“Firstly, I would like to state that we had a lovely stay.”
The house was very spacious with plenty of garden and parking space too. My only concerns were around the sleeping arrangements for my two grandchildren aged 6 months and 2 years 4 months. We requested a cot, stair gate and high chair on the website and it was confirmed by Sykes that all three would be in the house on arrival. The high chair was ready in the kitchen and the travel cot was in one of the bedrooms. We had been warned before going that we would need to provide our own cot bedding. I rang Sykes to ask what sort of cot would be provided. They contacted the owners and rang me back. They said the owners had replied that it was a travel cot but they didn’t know the dimensions- it was just a standard travel cot. As travel cots come in different sizes this didn’t really help. My daughter took her own travel cot mattress and sheet but on arrival we found that neither fitted. Fortunately, at the last minute, I had packed a spare cot sheet for our standard ordinary cot (60cm x 120cm) at home and this fitted. As bedding is provided for all other beds, it might be easier if bedding could be provided for the travel cot as well to avoid confusion? I understand that parents (particularly of very young babies) may prefer to take their own mattress and sheets, though, in which case exact sizes are needed to avoid confusion or having to rush out to try to buy a suitable sheet. There was also no stair gate provided in the property, despite being told by Sykes that there would be. The two rooms on the attic floor (one of which is the single and the other the twin room) have another set of stairs leading to and from them. It wasn’t even possible to attach our own standard width stair gate with silicone pressure pads at the top of this staircase as it was too narrow. We had to rely on barricading the top of the stairs with a suitcase on its side, a couple of cushions and a blanket to give it more height each evening (all of which needed to be removed and replaced by me each time I went up or down the stairs) to ensure that if my two year old grandson woke in the night, or when he woke in the morning, he wouldn’t fall downstairs by accident if he left his room to come and find me in the twin room before I knew he was awake. We are lucky that he is not a child who is in and out of the bedroom at bedtimes before falling asleep, as some children are. If he had been, one of us would have had to remain in the twin room all evening from him going to bed to ensure his safety. As it was, I was able to just remain in my bedroom for a short time until he fell asleep then keep watch via the baby monitor from downstairs with the rest of the family. Fortunately, my grandson never tried to remove the suitcase or lean on it so it served the purpose of just reminding him which direction to walk in when he woke, but it was not ideal and I couldn’t fully relax on the first night in particular. If it is at all possible to get a custom wooden gate made for the top of the attic stairs which opens into the hall, away from the stairs (or even a metal gate without a bottom ledge if they make them that narrow) that would be really helpful and greatly appreciated as the top rooms are probably most likely to be used for children and so other families are likely to find this a problem. Other than these two things (which could probably be easily fixed) we had a great holiday and I would be happy to visit the property again in the future. Thank you
Thank you for your feedback and we are sorry you had issues over the stair gate.
We did receive an email requesting certain items from Sykes on the 10th July which included a stair gate.We responded to Sykes on the same day indicating that we did not have a stair gate and to pass that message on to you---clearly that did not happen.
We would tactfully also mention that we do mention cot and high chair in the property description---but there is no mention of a stair gate.
We will review our property description to be more specific in future.
Clearly we are pleased that you enjoyed your stay.
Property Owner
