Coolgardie, Sutton-on-Sea

we had to secure the side gate as the dogs could escape. we were told that The garden was nice and large for the dogs to run in. we were told that the gardener would be coming to cut the grass which interuptd our week. we were told to put the bins out and received a telling off as I accidently put cardboard in the rubbish. the dvd did not have proper sound and spoiled our evening in with a film and pizza. this had clearly been reported before and since! the old building was spacious and it was clean but rope ie needed decorating and a general face lift...bathroom door would not shut etc ...inadequate curtains. general attitude of owners was offensive and not conducive to a happy holiday.

Cottage generally dirty - taps, sink and window frames growing green stuff in bathrooms. Cobwebs and inhabitants in most corners, bin in garden had water and dog excrement left in. Refuse bins so full couldn't use them, consequently flies a problem and couldn't have windows open. Grass not cut until Thursday, had to prop up fence panels to make garden secure. Biggest problem was bedding, pillow covers and most pillows covered in yellow stains, bedding (quilts) stained. Washed all bedding on arrival and bought new quilt for our own use during stay. Most pillows stained or matted.

Strange that owner left note at premises asking not to put anything on Revoo, not to change quilts and a reminder that cleaner only had 3 hours to clean property. It seems that they may have been aware of problems.

WHY HAVE COTTAGES4YOU GIVEN THIS A 4STAR RATING?

unless you like dilapidated and dirty properties to stay in on your holiday. The whole place needed decorating and considering its a wooden structure I mean lick of paint! Entering the property it smelt of dog. The Dyson was full (mostly dog hairs). The sheets didn't smell fresh and in two bedrooms were torn, in one bedroom the sheet had mud/dirt type marks on the sheets. Black mould in the showers in both bathrooms (the shower cleaner left had nothing in it!). Dust on the aged radiators, thick dust on the blind in the en-suite bathroom with slat broken, dust bunnies under the single room bed. The dust was so bad on one of the televisions we could write "clean me" in it. The television in the lounge had a VCR attached to it but no DVD (who has VCRs these days?). So we swapped the tv in the lounge with the one in the dining room (smaller though) which had a DVD player – the sound was awful. And because we swapped to a smaller tv we pulled up the armchair.... the stain on the carpet it covered looked like a vomit stain. None of the curtains in any room fitted properly, the wooden blinds in the lounge didn’t work either. There was stuffing coming out of one of the sofas in the lounge. The dishwasher originally didn’t work, but after a call came back to find it had been fixed although there was only 1 cheap dishwasher tablet (luckily we’d taken our own), then the fridge broke down overnight so we ended up throwing away milk, etc. After an argument with the owner and maintenance man we managed to get it fixed (although they said at first that they couldn’t do anything until the day we were due to leave). The owner being particularly obnoxious and her attitude left a lot to be desired since she said she was unable to come to the property because she was a business woman and lived 40 miles away and was having work done on her own house! Great customer service! On mentioning the stain she told us that the armchair hadn't been moved in 4/5 years! So that's how long the stain had been there. This cottage was infinitely cleaner when we left than when we arrived. We have stayed in other cottages around the country and have to say that had this been our first experience it would have been our last! On the plus side we did have a good holiday and Welcome Cottages did what they could via the phone, but they really need to do spot checks on what they advertise!