“We spent 4 nights at East Farm Cottage but unfortunately it wasn’t a very comfortable stay for me and my partner.”
On arriving at East Farm Cottage we were first met with a nice smell, unfortunately that was short lived as we then noticed how dirty the kitchen floor was, bits of food or dirt and food splatter on the floor, the freezer had food left inside from the last guests and was dirty, the fridge was really dirty with remnants of bits of food and hairs inside it, it didn’t look like it had been wiped down for a while. All the floors in the cottage upstairs and downstairs had human hairs and fluff all over them in every room, plus the sofa had hairs all over it too so it didn’t look like it had been vacuumed between guests. I then had the misfortune of walking into the bathroom and noticing all the grime and mould on them and in the grout of the tiles, I was so grossed out by all of it, without thinking of taking photos I just decided to clean it. Also i understand the house is in the country and it’s normal to get spiders but they were literally everywhere and webs all over the place, although I understand spiders are resistant my opinion is that no effort is made to dust and remove the webs or spiders, we have stayed in numerous country properties and yes Its normal to get flies and spiders but East Farm Cottage had so many, we spent a lot of time removing spiders from the house. Me and my family spent the first 2 hours of arriving at East Farm cottage vacuuming /cleaning all the floors in the cottage, wiping the kitchen worktops and doors and handles, cleaning and wiping out kitchen cupboards that had crumbs and sticky residue on it, I also scrubbed the bathroom tiles and grout, I also cleaned the shower screen because it looked smoggy where it hadn’t been cleaned properly. Unfortunately it didn’t get better, that evening I went to bed earlier than my partner, I kept a feeling itchy and really irritated and tossed and turned for around 3 hours, I woke up and got up as I just couldn’t feel comfortable in the bed, I noticed I’d been bitten on my arm, forehead and in my scalp, it was then at that point I told my partner I didn’t want to sleep in the bed, we slept downstairs on the sofa. The next morning my partner decided to check over the bed to see what might have been irritating me, and he was shocked to find large blood stains on the bed and very large urine marks all over the bed, (we did take photos of this)it was at that point we should have decided to leave but we had two very excited girls so we decided we would grin and bare it for them but sleep downstairs and not make them aware of any problems because we didn’t want to spoil it for them, if it wasn’t for the girls we would have left. I contacted the cottage manager and although she was very friendly she was very dismissive about the uncleanliness of the cottage, we soon realised the reason she was being so dismissive is because it was herself that had actually supposed to have done the cleaning. Unfortunately as I said to her myself, the cottage and the village is beautiful, but it is unfortunately let down with the uncleanliness, which is a real shame. We also had a problem with the electric shower, to which the repair was fixed that day while we were out, which was good. The manager while we were out also left us two mattresses protectors and some essential oils for the bed to keep away any pests and a big bunch of flowers, although I could see the insensitive it wasn’t enough for me and my partner to want to sleep in that bed, we slept the whole of our stay on the sofa, which was very uncomfortable. This house does have so much potential but the owners need a better cleaner, yes we all do have different standards of cleanliness ( which is something the cottage manager repeated a few times) but surely expecting the fridge and freezer, and floors and shower tiles to be cleaned, and to be able to sleep on a clean mattress is a pretty standard practice of cleanliness? Even though me and my partner were exhausted because of the lack of sleep due to the sleeping arrangement, the girls had an amazing time and loved the cottage, garden and Northumberland.
Thank you for your feedback.
Our team take great pride in making sure that our properties are maintained and cleaned to the highest standard before guests arrive. We have been letting out our family cottage for over 10 years and in that period of time many guests have enjoyed and provided very positive feedback on the service we offer and provide.
I think it is important to point out to prospective guests that our changeover team visited the guests to rectify any concerns they raised straight away. An electrician visited and fixed the shower electric pull cord within 2 hours of us being notified. Our changeover team offered to re-clean and steam clean the kitchen floor to accommodate the concerns raised, despite the house already having been cleaned top to bottom during the changeover. These offers were declined.
The mattress was clean and had a mattress protector on, with a replacement mattress already on back order (which arrived and was replaced at the changeover subsequent to these guests leaving). The cottage is situated in rural Northumberland, in the summer where windows are opened by guests in hot weather. Any bites sustained by a guest are nothing to do with the cleanliness of our property, but to do with the insect wildlife at the time of year present outside. Midges exist in Northumberland as well as Scotland and Kielder Water!
We always try to go over and above, going the extra mile to meet guests expectations.
In recent years, we have been victims of the influence that a bad or unfair review has on the letting of our property, and have sadly resorted to capturing video and photographic evidence of our properties after the property has been cleaned and before guests arrive.
I have reviewed the videos and photos of the property taken before the guests arrived and there was no evidence to corroborate the additional claims made in this review (together with the account from our changeover team).
Our aim is always to provide a lovely family home environment for guests to enjoy in beautiful Northumberland!
Property Owner
