“We chose Dingles Cottage as it ticked all the boxes we needed, especially having a downstairs bedroom with en suite.”
The upstairs bedroom and bathroom were very spacious. Whilst the bath had a shower head attachment, there is no stand-up shower upstairs, only one downstairs. The cottage is a delightful stone building with an extension. The main body of the cottage is lovely and equipped to a high standard, with quality goods and furnishings from Joseph Joseph, Royal Worcester fine bone china and Marks & Spencer to name a few. The two sofas were the comfiest we have sat on at any holiday rental! The cottage was clean and tidy when we arrived. The cottage is tucked away down a private drive and is in a very quiet area. Torches are a must if you go out after dark! One of the neighbours was very friendly. At no stage during our stay were we cold as the heating ran efficiently. Sadly, there was often a smell of oil from the heating, especially in the porch and sometimes in the kitchen. The garden is quite private but is open on both sides to the front of the house and driveway, so is not secure if you take a dog. One of the local dogs was spotted occasionally in the back garden! The downstairs bedroom is clearly suffering from a damp issue: the smell of mould / damp was very strong and the walls around the heads of the beds were covered in black mould. There were no headboards on the beds so pillows rested on these damp walls. Over the course of the five days we were there, the mould exacerbated breathing difficulties in the guest sleeping in that room. This is clearly an issue which needs resolving with some sense of urgency. Whilst we were there, we discovered a leak in the downstairs shower room, which initially we thought was from the toilet, having read previous reviews which mentioned a leaking toilet. The maintenance team came out later on in the same day as we reported it, but could find no leak. We were told to not use it as we had an upstairs bathroom, which clearly wasn’t an option for someone with mobility issues! So we had to continue using that en suite! For a couple of days, all seemed fine but then on Tuesday we discovered that the leak was coming through the light fitting and dripping onto the floor when it was raining. We rang the office who got someone out to look at it straight away as clearly water and electricity do not mix. The maintenance team decided that a roofer was needed and went away. The owner had to be contacted before the issue could be resolved. There was no bucket or similar in which to catch the drips, nor any floor mop to wipe the floor dry. We began to feel unsafe in the cottage as the rain was forecast to get much worse with a named storm due to cover the area on Thursday. We curtailed our holiday on Wednesday, informing the local office that we were leaving, with our reasons. We were told that someone would be in touch in the next day or two. It is now a week later and I have still not heard back from Sykes / John Bray, apart from them asking me for photos of the issues. These two issues, which were clearly fairly major, were such a shame as the rest of the cottage was perfect for us. We would have loved to have stayed the full week but just didn’t feel safe anymore with water coming through the light fitting and running the risk of slips and falls on the wet stone floor, especially at night.
