written by DaveG38 on 06/10/2012
Booked a cottage with Welcome Cottages at Ilfracombe in the grounds of a hotel called the Darnley. Prior to the stay, welcome was hardly the term I'd use when my wife phoned the owners with a couple of queries, the attitude being that they were too busy to consider anything we might want.
On arrival, we were met by a man who was a cross between Basil Fawlty and Norman Bates from Pscho - not a good start! The cottage was at the bottom of the garden and was so overhung by trees that on the grey day we arrived this made it look dismal. Inside it was even more depressing. It was 1970s in style, smelled of mould and damp and was cold - the outside temperature was 13 degrees, but the owner (Norman) told us that the heating wasn't on. Despite this he wanted a fuel supplement to cover the extra costs that would be incurred when the weather was poor - quite how much colder it had to get before the heating would be turned on I really don't know, although to be fair he did refund this payment when we arrived home.
We stayed all of 10 minutes and went off to a nice hotel we know in Lynton nearby. I wouldn't recommend anybody go to this particular cottage, nor would I recommend booking with Welcome Cottages, as they have been made aware of the problems with this holiday and haven't even had the courtesy to speak to us about it.
Frankly, the company is only interested in taking your money and stinks as far as customer service goes. DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR THEM.