Cumbrian Cottages Reviews 

Do not book this place Kim’s Retreat, The Court, S Craig, Windermere LA23 2HZ, United Kingdom. We had no hot water for 3 nights because of a broken thermostat and my kids had no hot water for shower for 3 nights, no action taken to fix it, do not let this place ruin your holiday!

AVOID!! We booked for Charcoal House in Conniston. The cottage was advertised as quiet and secluded. We experienced disruption throughtout our stay from building works next door inckuding noisy trucks from early in the morning throughout the day. All guests were very upset by this as it was the not the holiday advertised and that we had paid full price for. Informed the conpany of our disatisfaction throughout, and there response was entirely unhelpful and unresponsive. Appalling misadvertisement and very poor customer service by Cumbrian Cottages. DO NOT USE.

Arrived after 10hrs travel, no heating, no hot water. Cupboards hanging off, damp on walls, bathroom mouldy, carpets not hoovered, beds full of hairs,both human and animal. Pluggins in every room to cover the awful smell. Fridge disgusting, no freezer door so all iced up and dirty, oven greasy and dirty, dishwasher stank so bad, filter obviously never been cleaned, crockery all dirty, had to wash a glass before use, even washing up bowl was dirty. Called, could not be helped that night. Went to office next morning.Maintenance guys came to look at heating, saw the state of the place, suggested we ask to be moved which we did. Was stiffly helped as if it was my fault and was just being difficult. Had to wait until after 3, call and pay for own taxi to move all luggage. Moved to nu holme which was over £100 cheaper per week but when asked them to refund the difference was told was my own choice to move. Had to still stay in cottage for the 3 weeks so lost over £300. Several calls to speak to a manager, until now not available. Have had no call back. Thoroughly disgusted and actually hurt that this can still happen. I was too nice and it got me walked over by a big company. Would recommend anyone to first look at Cumbria Cottages and see the sister companies before booking. Would hate for this to happen to someone else.

Booking through the company was straight forward but no different to the other companies we have booked cottages through, over the past 18 years. However, when making a complaint about the cleaning and the state of the cottage on arrival, was a different story. I made a complaint on behalf of my Mother and Father in law, who are in their 80`s, as I had booked it through their email address (I am the daughter in law and me and my husband stayed with them for the week) on the first full day of arriving at "Bluebell Cottage in Grasmere" Fri 14th Oct 22 , for 1 week, we arrived to find blood-stained sheet on one bed, the shower rail hanging off as I opened the door to inspect inside, to no surprise by this point it looked like the walls had been rinsed and the tray not cleaned or bleached. The oven was black and had food left on the bottom shelf, clearly not been cleaned for several months, the trays, racks were greasy and thick in black grease. After pulling out some pizza, it was only when we opened the door of the oven, that we realised how disgusting it was and was taken back by the smoke and the odour. I took several pictures of all of the above and sent these to the company on the 15th Oct and since had no feedback, apology at all or even an offer to rectify the issues! Therefore, we were left with scrubbing the bottom of the oven ourselves!! What we find astonishing is that in 2021 Bluebell Cottage had won a customers choice award by a 9.5 rating on Reevoo!! Wonder what has happened since?? New cleaning agency, or just lazy cleaning staff. Paying over £1200 for a 1 week break in Oct and that is what we got!. The property itself has potential to be a very nice place but with pale carpets that are extremely stained throughout the house, as are the walls in the property and dust in most of the rooms with voiles in the kitchen looking filthy with cobwebs and dust clinging to them, dead bees and flies in the window sills, is all evidence this had not been proper cleaned for several months! I am aiming to track down the owners and inform them of our experience too. As we do not believe this company is ethical to pass this information/feedback to the owner/s.

We have just had a short break at Angerton Cottage Blackford near Carlisle. The property was stunning. It was comfortable, clean and the beds were super nice.Location was superb. Jackie the host was brilliant leaving homemade shortbread and a bottle of wine. We will definately return to such a brilliant property. We wanted to post a review after our stay but didn't receive anything from Cumbrian cottages, which is a shame as this cottage is brilliant and deserves a fantastic review.

We booked Eskdale cottage in Ambleside and based our choice on good reviews online. The cottage turned out to be mouldy, we complained and asked for a partial refund. The company said they would reply to the complaint within 28 days, this hasn't happened which is a clear breach of ABTA rules, I also posted a negative review on Reevo which wasn't published, this means people unhappy with Cumbrian Cottages aren't given a platform and the company misadvertises.

We stayed in The Hoggest at High House Farm at Watermillack. It was excellent. Beautiful location, peace and quiet. Fabulous accomodation. Super clean and highly equiped with everything you would ever need. Linda was a great and friendly host. Would definitely return.

Staying in Mary’s Cottage and we’ve had so many maintenance issues since being here. Lightbulbs not working, batteries in remotes running out. To top it all off, the washing machine was also broken, coming up with an error code, and an engineer did not come for nearly two days. The engineer said that he had already advised Cumbrian Cottages to replace the washing machine which hadn’t been done. He also advised that the tumble dryer feature was not working as previous guests had mentioned it too - which we were not told upon arrival. The machine rubber gasket was also incredibly dirty (we have photos), with dirt that had clearly built up over months and had been untouched. My mother and father in law have paid over £1300 for us to stay the week and sadly this is not the service expected for such a hefty price tag.

Appalling! Booked and paid in full for 4 nights, the final night being a special occasion. Week prior to stay we were told the owners wanted to do some 'non-essential maintenance' so our stay was shortened to 3 nights. Even though the maintenance was 'non-essential' we were expected to rearrange, including rearrange a celebration event and meeting friends. Middle of August so very little else available. Property we booked was a little cottage with amazing views, on a little-used road and known to us: we were offered as a 'suitable alternative' a bungalow on an estate in the middle of town at a distance away. Had to agree a refund, had to cancel celebration event and catching up with friends. Their priority seemed to be for their owners, not their customers. Wish there was an option for zero, rather than 1!

We rented Monreith in Ambleside from 9th-23rd July. The cottage is, fundamentally, delightful in an unparalleled location and the rental priced accordingly. On arrival, the cleaners had left a note to warn us that the curtain rail in the sitting room (at the front of the property ) was broken. However, at the time of leaving, it had still not been repaired and hence we could not draw the curtains, resulting in every passer by on the busy main road into Ambleside being able to see in.
More importantly, on arrival we found that the seal on the fridge had failed making closing the fridge door impossible without wedging a four pack of 2litre water bottles in front of it to achieve only a partially effective closure. We reported this on Sunday. Given the recent high temperatures this was of more than usual importance. The national call centre phoned back to confirm they would ensure the local office in Windermere would make arrangements on Monday. They eventually came out on Tuesday (12th). Not having heard from them we called again on Thursday (14th). The call centre attempted, in vain, to put us through to the Windermere office. They once again assured us we would get a call from Windermere. Predictably we did not and thus went in to the office on Friday (15th) to find out that, in spite of the maintenance team having been out to the property on Tuesday the required part had not been ordered until Thursday, and that they expected a five working day delivery of the item. A small surface fridge was provided but this is wholly inadequate for more than one day’s provisions. As of the final day of our stay, we heard nothing further from Cumbrian Cottages and, needless to say, neither the fridge nor the curtains have been repaired.
We are quite happy to pay a fair rent but do expect a fully functional property and service in the event of issues. The time we have squandered on this issue and the inconvenience have been wholly unnecessary had Cumbrian Cottages provided even a modicum of service.

We stayed in a cottage earlier this year. We left some clothes in the drawers by a mistake. I phoned the next day to report this.The customer service was appalling as we were passed between about 7 different advisors and were told each time they would be back in contact with us. This never happened and after 2 months of chasing we still do not have our clothes. We were told at one point that they had been found and after another phonecall we were told this was a mistake.
I phoned to ask to speak to management and was told they would call back, however this never happened. I have now given up but felt the need to share this review.

Bridge Cottage, Braithwaite-

Electrics were off when we arrived- I realised this after trying to figure out why the WiFi wasn’t working and trying multiple plug adapters and sockets for ages, then I realised it was the fuse box. Electrics kept going off and had to go to fuse box.
General decor is unpleasant 1980’s peach with old curtains and old settees.
Windows are very dirty.
Curtains are hanging off because they haven’t been hooked onto the rings, some hooks are missing, curtain tape is old and worn, also the curtain linings are hanging off.
Windows don’t lock in an open position so no way of making them secure if you want some air.
Unable to watch the television at all as the signal is so bad it crackles and has lines all across it and goes blank constantly.
Dust and dirt behind the the tv, all over the plug adapter and on the walls (a duster was also left behind tv!).
Dim lights in kitchen (this was put on a review by someone in 2020 but it hasn’t been addressed) and dim lights in lounge.
Shower pressure is so weak you can hardly get wet let alone wash your hair.
Bathroom has no grab rail in bath.
Bathroom walls are bubbled and flakey.
Bath mat was completely rigid plastic and didn’t stick to bath at all so was very slippery and dangerous.
Bathroom radiator hasn’t been painted for years and is dirty and rusty.
Towel rail is in the way, very flimsy and rusty.
No shelves or hooks in bathroom.
No adapter plug for a shaver etc in bathroom.
No DVD’s or books as advertised.
Kitchen tap had a loose fitting at the base and sprayed water from the joint into the air onto the window.
Microwave looks about 30 years old- completely yellowed plastic and words rubbed off so you can’t see what you're putting the settings on.
Fridge door opens the wrong way so you can’t get to it easily.
No cushions on sofas.
No guestbook.
Blind on landing can’t be used as the pull cord can’t be reached unless stood on a ladder which is dangerous.
Wardrobe in twin room can’t be used as it’s so close to the bed so door’s don’t open.
Wardrobe in single room can’t be used as there’s a massive box with a Christmas tree in there.
Bed linen has stains on it.
The whole place is tired and needs checking and decorating properly.

Cumbrian Cottages in Keswick was closed until today and the emergency number wasn’t answered when rang. When I went in to the Cumbrian Cottages office today, the atmosphere was hostile and the woman with grey hair on the front desk was very unapproachable, uninterested and was very rude. She offered no apology, was very defensive and just made excuses. I told her the issues above (and showed photos and videos) and she said the reason the tv was ‘bad was due to being in a dip in Braithwaite’. I said you can’t advertise it as having a tv if it can’t even be watched!
I asked about having a grab rail in the bath so my mum and auntie who are 77 years old could get in and out safely and she straight away said defensively ‘did you tell us about mobility issues when you booked, because we would have told you that if you had’ and she said ‘we won’t put a rail up for one person’. I pointed out that others may benefit from it after we’ve left but she wasn’t interested.
When I said about the bathroom radiator being rusty and dirty she said ‘we only decorate once a year’ so I told her it looks like it hasn’t been painted for about 10 years!

Then a woman with straight dark hair on another desk started speaking to me about the tv and I showed her the video recording of the tv and I said we will want some money back for all of the issues we’ve had since Saturday and she said someone would have to come round and see them first. I said I understand that but we’ve had to put up with these issues since Saturday so we will want some money back. She just kept repeating that someone would have to come and see them first. Then she said no one could come out until tomorrow as it was 4pm now. So I just reiterated to her that we haven’t had the full service we were promised since Saturday and we are leaving on Friday, so we will want some money back. She also made no apology. I didn’t feel listened to by her and she was rude and abrupt.

Last August we booked this same accommodation and it was cancelled by automated text message 2 weeks before our holiday. We ended up having to stay in Keswick instead of Braithwaite and paying far more for the accommodation than Bridge Cottage. We should have asked for money off then but we didn’t.

The Round Window, The Stables, Bowness on Windermere
I wrote to enquiries at Cumbrian Cottages re our holiday stay 4th October 21 to 8th October 21
Just checked out of the Round Window in Bowness on Windermere today

Have to say we were very disappointed in the apartment and at a price of £395 for 4 nights it certainly didn't feel good value and was overpriced for the standard of the accommodation.

I will bullit point our issues we had.

On arrival around 4pm on the 4th October, at top of spiral staircase there was litter on the ground, this immediately gave us negative vibes as not something you expect to see especially in this climate (covid)..I did in fact pick up the litter myself and bin it.. something your cleaner should have done .

On entering the apartment we were shocked at the size and lack of space .. of course I had been looking forward to the Round Window which I did find pleasant but of course with not being able to open a window in this area it was stuffy ...on checking round the apartment I notice tumbler marks on the bedside cabinet to the left and I wondered if just a stain but on wiping with antibacterial and cloth it cleaned up and I then felt a lack of confidence that the whole apartment hadn't been cleaned ..I checked the window sill and this was grubby I hence cleaned all surfaces in the apartment including handles on doors, fridge door etc

On further checking we looked at the bathroom and were shocked at the lack of space and the bath had mould all around ..pics attached ..I don't expect this sort of thing wotsover on our holiday so felt really let down and the torquiose bath mat is completely worn out and stained ..one toilet roll is completely unhelpful and not generous..and no soap is completely un welcoming ...

We stayed in an air b and b recently for example and toiletries were laid out ...the lack of towels was very concerning for a stay of 4 mights, one bath towel and one hand towel each! The shaving mirror in bathroom was hanging off the wall!! (pic attached) And of course is also completely useless for myself to apply make up etc . I had problems getting ready to go out in evening as you don't seem to have mirrors placed next to power points which makes it difficult to straighten my hair and do make up do I found myself shifting the mirror in bedroom around the place to try get a power point etc

My biggest concern was the cupboard in bedroom which appears to be the owners idea of a wardrobe. I had a quick look at the bed linen in the box as quite often I need extra pillow or blanket, and found the items in the box were actually smelling and by this time there was no way our clothes were being hung in there as the odour would likely affect our clean clothes .

We looked around the apartment for where to hang clothes and found some hooks! Not ideal! The spare linen in cupboard of course could not be used as bad odour from them .

All in all the apartment is in bad need of new carpets ..new bathroom mat..new towels as towels also shabby .. replacement duvet cover and bed linen and needs ironing before putting on bed ...there needs to b a window to open in the small living area and we couldn't find anything to open the small hatch window on the kitchen area . (there was a pole but couldnt find what this was for) the WiFi constantly dropped every day ..to be honest with you we felt so let down.

The final nail in the coffin was ..this morning on departure I thought I would do my hair and absolutely could not believe it when the hairdryer constantly cut out! I ended up having to leave with damp hair!!!!

I requested a refund of £100 as felt the apartment was worth around £75 a night if that! Unfortunately the owner is not interested and merely said I should have reported all of these things on arrival. To have cleaners coming into the apartment whilst we were there is nonsensical! When the cleaning should have been correct from the on set.
I will not use this company again and will not return nor recommend the Round Window as to say it was disappointing is an understatement. In this current climate with Covid there is absolutely no way I should have had to clean this apartment myself for that alone I am due compensation.

Corner House, Torpenhow, Cumbria - arrival 10 September 2021

On arrival at approximately 18.15 (NB just over 1 hour after the required arrival time), here is a list of the things which we found:

The key safe was very difficult to open and took many attempts before we finally managed to open it.
The two front door keys did not open the door, despite trying for five minutes. The only key that worked was for the back door.
The cottage had not been cleaned after the previous occuapnts had left.
The kitchen was dirty and the surfaces were sticky, as were every door handle.
The kitchen sink was dirty.
A dust pan and brush had been left on one of the work surfaces
The oven was filthy, as was the grill.
There was no clean tea towel nor cleaning cloths
The kitchen and hall floors was dirty.
The bath was full of filthy water with a substance floating on the surface.
There was no fresh toilet roll.
The wash basin was dirty and scummy.
There were no bath or face towels.
There was a pile of soiled bed linen and towels on the bathroom floor.
The washing machine had soiled laundry in it.
The lounge carpet was dirty.
The beds were unmade and had no clean linen.
On discovering these wholly unsatisfactory situation, I telephoned the Cumbrian Cottages local number and spoke to someone who said he would transfer me to the Hoseasons customer service line. After waiting for 10 minutes to be connected, I spoke to someone who apologised and said she would sort out the problem. After waiting an hour, I called again to enquire when the problem would be resolved to be informed by another person that the 'Help Line' was extremely busy and someone would be getting back to me. 30 minutes later I called again to be told by someone else that no cleaners could come to the cottage that night (10th September) and that someone would come out "sometime the next day". When I asked what we were expected to do, given there was no fresh bed linen or towels in the cottage, this person said "go and find a bed & breakfast place and charge the cost to Cumbrian Cottages".

Having driven 9 hours from our home in Devon, the prospect of trying to find a B&B locally in the Lake District at past 8.00pm, with a dog, was clearly, totally unacceptable to us, as it would be to anyone. The person I spoke to on this occasion offered us £100 compensation, which I declined as being derisory, given the circumstances of our complaint. She then said, "Well, you could go home now and we'll refund your total holiday cottage rental", which left me speechless (almost). She tried to get me to say that I had declined her offer, inferring that this was the end of the matter from a compensation perspective. She said that all conversations were recorded and so you will be able to check the exact words she, and I, used.

Then someone from the cleaning company called to say their cleaner had gone to a wedding and that was the reason why the cottage had not been cleaned - unbelievable! He said he would arrange for the cottage to be cleaned the next day.

At this point, my wife, who is a front line NHS professional and who, as you might imagine, has been under real strain of late and had been looking forward to a relaxing week away, had become very distressed, especially from the "couldn't care less" attitude from your customer-fronting people.

We found a small bed sheet at the back of a chest of drawers and used the travel blankets from our car so that we had something clean to sleep on that night, We had to resort to using paper kitchen towel to dry ourselves after washing.

At no point in this litany of incompetence from your company did any of your people give a damn about our situation.

The next day, we came back to the cottage to collect something at 15.00 to find the cleaner waiting outside as he didn't have a key - unbelievable, given the foregoing telephone contacts of the night before. We let him in the cottage and left. When we returned the cottage was cleaned and we had a supply of fresh bed linen and two small towels each.

Previous occupants towels left in wardrobes and behind doors. Took 4 days from complaining before they picked up and even then I had to chase up and collect them in a pile for them to be collected. Crockery not checked and lot of it chipped. X box missing despite in the brochure saying it was available, I had to ask where it was. Table football table leg broken and posed a big H&S concern but despite raising this concern nothing was done. Posed a risk to my children. Expensive holiday with very poor service. Price did not justify the poor service or state of accommodation.

I had a terrible experience booking a cottage for my 2 week holiday via Cumbrian Cottages and whilst it has taken 3 months to resolve the issues I raised with them, (a filthy cottage and had to chase them up regularly) today, I got a very positive outcome and am very grateful to their Customer Complaints employee, Carl (or Karl), as he sorted out the issues I raised, and with the owners agreement, I received a full refund, apologies from the owner who lives abroad, and Cumbrian Cottages, plus some vouchers to re-book with the company if I choose to do so again. So, whilst the ordeal was terrible and has made me nervous about booking future cottages with anyone, I am very happy and grateful with the outcome. However, I wouldn't wish anyone to go through what I did as it was heartbreaking. Arriving at a cottage, prepared for a lovely 2 week holiday only to find a filthy dark and dingy place was an experience I wouldn't wish on anyone. However, all credit now to Cumbrian Cottages and the cottage owner, as I have been compensated and received apologies. I wanted to share the outcome of my issues as I had posted my concerns about the company and now only feel it is appropriate and right, to share the better news too. Thank you.

Wrote a review of a cottage we stayed in. They did not publish it. Would not trust anything they publish.

4 weeks after returning from the holiday still have not refunded the £100 deposit.

Emailed several times, called.

Booking for cottage (halfway house, Ambleside) was cancelled despite multiple attempts to contact company to complete payment. Cottages.com reassured me on several occasions that they would sort it out, though every time they never got back in contact. Email went unanswered, phone lines always busy, customer service team lacked any compassion. I am a repeat customer who will do all I can to avoid using this company in the future. (booking Ref. 2194585)

I used Cumbrian cottages to rent my cottage and had problem after problem with them. I always felt like they were taking money from me without transparency on the terms and conditions

They need to improve their customer service and their transparency drastically! Before that - i would def not recommend using their services

Booked through Cumbrian Cottages last August for a weeks stay in a lovely centrally situated Keswick. Contact from the company was sparse and when I tried to email them to add a travel cot I heard nothing for two months prompting me to call the office to amend the booking.

Other than the garden needing a drastic tidy up and a sharp edge on a bedroom door causing injury to two members of our party, the cottage was lovely. Reporting such issues to the office via telephone was impossible as no one seems to answer, so a personal visit saw the dangerous issue rectified.

Despite no actual correspondence from Cumbrian Cottages, on logging in to my account only days before our visit, we found out that they had extended the check in time to and check out to 9am. Not ideal when you have a baby in tow. The reason stated on the website was for a covid deep clean so whilst not happy with this, I accepted the shortened stay gracefully.

However, I absolutely do not accept that any covid deep clean had taken place prior to our arrival or since our departure. An extremely smelly and overflowing waste dustbin outside, which we had to put out ourselves for the bin men on the Tuesday of our stay, was a small giveaway to this.

The early checkout meant that a couple of personal effects were accidentally left in the main bedroom drawers of the property which we did not realise until we returned home and unpacked. We attempted on numerous occasions to contact the company via telephone wasting at least 2 hours on hold, not to receive any answer. We contacted via email and social media and received no satisfactory response.

Only 6 days later we managed to retrieve our belongings when a friend knocked on the door of the house and the current “tenants” checked the drawers for us!

Absolutely appalling customer service, contact and worst of all capitalising from a covid clean which clearly has never taken place.