchy towel. The windows inside and out are filthy, most especially in the small conservatory. The dining room table is ridiculous; the chairs don’t pair with the table and even my 6’ husband looked like a 5 year old trying to sit at the big table! The small, plastic chopping boards were utterly disgusting, so stained and filthy that they need replacing. Cupboard fronts sticky and dirty; the whole place needs a deep clean! The extension housing the two downstairs bedrooms has a horrid acrid smell, sadly reminiscent of a care home. We contacted the agent about where we were supposed to dispose of dog waste and anything made of glass as there was no provision for this. We had no response but luckily I spotted the holiday home rubbish collection guy who was extremely helpful! We have stayed in many holiday homes and this is the only one where not even a pint of milk was left in the fridge, nor a tea tray with home made cake awaiting our arrival. We were contacted by the agent upon our return home for feedback which I gave and you would have thought that at the very least, their response would be to offer a discount on any future bookings as an apology and gesture of goodwill. Nothing has been forthcoming so that tells you all you need to know! Why waste my time requesting feedback?

Lovely cottage .

Well equipped for cooking . The only problem we had was one of our party was unable to use the upstairs sitting room as the stair case is far too steep and has open narrow treads. Enjoyed sitting in the conservatory looking at the flowers in the neat tidy garden .

Another great stay at Fairholme.

Flexible accommodation, always warm in the winter (or late Spring this year and still cold outside!), great access to the village and surrounding walks.

We found Fairholme to be well-located and comfortable.

We wanted to be within walking distance of the harbour but with the convenience of parking - Fairholme delivers this! The bedrooms and en-suites were perfect for two couples. The kitchen had all we needed. The info in the pack seems to need updating for refuse collection day?

We really enjoyed our stay at Fairholme - it was beautifully clean, warm and spacious, and the kitchen was very well equipped.

The two sofas were very comfortable (not always the case in holiday properties!) and the showers and bath were excellent, plenty of hot water. Lovely conservatory, but we found it quite hard to operate the blinds as they seemed reluctant to move! The open tread staircase has wooden treads which had been really well cleaned and polished, however quite slippery if you walked around in stockinged feet. We’d definitely stay here again, (perhaps a visitors book might be a useful addition for obtaining feedback too?), such a lovely property.

Lovely, spacious holiday home for the 6 of us for the week plus our cavapoo.

Kitchen has everything you could ever need plus more. Thank you for a lovely stay

Another great stay at Fairholme.

An ideal location to walk into the village of Port Isaac and down to Port Gaverne. John Bray great service as always.

We really enjoyed our stay at this Fairholme, a lovely cottage.

It is ideally located to explore the beautiful village or Port Isaac and the surrounding areas.

2nd year staying at Fairholme and loved it once again.

Beds brilliant, firm mattress and lovely bedding too. Great equipped kitchen and love the lounge in the middle. One tiny thing....please please provide enough toilet roll for a weeks stay. With 4 teenagers and 3 toilets in the house we needed to run to the Co-Op by day 3 to re stock. Surely its not too much to ask. As I say love staying here. Thank you

A lovely property let down by poor housekeeping - the house hadn't been properly cleaned and we didn't use the garden because the grass had not been cut and the borders had not been trimmed

Fairholme was a great choice for our weekend stay for five people.

The house was perfectly positioned in a quiet spot with a lovely sea view. We loved the style of the house, with its gorgeous woodwork, iron work and stained glass. Fairholme was perfectly equipped - we found absolutely everything we needed - and it was beautifully clean and tidy. It was really useful having separate shower facilities for each room, it made getting out in the morning easy and stress-free! We had a wonderful time and loved the property, thank you very much!

A beautiful, characterful property boasting an ideal location for the Sea Shanty Festival which we were attending.

The accommodation offered high levels of comfort and cleanliness. I would highly recommend staying there.

This is one of the best John Bray cottages we've stayed in (and we've stayed in a few).

Spacious, well furnished, ideal for a family of 5 with 3 teenage sons. The views are beautiful and the parking is a real benefit. The kitchen was well equipped and we really enjoyed the upstairs living room. An ideal location in the village, the pubs and restaurants are only a 5 - 10 minute walk. I think my only negative would be the same as others have commented on the website; the bed in the main bedroom. The mattress is not the greatest, it's pretty hard and could benefit from an upgrade and I also have a few bruises from knocking my calves on the wood that sticks out on the ends of the bed. Comment for website: Excellent, spacious, well equipped holiday cottage. Ideal for more than one family sharing with en-suite facilities to all bedrooms. The conservatory is a bonus, especially if you enjoy rambling and want a separate entrance to sit down to take off boots, coats etc. Having stayed in several John Bray cottages in Port Isaac, this has been the best cottage for parking, in a quiet, private road, with two car parking spaces to the side of the house. Beautiful views and a short walk to the village and shops. Ideal base whether you are enjoying a relaxing break or more active holiday

Lovely cottage with quirky decor.

The parking needs to be stipulated that it ISN’T behind the large gates they show; it’s literally on the track outside the house. Needs tiny little things done, door painted larger door mat on entrance, etc BUT this is not a bad point as the cottage is great! The bath shower needs adjusting as it literally didn’t work and there was no guest book

Beautiful Cottage, good location and parking outside the property is a big bonus.

As other people have mentioned, a welcome pack would be really advantageous, as we didn't have any hot water for 2 days, and no instructions on how to use use various appliances. The number given for the caretaker didn't work, so I had to ring Sykes in the end, however, they dealt with the issue very quickly getting a maintenance engineer out to us straight away. The bed in the main bedroom upstairs has sharp corners and I caught both of my legs on these, maybe they need rounding off or packing put over them?

A beautiful house in a perfect location in Port Isaac, very clean, lovely kitchen area, comfortable lounge and beds.

The only criticism is that there were no scissors in the kitchen and the garden was overgrown, but other than that, we loved the house.

Like others have said.

A few little welcome items would be good. Tea bags, milk, extra toilet rolls. The garden although small was perfect but would benefit from a couple of chairs that could be moved to catch the sun rather than the static wooden bench which you can't sit at, relax in or move easily.

Simply Beautiful.

Well presented and very well equipped. Loved every minute of our stay . Would recommend to everyone for a comfortable relaxing holiday.

We had a fantastic stay at Fairhopme, property was in a great location of Port Issac, walking distance to the harbour, Co-op supermarket 2 minute walk away.

The property itself was stunning, very roomy, comfy beds, fully equipped kitchen. Highly recommend and shall look forward to staying again.

Lovely stay at Fairholme, perfect location.

House lovely and comfortable. The garden could do with a bit of a tidy, grass needed cutting and plants tidying.

We have stayed in this cottage four times now and always enjoyed it.

As we have said before, it is in a great location, is a good cottage and we always enjoy our stay there. We would welcome some small additions on arrival, especially a few tea bags, milk etc. Which would not cost much to provide but after a long journey down would make quite a difference.

A beautiful, quirky house, well situated on the North coast.

Small but we'll tended garden that fitted the bill perfectly and was very safe for my little Jack Russell Cross. I would love to have given a 5 rating, but for a few issues. We had no internet all week. We tried several times a day to link in to the WiFi, but no joy. This could be to do with the provider of course. Also, there was no welcome pack, so we didn't have a clue how to get anything working. i.e. the heating. We eventually worked most things out, (except for the hob), but it really shouldn't have been so difficult. The power shower in the master was a bit of a handful too. The master bed has "sticky out bits" on the corners...I have the bruises to prove it, so just be aware. All that said, we loved this quirky house. It has charm and character. There are so many good things about it. There's a small co-op, walking distance down the road, very handy. And normally, a shuttle service that will take you in and out of Port Isaac, it's a very tough walk down and even harder coming back up. There's nowhere at the seafront to park. Very easy to get to Padstow, Tintagel etc. Would definitely stay here again.

Fairholme is a lovely property, albeit a bit quirky with the lounge upstairs, and we enjoyed our stay although we did have a few general issues, some down to maintenance and others caretaking issues.

The front entrance door and area where the key safe is sighted, is disgraceful. It’s covered in leaves and debris and obviously hasn’t seen a broom for quite some time and I wouldn’t suggest you wipe your feet on the mat, unless you were leaving! The cloakroom in the entrance hall was the only one with a full toilet roll and liquid soap. The other 2 bathrooms did not have soap, and only part rolls. These are not luxury items they are a necessity especially when we are all being told constantly to wash our hands and we certainly didn’t expect to have to go out and buy toilet roll. We arrived late afternoon, the temperature was 17degs which is very unusual for end of March so first thing to do was let some fresh air in as the heat was quite overpowering especially in the conservatory. Only 1 window would open, with a little force, and we struggled to find the key to open the door. After much searching we did eventually, find it on the same keyring as the kitchen door key in the kitchen door lock!! Two of the roof blinds would not close but fortunately the wind open/close roof vent worked fine. At 5.00pm the heating came on and not knowing anything about the wi-fi system controlling it, other than that it requires a pin number, we rang Sykes. The lady answering the phone spoke to the local agent and we were told that someone would call around that evening and adjust it for us. Nobody came around or contacted us during our stay but it was obviously adjusted magically in the ether as it didn’t come on again that evening and then only for an hour in the morning, when it was cold, and an hour in the evening. In the master bedroom the heated towel rail burst into life every now and again but never long enough to dry wet towels or warm the bathroom up. The kitchen is very nice although the centre island does take up much of the room but it has an abundance of cups/plates etc, everything you need to cook a meal. Unfortunately the dishwasher had run out of salt and rinse aid so there was a bit of a spicy smell when the door was opened and sadly there was not a coffee machine of any sort despite one being shown in the photos on line. Whilst we take care of anywhere we stay, we also think that having a half decent vacuum cleaner would help. The vacuum supplied was next to useless; although it did try its best. There wasn’t a Welcome pack either, a packet of teabags, coffee, a few biscuits and a carton of milk would have been most welcome and something we’ve come to expect. We have been self-catering for years so we do appreciate that nowhere is ever perfect but we do expect enough toilet roll and don’t expect to have to strip the bed linen off the bed especially when pillows and mattresses can leave a lot to be desired. In this case the duvet in the master room has most certainly seen better days! And yes we appreciate COVID is responsible for a lot of extra work but there is a limit. In summary, we think a welcome pack, with info about the local area, places to visit etc as well as leaving the info about the kitchen appliances to hand would not go amiss. We appreciate that the owners need to provide this, but perhaps a little nudge in their direction might be helpful.

Sadly we can’t give this property the much higher rating that the building deserves.

The house is very interesting architecturally and very well placed in the village, but it is badly let down by the lack of attention to detail. We arrived for a family Christmas with our grandchildren to find that the owners had no intention of supplying any Christmas decorations. There was no welcome pack at all, no information on the property or area and the clean bedding was just dumped in a laundry bag in the dinning area. The beds were not made and the heating was controlled remotely. Not a good start. After complaining to both Sykes and the local handling agent a Christmas tree was supplied but no decorations for either the tree or the room, and the heating was adjusted. If we had known this we could have either taken our own or not booked this property. In different circumstances and with better attention to the management and housekeeping this could be a superb holiday cottage.

Loved our stay in this beautiful cottage, there's always top class service with John Bray.

Never had a bad cottage or experience with them. Thanks again.

Thank you for a wonderful and much need few days away by the sea.

The property was spacious , clean and comfortable and in an ideal location. We enjoyed staring out at the sea from the upstairs lounge and master bedroom. The master en-suite was a nice little luxury too. It was very handy having the shop just a few minutes away too. We would definitely love to stay again. The only suggestion would be to sharpen the knifes in the kitchen or buy a new vegetable knife as dinner prep was a bit tricky with the knives there.

The beds in the third bedroom are very noisy when used for adults one of our party spent the week on the mattress on the floor .

Besides this everything else was good

Great size home for six, plenty of room for everyone.

Well equipped kitchen though perhaps a flat baking tray would be useful especially as difficult to eat out at present. House was spotlessly clean and well kept. Had read previous post complaint house was dirty but don’t know where they were actually staying, certainly not Fairholme. Good position for walking into Port Isaac without problem if narrow streets and very convenient to get to best beaches of Rock, Daymer Bay and Polzeath. Very quiet area at night. Would certainly recommend.