“We have been before and it was disappointing that more had not been done to make the garden more secure for the dog.”
Also, a shame that more cannot be done about the old barn. However, these are problems that we were aware of and prepared to live with. What was not acceptable was the later check-in time of 6pm to find that the property was less clean than the first time we booked. There were sticky marks on the kitchen floor from previous spillages, which we wiped to find the cloth was black with dirt and the skirting boards were very dusty. We also found, on striping our own beds, that some of the bedding and protectors were stained. It is interesting to note that, although assured in the welcome folder that mattress and pillow protectors are washed between bookings, it was requested that these were left on even though it was requested that we strip the beds. The biggest disappointment still, was that the bed in the upper bedroom was broken. This was only discovered when sleeping on it and it became more like a hammock in the middle of the night. We attempted to fix the problem, which turned out to be loose base supports, but again they moved in the middle of the night. The people sleeping in that bed were leaving a day early so at that point there was little point in calling in maintenance. Either way, it should not have been left in this state for someone to sleep on, surely this would have been known about when the bed was changed last time? It was also noted, on attempting to fix the bed, that underneath was a pile of disused wood and again more dust and dirt. I have photographs if anyone would like them as evidence of the poor state of maintenance. Sadly, we will not be returning next year. It is such a shame these issues have let down what is otherwise a beautiful property that is well equipped and in a lovely location, if only it was cared for properly.
Many thanks for your feedback for The Smithy,
The barn is listed and as such we are very limited to how this is treated, we are looking into various options, due to COVID this has been delayed.
We do apologise about the bed, unfortunately we were not made aware of the situation before, we are looking in to how we can support underneath the mattress to avoid this in future.
In terms of the cleanliness we can only apologise that is was not to an acceptable standard. Housekeeping have been spoken to and a deep clean has been put in place to ensure future guests do not have the same experience.
Property Owner