Masham is a truly lovely gem of a place, ideally situated in Lower Wensleydale. The countryside is breathtaking, ideal for walks and exploring. When you get back there are several excellent pubs serving beer from the two local breweries.
We usually stay in one of the pubs but thought we would give self catering a go. Setch Barn looked to be a good place to start.
Initial impressions were good, it is ideally situated in the town next to the co op, you could hear the cars but it wasn’t intrusive.
The property itself is attractive, if unimaginatively styled, not quite a traditional barn in rural North Yorkshire as you would expect. The quality of the furnishings is good.
The main room and bedrooms are a good size, however the kitchen is rather on the small size. The full side of the property is glazed so you have to keep the blinds closed or you have no privacy. Lighting is quite poor so it is quite a gloomy atmosphere during winter.
Unfortunately the property is very cold in winter, exacerbated by the tall ceilings. This was further compounded with the boiler breaking down twice in two days leaving us with out hot water on two occasions and no heating. Despite the help from Sykes the matter was unresolved so we abandoned our holiday early. We are not impressed with the response from the owner, hey ho.
We wouldn’t visit the property again, nor would we recommend it. In our opinion the standard isn’t there to justify the high price. What a shame. We will stick to the good pubs which offer the comfort and more importantly warmth!