Garden Cottage, Doncaster

The cottage needs a good clean. Chips and dust under the settee in the living room. But thick dust on all the ornaments. Lack of crockery, 4 mugs for 8 people and 1 breakfast bowl. We had to unblock an upstairs toilet on arrival, and a tap was loose. Beds were very comfortable. The aga was great.

THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE PROPERTY, NOT SYKES COTTAGES AS A COMPANY. We have been very happy with the service and quality of accommodation we have stayed in via Sykes Cottages.... up until our last stay at Garden Cottage, Loversall, Doncaster. The location of Garden Cottage is firstclass easy to access via major routes, yet enjoying a real 'getawayfromitall' feeling and exactly as described. The property, unfortunately, was a different matter in fact, I contacted Sykes via livechat on the first evening of our arrival Sunday 31st August to advise that we intended to leave the following morning! We did, however, decide to give the property the benefit of the doubt, in case we had acted hastily, and remained returning home, in the end after only 4 nights instead of 5! Upon arrival, we had to empty the dishwasher, which was packed full with crockery and frying pans. Several items had to be washed again as they still had quite copious amounts of food residue on them. Quite a few of the platesmugs were chipped and there were not enough mugs for 8 people, should the place be fully occupied. The instructions for the Aga supposedly in the back of the information pack were nowhere to be found and it transpired that, should you wish to use the washing machine or tumble drier, you had to ask for access to the 'second utility room'. A warning in case of power cuts and instructions on how to reset the fuse box above the eyelevel cupboards suggested the use of a small stool to stand on. There was no torch to hand 'in case' of need. We did have to reset the fuse board and it was necessary for me to climb up onto the worktop to access the switches. I am an average 5' 6'' in height and 70 years old! Sleepers, that were used to form a seating patio area outside the sunroom, literally 'seesawed' when you stood on either end and the summer house didn't appear to have been cleaned for months. Several lightbulbs were missing from the fittings around the house and there were no plugs in two of the wash basins in the bathroom and ensuite. The small bin in the master ensuite was still full as it hadn't been emptied and, I suspected, smelt as did the master bedroom. However, in the end I convinced myself it was because it was an old property. It took us a while to locate the light switch in the master ensuite shower room. In the end, we found a very short, broken light pull that had been knotted twice at the end. It had obviously been like that for some time as the end was discoloured with use. We did alert the owner to this and the response was, thanks for letting me know. Noone came to fix it during the duration of our stay. We are familiar with the 'quirks' of old properties but that does not excuseexplain sloppy housekeeping or Health and Safety issues. By the middle of the week we decided that our stay was causing more stress than relaxation for my husband's 80th birthday treat! so we set about packing up to leave on Thursday 4th September, instead of the following day. I pride myself on leaving properties as clean and tidy as when I arrive but I could not sweep or vacuum the floors as there was not even a dustpan and brush available! The final straw when emptying the bathroom bin that we had been left by previous occupants, into the rubbish to be bagged up and put into the outside bins, it uncovered a used sanitary item in the bottom! So I certainly hadn't 'imagined' the smell! Couldn't get away quick enough!! Please be alerted, Sykes, as this property certainly does not live up to usually high standards. I think the expression is, all Top Show! We were extremely disappointed as the break was supposed to celebrate a special occasion. I can certainly think of better ways of spending over a 1000!! I did receive a prompt reply to my initial email with yourselves 31st August on 1st September , giving me a named contact Louis but was unable to reply as I was not sure how to use the WhatsApp method requested.

We did not know how to use the AGA cooker, no clear instructions were given, when we did try to use it didnt understand the instructions when we asked the property owner who lived next door she was not very helpful at all, just asked us to read the instructions, she could have came around the first day and showed us how to use it instead of us trying to figure it out. She should have written down somewhere that the switch for AGA needs to be left on for 1 whole day for it to work the next day. Not very helpful at all.

Fabulous cottage in a beautiful, peaceful location. Very spacious, inside and outside, with all the required amenities. Ideal for group of 8 and excellent communication with the host. Very highly recommend.

Gorgeous home and ideal location for exploring the local area. The property was clean and tidy and well equipped for cooking. The garden area was well maintained and very spacious.The kids especially enjoyed the daily visits from the dog Tess. The hot tub was the best hot tub we have used at a holiday home. There is also a lovely short walk to Annabel's cafe. We really enjoyed our stay.

The property was private, clean, spacious and with all the required facilities. There was excellent communication with Sykes and Stephanie the owner. Thanks for a lovely stay.

We had a great stay here. 8 ladies in our mid30s. Felt a bit odd to have the hot tub at the front of the house at first but it was very private. We loved feeding the alpacas. We struggled to cook everything in the aga but there is another oven so worked out great! A second proper shower would have been helpful but we managed. Overall we had a lovely stay.

The cottage was absolutely stunning. Stephanie was able to provide us with the information we needed when we arrived. The trip was a mum break and we had an absolutely amazing time. We were able to relax and breathe in the beautiful fresh air around us. The views were lovely. The home was stunning. The weather was also on our side for the weekend. Thank you so much for such a lovely stay. We were only able to use 1 shower as the other one wasn't working, there was a fault. There are a few little fixes that need to be made. But otherwise we had a lovely time.

Amazing cottage, really friendly and helpful hosts in a beautiful location. We will definitely look to come back again! The only tiny negative is the shower in the main bathroom not having a holder so it is difficult to use without making a mess.

Beautiful cottage lovely setting definitely would return

We had a lovely stay at Garden Cottage. The beds were comfy and there is lots of room for little ones to run around. The gardens are beautiful and there is a stunning view of the church and fields. It feels like you are in the middle of nowhere when in fact you are a 5 minute drive away from Doncaster. There are lots of lovely National Trust properties within 30 minutes drive. On one of days we decided to go to York for the day on the train as it is only 20 minutes away!! It was fantastic. If you have little ones and its raining there is also a fabulous softplay next to Morrisons called Play Valley. Its clean and is ideal for toddlers and older primaryaged children.

Thank you so much for this wonderful and beautiful house. This was an amazing venue to have our baby shower. All the bedrooms were beautiful. We would recommend this venue for others as it's so beautiful and creative.

Lovely place for a family gathering

Lovely cottage with lots of room and great hot tub. Would be good to have another shower as all had to use the one in the en suite which not great with a toddler asleep next to it. The garden great with the alpacas at the end the children definitely loved this . Would definitely recommend for a lovely family holiday.

Garden Cottage was lovely, had a comfortable, homely feel. The owners were friendly and helpful. They put matting on the decking for us due to rain making it slippy. Would definitely go back and recommend it to family and friends.

It was a pleasure staying at Garden Cottage, anyone booking to stay here will love the experience.