“Positives:
The bungalow is in a wonderful location, in the centre of Beadnell, a lovely little friendly village.”
The lovely beach is an short walk away, as is the small village shop, and the fish & chip van, which is open on a Thursday, Friday & Saturday evening, and is heartily recommended.
We had cocktails at The Tower Pub, Sunday lunch at The Saltwater Cafe, & lovely meals at both the Craister Arms & The courtyard, all a stones throw away from the bungalow. Fantastic food in all these venues, with great, friendly staff.
The kitchen is very well equipped, with plenty of glasses, crockery & cutlery. It's lovely and light, with a great breakfast bar to eat at. There was some cleaning products left in sink cupboard, 2 tea towels, 1 kitchen roll, dishwasher tablets and a small tea & coffee starter pack. Fridge/freezer is a good size & was clean & tidy.
Bedrooms were all well equipped and comfortable, plenty of wardrobe space in 3 bedrooms, lovely bedding etc, & lovely large bath towels & hand towels.
The 2 bathrooms were both pleasant and clean. It took a while to work out the shower in the shower room ( you have to turn it onto full heat, then turn it down again ), but once we mastered it, the showers were great, plenty of hot water.
Negatives:
We arrived at Palmers Rest, and went in through the rear of the property. We were very surprised to find we were entering through a bedroom, this is not mentioned in any of the property details. The porch we entered through, did not appear to have been cleaned, nor did the carpet in the bedroom.
The conservatory had lots of dead flies, wasps etc, many on the windowsills, along with their droppings. The corners of the floor had not been cleaned, neither had behind the sofa, which had dead flies and dust when we moved it. The loose cover on the sofa had several stains on it too.
The skirting boards throughout the bungalow were dusty & grubby.
There was debris in the bottom of the kitchen pedal bin, which had to be cleaned.
Unfortunately, a previous visitor had put a washing capsule in the washing machine draw, instead of the drum, and this was completely blocked with plastic, so we had to get it out and clean it.
We went out into the rear courtyard, to sit at the patio table & chairs, & discovered the seat covers hadn't been put back in the trunk as requested, and were stained & dirty, so we had to wash these, before we were able to use them. The patio was messy & dirty, and had not been brushed or cleaned for a long time, and the tall weeds in the border, meant there wasn't room to sit at the table, so we weeded, and cleaned up the patio as well.
We needed to use the vacuum cleaner, and discovered that it was full with dust etc. After vacuuming the rear bedroom, it was full up again, so not sure when it was last cleaned.
The chest of drawers in the main bedroom, were dusty & sandy & had to be wiped out before use.
We tried for 3 days to get the TV in the lounge to work. We finally got it working, only for it to keep turning off. Unfortunately, there was no instruction book for it, which may have helped.
I sent Sykes a message on their app, regarding the cleanliness & TV problem.
I received a reply later on the next day, asking if we would like a team visit, or for the issues to be addressed during the changeover. When I tried to reply, it stated that this subject was now closed, & I couldn't reply.
We tried phoning, but just couldn't get through, appalling customer service.
We did speak to a guy who came to give us a new information leaflet for the bins etc, and he said he was a friend of the owner. We explained to him about the cleanliness, TV etc, and he promised to inform the owner
We did have a nice time at Palmers Rest, the location etc is perfect, and the bungalow is spacious, but unfortunately the standard of cleaning leaves a great deal to be desired, and was very disappointing. If they can get the cleaning problem sorted, it would be perfect.
We are grateful for your feedback, but of course very disappointed that everything wasn’t perfect for you.
Working with the agency team to put things right - and I’m pleased to say that ratings have improved since your visit.
Property Owner