“Firstly the positives, the location of the cottage was excellent for travelling to Alnwick, Seahouses, Bamburgh, Holy Island and the costal path.”
It is a lovely area and the beaches are fantastic for dogs, despite it being August some were virtually deserted. We ate in the small village of Embleton a few times at the pub (good pub grub) and the Dunstanburgh Castle Hotel (highly recommended).
The cottage itself was a disappointment and I will email Sykes separately with more details. This is going to sound like I'm moaning, but there were lots of little things, which combined, took the shine off the holiday. Crumbs on the sticky worktops and badly stained cups that hadn't been washed (properly). Only two matching dinner plates one of which had a chip in it (there was one other dinner plate, unmatching and smaller plates). This is the only cottage we've been to without a welcome pack, even a pint of milk would've been handy. Despite being a renovated barn with a fireplace and log burner it didn't have that "cosy" feel at all. As others have said in reviews, there are instructions not to use the log burner (although there was a basket of logs on the hearth). As I write this I note that the description on the Sykes web site still says "rest in this lovely sitting area beside a woodburning stove" :-(. The ceramic tiled floors throughout were cold to bare feet, even in August. The garden wasn't properly enclosed if you have a dog (or small child) who likes to escape! The garden is actually shared with the adjoining cottage, only the patio is divided by a wooden fence panel. The bed was very uncomfortable. The TV frequently displayed a message "not enough memory". This cottage is OK as a base and you do need a car. Sykes web site states "a local pub within a miles walk"; in reality, on leaving the cottage you walk 5 minutes down a track (which was dry when we were there but I should imagine very muddy most of the year), cross high speed railway line (it does have lights), then walk for about 10 mins down a straight fast road with no pavements to reach the village of Christon Bank. There is a local drinkers pub but the shop has closed down. We will be returning to this wonderful area but will give Christon Well Cottage a miss next time.
