“All in all a very disappointing experience.”
The cottage is well presented in a beautiful garden and Niki could not have been more welcoming. However our stay was extremely unpleasant due to a persistent insect infestation.
It was apparent on the first night that there were a lot of spiders around the place. My partner has a phobia and it resulted in poor sleep for both of us, as I was woken up to catch around 20 of them on the first night. We also noticed wood lice appearing at night too. These were around the edge of the floors, but also on the kitchen worktop and hanging from the loft hatch in the bedroom ceiling. I’d pick off about 10 a day, hoping that would be an end to it.
Ants were also a problem in the kitchen, with them crawling all over the surfaces and cupboards. There is no lid to the kitchen bin, which may possibly have attracted them.
In hindsight we should have complained immediately, but each time we thought that we’d sorted it ourselves and that would be an end to it. We did report it to Niki after the 5th night though and gave her the opportunity to sort it out. She attempted to eradicate them during the day, but we returned to the property late in the evening to find the problem to be as bad as ever. We took the decision to cancel the holiday rather than endure another night and packed up and left the cottage around midnight. We thought the four hour drive home would be preferable to another night there.
We left the 8 wood lice that were found in the bedroom in a glass, for Niki to see the extent of the problem from just one evening. We also offered photographic evidence of this.
The owners showed no concern that we’d had to leave and a request for any refund was flatly refused. Sykes Cottages state in their terms and conditions that they are simply a go-between and have no responsibility for the accommodation and just referred us back to the owners. We did take out an insurance policy through Sykes, but this did not cover the property being uninhabitable.
"We are naturally concerned about your "extremely unpleasant stay", of which
we were only made aware on your 5th day. Equally, receiving such a review is
both upsetting and disconcerting. We have been running Garden Cottage as a
holiday let for 16 years and yours is the first review we have had about a
"persistent insect infestation". All this could have been avoided if you had
informed Sykes that your partner has an insect phobia and asked if Garden
Cottage, situated in a garden, would be an OK place to stay. Your view that
the insects you found amounted to a "persistent insect infestation" clearly
was not shared by the guests that proceeded you or those that followed.
Knowing your partner's condition it was surely incumbent upon you to inform
us straightaway so that we could jointly assess whether the problem could be
addressed. You offered no photographic evidence. We would have liked to have
seen a picture of the 20 spiders on the first night, given that there were
none the night before. As for the ants we saw no evidence of them when we
vacuumed the carpet. Leaving it until the 5th night to inform us, with a
glass of 6 woodlice as evidence, before leaving at midnight came as a
complete shock, which you have interpreted as "no concern". For those who do
not suffer from insectophobia Garden Cottage is clearly not an
"uninhabitable property". We strongly advise that in future you inform the
booking agent of your partner's condition in advance."
Kind Regards
Niki
Property Owner
