Andrew E
July 2019
There was a bucket of what appeared to be mud outside the back door on our arrival on the Friday evening, and the side path was also covered in dirt. We noticed an unpleasant aroma which increased and was undeniably sewage. Three days later, on Tuesday morning, a man with a drain cleaning van knocked on the door, and said he had come to deal with a sewer blockage. Despite already having had two conversations with the local contact person by this time, we had not been informed of this problem (although he had said that someone was coming to address a problem with the bath - something the cottage does not have). The drain man unblocked the sewer; it took several washes for him to clear most of what was in fact the remnants of sewage dirt from the path.
While the cottage is referred to as Sunnyside, no external sign was visible saying Sunnyside - only the house number 10. We gathered from the drain man that another drain clearing company had not turned up: it may well be that they couldn't find the property.
While the actual kitchen equipment is good, the attitude to utensils and supplies appears extremely mean and at best careless. The glass spout to the cafetière was broken and jagged: despite notification to the local contact person on Saturday and an initial promise that a replacement would arrive on Monday, no replacement was forthcoming by the time we left the following Friday. The utensils supplied do not include for example a chopping board, a potato peeler, an oven glove, a bread knife or indeed any sharp knife. This was notified to the local contact person and nothing was done - and on our third call he was unhelpful and rude. On discussing this with the Sykes Cottage customer services line, we were told that a potato peeler is not required equipment. There was no kitchen hand towel and the two tea towels were small and thin. There was just one toilet roll provided and no dishwasher tablets. The folder of manuals and instructions did not contain the manual for the cooker, although fortunately we were able to find it on the Internet.
There is no battery in the bedroom smoke alarm. We could not see a fire extinguisher or fire blanket anywhere.
The cottage instructions do not say what to do with recycling. The local contact person told us to use the green bin in the garden - there isn't one. When this was pointed out, he said to put it in a black sack in the rubbish bin for him to deal with...
We wholeheartedly agree with the previous reviews that say that the two settees are extremely uncomfortable (although we had seen these reviews in advance and booked anyway).
While writing this review, we have rechecked the cottage listing, and observe that reviews posted since we booked show that the sewage problem has been known for over a month. This was an unacceptable health hazard and suggests indifference, incompetence or worse. If Sykes Cottages want to retain their reputation, they should remove this property from its listings.