“Location was lovely, and next door neighbour was nice.”
They’re the only positives of Tiptoes Lodge. The lodge on arrival STANK of stale smoke in every room. I wasted so much of my perfume on trying to conceal it but it only helped for an hour or two. The smoke set off my asthma, and as I use a CPAP mask, I couldn’t sleep for the air being pumped directly into my lungs. The sofa recliner doesn’t work on one end, and the other end has been sat in so much that it leaves you sitting on a slant. There was rubbish like bottles, hair bobbles, glow stick etc under the sofa when we moved it round to view the TV better. There was also rubbish like wrappers and hair under the bedside table in the twin room which we moved to put the beds together in. Someone’s old socks under the twin beds. The twin beds are tiny and only suitable for children up to early teens. Beds were so squeaky that we had to tighten the bed frames to help with the noise. The dishwasher was filthy, had mouldy food in the bottom, the filter was full of old onions and peppers. Dirty water lining the bottom, so wasted a dishwasher tablet trying to clean it once I’d washed the filter out. It made the whole lodge smell of bin juice when we first opened it up. The curtains have mould on the bottom of them in the master bedroom and living area. The hot tub is a hazard in itself. No bar to fold the lid back on - we’re a couple with disabilities and this was really painful to remove and put back on as most of the handles have snapped. Once you’re in, it’s lovely but no cleaning tablets left, so it got dirtier and dirtier as the holiday went on, as no one comes to maintain it. The directions were quite vague, and trying to find the key safe is impossible to find in the dark when we checked in later in the evening. Unfortunately, Sykes cottages landline and mobile were closed so couldn’t get help as all staff had left for the evening in the main restaurant. We spent more time cleaning than we did relaxing. We checked out a day early because we couldn’t stand it anymore and checked in to a wonderful pub in Lupton to make up for the holiday. Would not recommend to anyone, especially when the owner refused to agree to any form of compensation. Sykes did their best but even with photographic evidence, it didn’t help. There are so many beautiful places to stay around this area, go anywhere else but here!