Lake District Self Catering cottage, Upper Oaks, Bowness-on-Windermere, sleeps 6

Nice stay
Stayed at upper oaks for a long weekend,ok its probably not the most quaint property in windermere but its nice on the inside.nice kitchen/ dining area,nice bedrooms ,and a nice bathroom all modern. You would need to do a four in a bed style inspection to find any dust or dirt ..non apparent to us .private parking which is a big plus around windermere,,handy for all shops restaurants etc. Only one critisism really,,with 3 women staying there is a distinct lack of mirrors oh and we couldn't get the lock on the toilet door to work ,other than that all was good.
Markdw1965
2022-10-14

Don?t bother to complain
Upon arrival this is not the most appealing looking place but is very well situated very close to town, an easy walk for coffees bars and restaurants and shops. Our issues with this accommodation was not the unappealing facade or it's location. No the issues started when the key was not available in the lock box at 3pm when we arrived and 5 minutes later trying the door to find an agent still in the property doing checks. Why so late, it's not like we arrived unannounced it had been booked for months. When we entered the property we were greeted with a fresh, modern looking open plan living space which appeared lovely. Unfortunately, beauty as they say is only skin deep and as you settle in to the property the extremely poor cleaning becomes all too apparent. It's not acceptable at anytime and especially during the covid pandemic to find Thick dust in wardrobes and on shelves. Dirty stains on the wall at the side of the toilet Dirty stains on the towel rail/warmer in the bathroom. Stains in the bed headboards A disgustingly grimy oven Cooking utensils with dried on food. A child's high chair with dried on food. I could go on but you'll get the picture. It really made us feel uncomfortable that so little attention is paid to the cleaning that is visible so what if the invisible things, it make my skin crawl to think of such things. We didn?t want to leave such a negative review as both Sykes (booking agent) and the property owners may be unaware and this place would be great if cleaned so it's the cleaners and people managing it that need to step up. So we wrote a polite email to Sykes clearly stating we didn?t feel a negative review would be fair and simply asked if they would pass these comments to the managing agent and cleaners as well as the owner so that necessary improvements could be made for future guests. However, rather than do this Sykes wrote back saying there is no issues with the property (had no other bad reviews) and the would not compensate us. I was fuming! I did not want or ask for any compensation. A quick search online reveals previous issues with cleanliness, which we should have taken note of before booking. So rather than give discreet feedback to improve. Sykes, with whom we have booked numerous stays with for several years decided I was a money grabbing liar. A second reply to them explaining this has gone completely ignored other than the auto response, so I know they received it. Therefore, as the improvements will not get made any time soon. We felt it important to to post this review.
smiffy1265
2021-05-30