Gun Hill Cottage

We spent 3 nights over Christmas at Gunhill Cottage.

It was lovely and warm and cosy, clean and the fire was great. A perfect place to spend Christmas. Upstairs is very compact but not uncomfortable, smaller than downstairs though. Kitchen was well equipped but the oven door doesn't fully shut, could do with an upgrade in our opinion. Over all we had a great stay

I stayed at Gun Cottage with my bridesmaids the night before my wedding.

It was the perfect place; a beautiful quaint little cottage with a garden, original features kept throughout and in such a pretty setting. I honestly couldn't have chosen a better place to stay for such a life event. The photographer photos from the wedding morning are going to be gorgeous! We really want to stay again another time soon. Thank you!

Lovely stay at Gun Hill Cottage.

Check-in and communication prior to it were smooth, the property is very charming, well equipped and the toys in the living room were really appreciated by our tiny travelers. Everything was very clean, and the beds / mattresses comfortable. We did not have time to spend time in the garden or by the pond but enjoyed the view from the cottage.

Great accommodation with every facility required.

Very well maintained. The house is well over 100 years old, so there are a few signs of age but nothing to be put off by. There is a road right outside so a bit of traffic noise in the morning. Lovely garden with lots of wildlife including a visit from a deer. The location is good for trips around East Sussex, West Sussex and Kent. There is plenty to do and lots of good walks.

Great cottage, lovely surroundings, garden and just a 6 minute walk down the hill from the cottage to a fantastic friendly little great country pub The Gun.

I would stay at the cottage again in a heartbeat, absolutely beautiful and so picturesque and peaceful to relax in and recharge the batteries if you have a hectic lifestyle and work schedule during the week. Thank you David & Toni

Great cottage with everything we needed and a beautiful garden to enjoy.

Ein bezauberndes Häuschen mit schönem Garten!

Gut ausgestattet, sehr gemütlich, sauber (thanks to Lisa) und geschmackvoll eingerichtet. An einige Besonderheiten, die alte Häuser nun Mal haben, gewöhnt man sich schnell, auch Dank der Erklärungen des sehr freundlichen Owners. Wir haben uns hier sehr wohl gefühlt und bedanken uns herzlich! Christiane & Erwin

What a dream cottage and garden!

Superb!

All the comments in previous reports - about idiosyncratic plumbing in the downstairs bathroom and the window catches wedged with paper or not actually screwed to the frame - are still relevant.

It is an old property, full of character so a few maintenance issues are only to be expected. However, the location in the Sussex Weald more than makes up for any minor problems. Being able to hear the dawn chorus and to eat breakfast outdoors was just magical.

We had a great time.

The cottage was lovely, clean and well equipped. The garden was lovely to sit in in the evening . The foodie pub was a 5min walk up the road too, an extra bonus. We would definitely stay there again.

A comfortable, quirky cottage, full of character and in the most delightful English countryside setting.

All the facilities worked well and everything you could possibly need was provided. The woodburner has a character all of its own, but once mastered, works incredibly well. There were a few niggly things of course, always are, but none was sufficiently annoying to even be worth mentioning. I thoroughly recommend Gun Hill Cottage, it is an absolute gem. Thank you.

As lovely as the cottage looked from the outside this was not the same inside.

The downstairs was cold except for the lounge as we had a fire going every evening. There’s damp and mould inside and there was water ingress in the downstairs bathroom. It’s a shame as it could be vastly improved with some work. Lovely area but not worth the money.

The cottage has a wonderful atmosphere with a comfortable, cosy sitting-room.

Lovely woods nearby to walk in. An excellent pub (with a very good restaurant) within a short walk down the road. What more could you ask for?

We'd visited Gun Hill Cottage before and were happy to find it available again.

It's cosy and, with family in Eastbourne, convenient for the coast. The lounge is spacious and relaxing and we had a few games of pool in the games room. The kitchen is on the small side but well equipped. Despite the rain it was a lovely birthday break and we would recommend the Gun Pub, just a few minutes walk up the road - the food and ambience was excellent. I suspect we'll be returning to Gun Hill Cottage in the future!

We had a lovely stay.

Chris had been very responsive by email prior to the stay so I had no questions once we were there. There was also a useful folder relating to the cottage and area and notes left in strategic places. However on getting ready for departure we could not find instructions for what to do with the recycling other than to take glass to the nearby pub, which we did. It was just before we left the house and I am afraid I forgot to mention it to Chris and left it there. My friend found the third bedroom a bit cold, but she really does feel the cold. It’s an old house of traditional construction so hardly eco and easy to heat. The garden is great. We took my dog and did lots of walking. I know the area, but still nearly lost my Wellington boot in very deep mud on one walk. I would advise people to avoid bridleways, which are extra muddy when it’s been wet, and stick to footpaths as horses aren’t allowed in them. Anyway we loved the cottage and would like to return in the spring.

Very cosy house, where you don't need to be tall

A lovely week in this charming cottage helped by the weather!

Breakfast & evening drinks under the grapevine in the large gardens were a highlight. The cottage was very clean, all appliances & plumbing worked. Some of the décor & fittings are rather dated and the guest info needs updating, especially as there is no visitors book for recommendations/advice. We let the owner know about the hole in the hedge out onto the road so hopefully that has been blocked.

We had a very enjoyable stay at Gun Hill Cottage, we loved the beautiful gardens and enjoyed our mornings outside with a coffee, we stayed with our elderly father and we feel that the bathroom downstairs was not really at a good standard as the toilet flush was barely working which made going upstairs for my father much more than he needed too had the downstairs bathroom been working?

The basin in there as well was not draining the water away? For what we paid we feel this should have been working? As described in the holiday let two bathrooms? When only one was working properly? We didn’t think the bin collection was very easy as we didn’t see a wheelie bin? The location was great easy reach to nice places to visit, the co op was great for food shopping, and we really enjoyed the pool table was a nice feature. Had the couple of points raised been addressed with the bathroom it would have made the stay a lot easily especially with my father. Overall a very nice stay lovely idyllic cottage, and gorgeous garden, the Gun pub was really nice for Sunday lunch. Thank you.

The cottage has suffered from a prolonged lack of care and maintenance and is not as shown in your website.

To start with the fridge freezer was too small to cater for a family of five. Insufficient space for freezer food and a very dated fridge freezer indeed. The cooker, well what can i say, very outdated indeed and stopped working after one use. Then two days later it suddenly started working. The first-floor bathroom was again dated, the sink was blocked during the entire holiday and the toilet could not be flushed by us all and you have to repeatedly pull the dated chain system of the toilet for it to then work. The bathroom facilities need updating. Soaps were left where it was used by previous holidayers or guest which i found absolutely disgusting. The bedrooms were dusty and cobwebs every corner of the bedrooms seems to me that it has not had a deep clean since for ages. My children all suffer from dust allergies and they all became unwell and we were all sneezing every day with red itchy eyes. The house had sudden power cuts on many occasions which scared us all, especially during the nights. The lamp shades keep falling down and my son try to grab it and burned his little finger created a blister. The upstairs toilet mirror had no lights. There was no guidance on the bins. However, the gardens were beautiful and well maintained and we all loved it, but we heard a lot of gun shots and people walking in the woods adjacent to the garden that made us feel concerned about our children's safety. I think the woods are used for hunting, but we were not told. Also, we were not told that the woods belong to next door neighbour, and we were approached by her very aggressively and in a very judgemental way. We had explained our position so politely and apologised to her, but she was still aggressive. That evening we were called by the owner at around 8.30- 9.00pm regarding this matter which i found quiet insulting and quite rude to be exact as it ruined our pleasant evening. We felt so uneasy that we lost the mood of our holiday and we cut it short and left three days early. We also had problems parking our car off street and parking the car in the space provided was tremendously difficult and i had scratched my car from the fence post when going into the parking space. the fence closing off the parking space was ridiculously awkward and annoying needs major improvements. This property did not meet my standards and I suggest you inspect the property immediately as I am sure it would not meet yours. This is the first time I have used Sykes Cottages and unfortunately it may be the last.

Absolutely gorgeous cottage with picture perfect gardens.

We spend many hours sitting under the the pergola next to the pond, very relaxing. Two bathrooms but would recommend the downstairs shower is you’re tall

We arrived in the dark to a freezing cold cottage, as storage heaters weren’t on yet there was a lit bonfire in the garden was a little confused by this.

Very dusty house, twin room bedding had stain might have been burnt by an iron but not sure. Toilet had been used and not flushed. Expensive for what it was. Mirror wasn’t hung on the wall just lent up. Not very safe if children were part of the visitors.

Had a very pleasant short-stay at Gun Hill.

A super Cottage with a lovely Garden. Perfect base for exploring a lovely part of the country. A couple of minor complaints in that the downstairs loo wasn't working (Flush Broken) & that I had to get the hoover out at one point to sort out the well-established spider population. Appreciate that you can't stop them getting into an old house but some of the webs looked as if they'd been there for a while. Lots of plus-points however : the overall cleanliness, the welcome bottle of wine, comfortable beds, pretty much everything we needed (iron/ironing board & even a Smart-TV) The traffic using the road outside, whilst not at all busy, was fast & made manoeuvring out of the driveway a little dangerous. The pub, one minute's drive away, was superb, so handy to have a good local when you are staying away. A water filter would be useful as the tap water was a little 'metallic', again minor, as the pub supplied us with bottled water. The surrounding area was peaceful & quiet, lots of trees & country lanes, several NT places nearby that are well worth a visit.

A lovely cottage - very cosy and comfortable.

We were only there for two nights and we all wished it could have been longer. We visit East Sussex often and we will definitely stay here again. The pub is just down the road and was also excellent.

We had a most enjoyable two weeks at Gun Hill Cottage.

The house and gardens were very pleasant with lots of local walks from the house and two excellent pubs nearby. Would certainly visit again. The only downside was our communication with Sykes in Chester before the holiday. Despite several calls in the week before, they failed to answer our queries and would not give us a direct line to their 'local office' (?) or the owner. The result was that we arrived to find the beds not made up to our requirements and no information on a mid-stay change of linen. Fortunately the owner Chris was most helpful and sorted things out to our satisfaction - no thanks to Sykes. To be fair, it's the first time we have ever had this communication problem after dozens of visits over the last 20 years.

A real treasure of a cottage and surrounding land.

Picturesque and quiet. Coffee in the garden with squirrels running around added to the authenticity. Time to unwind. Our family of five really enjoyed our short stay in August. Would visit again.

Very interesting house.

The pictures online do not fully do it justice as the rooms appear smaller than they are and there is plenty of room for 4 or 5 people. One of the rooms is stated to have a small single bed but I presume that refers to the width and our 6' son was fine in it. Lovely gardens. Well placed for trips to Battle, Eastbourne, Seven Sisters. Bodiam Castle worth a visit and Kipling's house, Batemans is just 25 mins away. Good supermarket and restaurants just 4 miles away, with a Co-op 2. Lots of delightful walks within a short drive. No freezer nor dishwasher - neither of which were needed by us. Fitted what we needed very well.

A lovely cottage with all the facilities you need.

We were very lucky with the weather, and so the holiday was a success.

The cottage has some nice touches, but the description is not fully accurate. The single bedroom has a child's sized bed and is not suitable for an adult, and although set on its own, it is not 'tranquil' right next to a fairly busy lane.

Gun Hill cottage is a lovely place nestled in the East Sussex country side.

We enjoyed the open fire, pool table and plenty of room for all the family. I can thoroughly recommend this place with plenty of walks and sights nearby not to mention one of the loveliest country pubs nearby.

Lovely cottage to make your base for exploring Sussex.

It manages to give you a comfortable and homely feeling. The Gun Pub down the road also does excellent food. The owner provided excellent communication prior to arrival.

Great location, with lots of character.

Garden has plenty of space and perfect for entertaining children. Lots of facilities / equipment inside the property too.

We had a lovely week staying at Gun Hill cottage.

Beautiful gardens lovely quirky cottage would thoroughly recommend

This is a beautiful, cosy cottage in a lovely part of the world.

We were lucky enough to be able to eat in the garden every day on the lovely vine covered patio. As the weather was so hot we could perhaps have done with a bit more shade on the patio area. The local walks were lovely but we were also able to easily visit the Seven Sisters country park and Cuckmere Basin, Birling Gap and the lovely town of Lewes. There are 2 very good local pubs within walking distance. We particularly enjoyed the walk across the fields to the Six Bells at Chiddlingly.

The cottage is quaint and has a lovely garden (probably the best we have had at a cottage) and outside seating area which we used alot.

It has most of the things you would expect to need for a week away. The pub was a five minute walk and had very good food, the cottage location is great, there are so many beautiful places to visit within half an hour drive in all directions. The disappointing thing was the cleanliness in some areas, there were dusty surfaces in the living room, spider webs in a lot of places and dead woodlice in the dolls house and toy horse box which I wiped down so my daughter could play....we get these in our house too, it's an old house. It's hard to believe a thorough clean happened just before we arrived though, which would be expected at the best of times, but especially this year. The other thing we felt needed attention was the oven door which doesn't close properly and perhaps some new placemats that aren't peeling. Overall an enjoyable holiday, thank you.

A beautiful property in a secluded area of East Sussex.

Clean fresh linen and a welcome bottle of wine and pint of milk on arrival. The pool room amused the grandson and a selection of games and puzzles for wet days. An ideal proprty for the combined family holiday.

Gun Hill cottage is full of character and once fire was lit was warm throughout except for the games room which was freezing Too cold for a game of pool sadly Very well equipped cottage with lots of extras however an essential which would have been appreciated on arrival and was missing was toilet roll Quick dash to local Co op required We did dispose of our fire ashes considerately and as instructed, sadly previous guests have tipped them onto the lovely garden and some litter too Shame on them as it is a beautiful little outdoor space and we very much enjoyed staying here The surrounding countryside is stunning and there are plenty places to visit nearby

It was a bit cold if you did not have the fire going as it is not double glazed.

First class in every way, did take a little time to warm up, but then fine!

Very tasteful furnishings throughout, 2 bathrooms, plenty of space, very comfortable beds,lovely well kept garden, pond, seats for relaxing. Beautiful setting and lovely countryside, loads of little lanes for walkers, yet near major roads, also found the local Coop excellent and the local pubs, with good menus and meals.

A place to find peace and quiet in a part of Sussex that seems timeless.

Wonderful garden to just sit in and let the everyday pressures drift away. Possibly my most perfect place. Long may it continue.

We had a lovely week in Gun hill cottage.

..it really was a beautiful cozy home with a stunning garden Definitely would love to come back again Thank you Jenny Boulton

The cottage was delightful, clean and well equipped with a spacious garden that was delightful to sit in after an active day out (if not making use of the pool table in the pool room).

The property was situated in an attractive area that was easy accessible to many attractions ranging from steam train rides, gardens and castles to numerous seaside resorts-Brighton, Hastings and Eastbourne. We would happily return to the area and cottage as it was one of the best holidays we have experienced.

A beautiful cottage.

Especially loved the activity shelves, gardens, local info., wood stove and Gun Pub. We loved it, and will be anticipating our next visit before too long.

Lovely cottage - third time we have booked through you and I recommend you regularly.