Phil j
June 2021
For absolute clarity and openness I am the brother of the other reviewer Cath L .
This is a 10 person, 5 bedroom property, my sister, her husband, our 92 yr old mother, and myself and my wife stayed Friday to Friday, though the punishing arrival/departure times conspire to waste two days. Arrival is only allowed after 4pm , and departure is strictly enforced by the cleaning agents at 10am.
The 5 of us had stayed previously in 2019 , and whilst there were minor issues, it being fairly freshly refurbished, we enjoyed our stay thoroughly enough to eagerly book again.
In the interest of parity, I’ll list the pros.
If you trawl the entire coastline of Northern Wales, I defy you to find anywhere with a better view. It is simply…. Spectacular. The windows of the bedrooms and the railed patio, look onto a huge 180 degree vista of a beautiful cove/ crescent bay. The sea comes up to the gate of the property when the tide is in. The stairs and steps to and from this gate are exceptionally steep, and no handrail provided. I have disability issues, so sadly I couldn’t make it down, though my wife went daily.
The beach is spotless , serving lengthy rock pools for exploring and plenty of shells and shiny crystal pebbles.
This bay is visited daily, at high tide, by up to 7 different curious Seals, bobbing in and out of the water. Locals tell of occasional dolphin visitors, and with good binoculars and patience, there are hundreds of species of salt and freshwater birds sifting the shallows for food.
The property is mere minutes walk away from a CoOp supermarket, a Chinese Takeaway, and Frydays fish and chips ( delicious) . None are visible or sellable from the house, but near enough to walk to.
Glan Y Mor road ( on which Dartans sits) is a busy, but not noisy, road into Llandudno , and also the delightful mini town of Rhos On Sea. Three ice cream parlours, all with huge varieties of delicious flavours, cafes, tea bars, restaurants, and a couple of pubs, along with antique shops, ladies clothing and souvenir stores. Rhos on Sea is a must visit.
Everything about Dartans location, vistas, and access to North Wales …is perfect.
Now, what isn’t… perfect I mean.
I was unlucky to get the sweaty man’s side of the double bed. Bed linen, for me? Spotless. Crisp and fresh. Though the towels were minging. I’m glad we brought our own bath sheets. But the mattress , oh dear! It was only after lying in bed for an hour or so first night that I noticed what I came to refer to as ‘old man stink’ . Obviously, the heat I was generating was **gag** warming up the soaked in sweat from previous incumbents. After that, I slept on top of the quilt and used my own towel as a blanket. Oh, and as it was on the window side, I kept the window open all night, every night, even the one night it howled with wind and lashed with rain . ( still an awesome experience) .
Only one bedside light worked, my wife’s side.
We used the minging towels as bath mats, because neither the shower, nor the bathroom floor had any grip flooring. Just very slippy when wet tiling. There were no grip rails in the shower or on the side of the bath. This house has absolutely ZERO facilities for the infirm , disabled, or old. My sister describes in her review what happened when my wife took her bath. The overflow pipe was not connected to the bath. So, my wife, who loves a full bath, inadvertently filled the ceiling space above the living room, with gallons of hot soapy water.
So as well as the draconian checkin/out theft of a day, we had another lost day waiting for Mr Happy Plumber to attend. ( he was happy because , despite him offering to seal the outlet in the past, the owners refuse, and as a consequence, he keeps getting called out to reattach the vent)
This could go on to become a full blown thesis, so I’ll try to be a bit more succinct.
In the reception hallway, they have a huge Hessian rug on a polished wood floor.
Yes, if you just processed that? I nearly broke my ankle on day one, lifting a bag and turning to the stairs…whoosh.. my left leg went sideways, my right knee cracked on the wooden floor as the rug slid into a small pile.
There is no handrail up the awkwardly split stairway. My 92 year old mother needed taking up, and down stairs each and every time.
The central heating controls are kept under a clear, locked plastic bubble. Two nights were quite chilly, but the only control we, the guests, have , is a 1 hour boost button in the toilet cupboard. 1 hour. Overnight.
I was the only one who used the main living room, to watch the Euro football games.
The floor, wooden, had a grubby tacky feel to my bare feet on day one, so I wore sliders after that. My wife likes to go barefoot, and at the end of every evening, she had to wash her feet. The floors, in every room, we’re dirty.
The kitchen ..oh dear… this is the jewel in the crown of this house. It is two walls of glass looking out over the bay. Plenty of seating along the windows, and a din8ng table with one broken, and two dodgy chairs. The disposal unit in the sink…was broken. But it hadn’t been cleaned. There was rotten, macerated food and slops in there. It stunk. An odd hitch pitch of cutlery and knives, and a waste bin that wasn’t fit for anything except dumping in a big bin and replacing it.
The step from the kitchen is unmarked and double raised from the bottom of the door, so you step gingerly from the door onto an unlit, unmarked step, that is 4 inches above the patio.
Similarly for the French Windows to the patio. Step off, onto a step, which is smooth tile slippy, onto a concrete patio 5 inches below.
No rubber grips. No yellow paint markings. No handrail.
And the washing airer metal hole in the patio! Is 3 cm high. Just, right there, waiting to break someone’s toe, trip them up. Twice I’ve fallen victim to that , this latest one, it cracked my middle toe.
I must reiterate. This place has the potential to be a Number 1 in NorthWales holiday lets. It isn’t because there has been no investment or improvement in the last two years. There has been deterioration, and after the initial wow factor of stay number one, we ALL began to notice the cracks in the facade.
Finally, the privacy.
There was no sunbathing in costumes on the patio, and the enjoyment was limited by the the noise of a mini digger/excavator, the hammering and chiselling of rocks, the tumbling of bigger rocks from metal skips , the whistling and singing of the workmen ( not their fault one iota,) our property owners didn’t tell us we’d be sharing the patio with 20 workmen 9 hours every day.
If you add to that the fact that the owners are taking full advantage of the surge in demand for Brit holidays, the prices have increased 100% for next year.
Some may call that smart business . Me? I call it scalping.
At this years prices ?let alone up to £4,000 per week? With the deterioration in quality? I’d not go back. With all its crappy fixtures and fittings, it’s dangerous layouts and setup, it’s stinky towels, smelly bed, and filthy floors, kitchen, and hazardous layout?
Sadly, I don’t think I’d go again for half its current price…let alone double.
If the owners read this ?
You have one of the most envied, beautiful properties in Britain. Why are you ruining your own reputation by not upgrading and investing? 3-5 grand would fix every single complaint … that’s now just one weeks rent next year.
Shame on you.
All the bad memories are fortunately tempered by the one thing you can ruin.
The location, and the views.