“This is a mixed review…read on!”
Good things: lovely fluffy bath towels, comfy sitting room with smart TV. Warm and cozy. Shower very powerful and hot though needed the shower head connected to the bath taps rather than the electric shower which was pitiful, as they often are. Shops and pub close by (though see below on this!) However, there are some significant downsides. The property backs right on to the dual carriageway A1. It is VERY noisy. We had super weather but sitting out in the garden was not possible, for us at least, if you don’t mind noise and traffic fumes then it won’t be a problem. It is also right on the edge of an enterprise park/industrial estate. Again, if you need something from Screwfix or a new kitchen from Howdens it could be for you! None of this is mentioned in the property details and it needs to be. ok, we could see on the map that there was an A road nearby but never having been to the area before we’d assumed it would be a reasonably quiet one. We certainly hadn’t noticed an industrial estate. The pub that is referred to in the guide to this property is a large road pub not the cosy country pub we had imagined. Inside the property was basically equipped in the cheapest way possible. The bedding was very poor quality, cheap flat pillows and synthetic duvet, the covers were a horrid poly cotton. Hot and sweaty to sleep in. The kitchen was poorly equipped. The plates were scratched and chipped and the poor selection of glassware had cracks in it. There were plenty of wine glasses but no pint glasses at all. No teapot. I get that this is a business but we stay in a lot of holiday properties, at least five a year. We spent nearly £700 on this for an out of season week in April. I’d expect it to be better equipped and with higher quality linen etc. we usually find a welcome pack of coffee, tea, milk, often a bottle of wine and some local delicacy (Welsh cakes in Wales a few weeks ago) All that was provided were a couple of sachets of coffee and squeeze tubes of UHT milk. There were no basics like cling film or foil. Just not encountered this before. Overall, we loved Northumberland and will be back. We’ll just avoid this property.
