We stayed in number 17 at the hill view manor park, upon arrival the lodge was immaculate and looked like a home away from home. Getting in contact with the owner was easy and hassle free, he was extremely helpful and made sure that our stay was very special with a bottle of bubbly and chocolates left on the table for us. we will definitely be coming back for another night away as it’s such a lovely place to stay in a beautiful location.
Sue Simmonds
Dog walking behind location.
Robert Liscoe
Rented the 'lodge' for three days and was told in advance it was new and we would be the first tenants. When we arrived the problems started to manifest themselves...
1)The oven didn't work 2) All messages (voice and sms) left on the contact phone number 'if there are any issues' went ignored. 3) The shower didn't work - it was fine if you were into freezing or scalding, but nothing in between. 4) In light of 2 above we ignored the instructions to not contact the resident next door (who it turned out was the owner) and he helpfully contacted 'the handyman' who answered immediately on the same number he hadn't answered when WE phoned him. He eventually (ie not when he said he would) arrived to turn on the oven - obviously the switch for it was behind the kickboard beneath the kitchen cupboards. He also examined the shower to find the problem which turned out to be the water inlets connected the wrong way round and not fixable without ripping out the whole shower unit, and he was confused why none of the four previous tenants hadn't complained about not being able to use the shower. Wait a minute - the owner had told us it was a brand new refit and we were the first to rent it????? 5) The owner made another shower available to us, the least he could do, which turned out to be in one of the residential mobile homes on the 'caravan' part of the site. Trouble with that was the unit had been stripped for renovation and was a building site inside. Not the shower/bathroom though, that was 'finished'... except for hooks or seating to put your clothes on whilst you showered, so on the floor in the corner away from the shower they went. This turned out to be the corner at the lowest point of the floor where all the water from the shower that the inefficient shower curtain didn't stop flowed to. Result: soaking wet clothes and a dash through the cold night air from the caravan to our accommodation with only a wraparound towel and shoes on. 6) ... 7) ... 8) ...
I could go on with the litany of issues but it will just turn into a rant; the long and short of it is that we had a totally unsatisfactory three-day stay in the accommodation due to these and various other factors, and when we went to settle the bill we made an offer of what we considered was a reasonable amount for our stay in light of all the issues and because we didn't get what what was advertised or what we were lead to expect from the accommodation. The owner refused our offer, insisted on the full payment, refused to negotiate a deal, and when we persisted in making a reduced offer told us that he would call the Police... and then proceeded to lock us into the property by refusing to open the electric access gates! At this point I advised him that regardless of him refusing our offer of a reduced payment or otherwise, the Police would not look kindly on him holding us hostage when he already had all our contact details from the booking if he wanted to take it further, so we'd just quietly wait for the Police to arrive. He had a sudden change of heart, accepted our reduced offer, opened the gates so we could leave and rather unneccessarily told us we wouldn't be welcomed back at any time. As if!!
Regardless of all the above, I don't know but i suspect that the accommodation is in breach of fire regulations... a locked Fire Exit that can only be opened with a key instead of a push-bar or similar? Make your own decision on that one. And the adjoining residential caravan site had a good strong smell of cannabis about it, particularly on the evening and when there was little wind on one of our trips to the alternative shower - you won't need to worry about this unless the shower doesn't get fixed but whilst it doesn't bother me it's not a particularly good advert either.
I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND THIS ACCOMMODATION, and by extension I wouldn't recommend any accommodation let by this owner, not necessarily because of the issues with the property (though they were unwelcome) but because of the manner and attitude of the owner during and especially at the end of our stay.
Leslie Betteridge
John Hickey360 days ago
Beautiful
Ben Hall2 years ago
Owner has no regards for the environment, chopping down ancient woodland
Getting in contact with the owner was easy and hassle free, he was extremely helpful and made sure that our stay was very special with a bottle of bubbly and chocolates left on the table for us. we will definitely be coming back for another night away as it’s such a lovely place to stay in a beautiful location.
1)The oven didn't work
2) All messages (voice and sms) left on the contact phone number 'if there are any issues' went ignored.
3) The shower didn't work - it was fine if you were into freezing or scalding, but nothing in between.
4) In light of 2 above we ignored the instructions to not contact the resident next door (who it turned out was the owner) and he helpfully contacted 'the handyman' who answered immediately on the same number he hadn't answered when WE phoned him. He eventually (ie not when he said he would) arrived to turn on the oven - obviously the switch for it was behind the kickboard beneath the kitchen cupboards. He also examined the shower to find the problem which turned out to be the water inlets connected the wrong way round and not fixable without ripping out the whole shower unit, and he was confused why none of the four previous tenants hadn't complained about not being able to use the shower. Wait a minute - the owner had told us it was a brand new refit and we were the first to rent it?????
5) The owner made another shower available to us, the least he could do, which turned out to be in one of the residential mobile homes on the 'caravan' part of the site. Trouble with that was the unit had been stripped for renovation and was a building site inside. Not the shower/bathroom though, that was 'finished'... except for hooks or seating to put your clothes on whilst you showered, so on the floor in the corner away from the shower they went. This turned out to be the corner at the lowest point of the floor where all the water from the shower that the inefficient shower curtain didn't stop flowed to. Result: soaking wet clothes and a dash through the cold night air from the caravan to our accommodation with only a wraparound towel and shoes on.
6) ...
7) ...
8) ...
I could go on with the litany of issues but it will just turn into a rant; the long and short of it is that we had a totally unsatisfactory three-day stay in the accommodation due to these and various other factors, and when we went to settle the bill we made an offer of what we considered was a reasonable amount for our stay in light of all the issues and because we didn't get what what was advertised or what we were lead to expect from the accommodation. The owner refused our offer, insisted on the full payment, refused to negotiate a deal, and when we persisted in making a reduced offer told us that he would call the Police... and then proceeded to lock us into the property by refusing to open the electric access gates! At this point I advised him that regardless of him refusing our offer of a reduced payment or otherwise, the Police would not look kindly on him holding us hostage when he already had all our contact details from the booking if he wanted to take it further, so we'd just quietly wait for the Police to arrive. He had a sudden change of heart, accepted our reduced offer, opened the gates so we could leave and rather unneccessarily told us we wouldn't be welcomed back at any time. As if!!
Regardless of all the above, I don't know but i suspect that the accommodation is in breach of fire regulations... a locked Fire Exit that can only be opened with a key instead of a push-bar or similar? Make your own decision on that one.
And the adjoining residential caravan site had a good strong smell of cannabis about it, particularly on the evening and when there was little wind on one of our trips to the alternative shower - you won't need to worry about this unless the shower doesn't get fixed but whilst it doesn't bother me it's not a particularly good advert either.
I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND THIS ACCOMMODATION, and by extension I wouldn't recommend any accommodation let by this owner, not necessarily because of the issues with the property (though they were unwelcome) but because of the manner and attitude of the owner during and especially at the end of our stay.