Whisk Away Cottage

The property itself is lovely.

However sadly the “hotel restaurant” leaves a lot to be desired. We had one reasonable meal and one which was basically inedible, and made my two children sick. The other diners were able to have a nice looking curry, whereas we were told that only burgers were available and the children’s burgers were simply awful. So until they get their chef and staff sorted out assume you’re self catering.

Our stay at Whisk Away was fantastic!

We couldn’t fault anything and wouldn’t hesitate to book again.

The cottage is a little style over substance - it’s beautifully decorated and has some clever touches such as the boiling water tap, but lacks functionality and some basics you’d expect.

As a fellow holiday cottage owner and holiday maker I expect the following to be in situ - a toaster, some baking trays, blinds at all windows (the double bedroom back door has glass panels and no blind), working TVs - there are three but some don’t have live TV consistently working on them) and welcome instructions regarding the site itself eg recycling, bins plus using the technology (the less tech minded may find this challenging). From a safety perspective there’s a step from the kitchen to lounge which is difficult to see. Another guest has kindly put silver tape on this to make it stand out and has flagged in the visitors book - this isn’t up to safety standards in my opinion. Finally the hall and bathroom lights are motion sensored. I have no issue with this except that if someone gets out of bed in the double bedroom the light in the open bath area comes on and wakes up the other person - there’s no way of turning this off. This should not be on a sensor as we had disrupted sleep each night. The site itself is lovely - very quiet given it was half term. The restaurant serves good quality food and the mini golf etc are well maintained. Only and quite big negative was the pool temperature - it’s very cold. Our five year old learns to swim in a cold pool but this took it to another level and she didn’t want to go in the main pool - which we didn’t blame her for as neither did we! If the pool temperature was rectified we’d love to stay on the site again but we wouldn’t stay at this property.

Beautifully decorated property with an emphasis on modern technology.

Unfortunately however, the owner has confused a magazine worthy showroom with a holiday let. Not suitable for small children due the ridiculous amount of breakable ornaments. Every surface where I would want to put my own items, was covered in home bargains tat. Get rid of it all and you have a lovely property. Kitchen had the minimal amount if kitchenware. No toaster, no collinder, 3 broken mugs, no slotted or wooden spoons. Only 3 small pans. Not great if you enjoy cooking. No child friendly crockery, so bring your own. No instruction manual or advice on how to use the plethora of digital equipment. Even the oven told us it was on the WiFi. No info on recycling. No guide for the thermostat. Not sure what the purpose was of the huge blank books that took up space in the living area? Whitbarrow village itself is lovely though after a week of non stop rain, the play area and all grass areas were too muddy to enjoy. The pool and restaurant were lovely. We will return but not to this property.

Very poor I’m afraid to report from both the owners and Sykes themselves.

The apartment initially looked lovely, clean and modern in an isolated area but was met with a rather stern cleaning note on how to strip the beds at the end of the stay and how to tidy up after ourselves. The property looked lovely but we soon came to see the many downfalls. The lights in the bedrooms are simply too powerful and are motion sensitive, so every time you moved in the room the lights came on. Unfortunately we found this out during the middle of the night whilst popping to the loo. Also, the door going out of the property in the main bedroom requires a blind as the external lights will light up the room too. Sensitive sleepers be warned! I did find the shutters did not keep the room dark enough in the mornings either but that’s probably personal. The secret room was a joy and can in handy when a bat flew in (so definitely close to nature) as one member of the family could hide in there, whilst my daughter was delighted to see such a creature close up. The site the apartment is in contains a bar and restaurant, whilst the food is good, please book your table ahead of your stay as we were turned away one evening. Lessons learnt. The crazy golf was free and a great way to spend a wet afternoon Now the crux of the problem. We only booked this apartment on the basis it was served with a heated indoor pool but on arrival day, it was closed due to a leak. It remained closed all week whilst we stayed there, if I was made aware of the matter beforehand, I definitely would have picked somewhere else to stay. I raised a complaint via Sykes whilst away but they only contacted myself when I returned home. I complained about the pool to Sykes who passed it onto the owners, but neither Sykes nor the owners were willing to help out. I was offered a £100 compensation from the owners only if I stayed with them again, but I don’t feel like I would like to stay in the property again. Neither Sykes nor the owners were willing to help out (NB The receptionist at the pool did not offer an alternative either nor did the closed pool signs suggest alternative arrangements had been made). Sykes suggested a small claims but this isn’t something I’m willing to do due to unnecessary stress. I’m afraid due to the lack of understanding from the owner, I won’t be booking from Sykes in the future.

Its perfect .

..not coment

Very poor Wrong code to check in Half eaten bag crisps in cupboard Non vacuumed lounge area X2 tea towels for weeks stay No black bag No welcome basket No washing machine No soap No heating on X2 toilet rolls Bed not made up in guest room

"It's not often when you get to spend your holiday in a dream holiday home" were the words of my 8 year old which summarises our stay well.

Ideal location, clean, luxurious interiors, access to pool, gym, games and other facilities at the village, electric car charging - all of it makes us plan to come back soon.

Fabulous tasteful home away from home

Lovely property clearly designed with a very high specification in mind.

Loved our stay. My daughter's loved the hidden room. We had to coax them out at some points. Great base to explore the lakes and the whole whitbarrow village and its staff made it a pleasure to stay at. Restaurant food of a good standard

A lovely property in a great location for easy travel to many of the Lakes.

Extremely comfortable and very chic in decor.

Amazing stay overall.

we did miss WiFi and although it’s good to disconnect from the world we missed our evening Netflix and kids you tube as the shared WiFi on site was really poor. If the cottage had dedicated WiFi we would return. Maybe benefit from a coffee machine and toaster.