Review by Graham Jowett on 26th January, 2011

Add your review
A luxury Christmas break that went horribly wrong. Two days before Christmas we were without running water (loos, cooking, washing) and for 12 hours of that we were without electricity and heating. Awful, but much more bearable if the owners had (a) expressed their concern and (b) promptly activated the necessary skills and resources to solve the problems. The owner described the lack of water as 'unfortunate' and said she did not know what she could have done about it. Wel…the property could have been checked before we arrived. Despite the temperature, no visit was made to the property for six days before our stay - so we were the first to know that the pipe from the bore hole was frozen. Instructions of how to deal with key eventualities could have been left in the UK. We wasted 36 hours while a very helpful local handyman tried to solve the problem, until instructions arrived from the owner. Someone in the UK could have been given the authority to act. We only found an electrician after pleading with a local friend of the owner who said her brother-in-law would oblige. MOST IMPORTANTLY - the owner could realise that there are responsibilities when you take people's money a) to act pleasantly and b) to take responsibility for the quality of service you provide. The owner had our contact details but made no direct contact to express concern or provide reassurance about actions being taken. Our letter requesting a reasonable refund (3 of the 7 days of this luxury treat were unpleasant and stressful) was met with rudeness and aggression. Another key feature worth knowing - access to the cottage is down a very steep track (unusable without a 4x4 in snow/ice/heavy rain) and the only parking is 1/4 mile away. Most of the negative comments in the Visitors' book are about access, and one previous visitor summed it up - "would love to come back to this area, but NEVER to this property".

Date visited: December 2010