We have just returned today from a 4 night stay at Long Crag. The apartment is in a perfect location just 5 minutes walk into Ambleside where you have a great selection of restaurants, pubs and outdoor/walking shops!!
Overall the apartment was clean, Wifi was good and had all we needed, however it would have been useful to have some basic instructions on how everything worked. (Although there is one pager on the hall wall on what dogs aren't allowed to do.... something as responsible dog owners we would have done anyway)
eg: Freezer (no small freezer compartment in fridge, this was all we needed to freeze ice blocks)
Washing machine (Could not get it on the right setting to spin so all washing had to be dried on the radiators)
Recycling (Did not realise there were recycling boxes outside) Heating (This comes on automatically which is great, but again it would have just been nice to have that written down)
Our main disappointments with this apartment were:
The noise from upstairs. 6am they get up and the noise is just ridiculous every movement can be heard. Apart from 6am, we were also woken through the night when they had got up one time at 2am! This apartment is the ground floor of a house that has not been fully converted so the original stairs are still visible and simply blocked off hence allows noise and light from upstairs to travel .....
We assume upstairs were the owners, although they were polite and said hello to us they never actually confirmed who they were and asked if everything was ok. If they are the owners then this would have just been simple courtesy to introduce themselves.
The other main disappointment was the garden! What garden!! We had booked this based on the garden being shared and the impression that it was enclosed and easily accessible from the apartment door, however this is not dog friendly, on arriving the lady upstairs (maybe the owner??) told me "Yes your dog may go to the toilet on my garden but there is a field over the road 5 minutes away which would be good to use!!" We were made to feel awkward with this response. The garden area is set next to the drive which is also not enclosed so having to stand outside with our dog last thing at night and first thing in the morning for him to do his business was not great. Note: There is no lawn area only patio, slate and shrubs.
The driveway is pretty small and taken up by the owners?? 3 vehicles (motorhome, Van and car) so getting in and out of the car especially unpacking & packing up was not the easiest.
The last point even though the lounge was overall ok we did not use the sofa as it was not comfortable in the slightest which was a bit disappointing but at least the two single seaters were fine.
Saying all the above negative points about the apartment we stayed in we had such a ball in Ambleside and the Lake District area, amazing views on every corner, really friendly people, superb walks and had a spectacular trek up Scafell Pike which our dog absolutely loved. We will be definitely back to the Lake District but unfortunately we would not use Long Crag as our base next time.