The Lodge, Alder Country Park

The lodge was spacious, comfortable and well presented. We enjoyed the attractive furnishings and felt at home. The lodge was in a quiet pleasant location with a pub serving good food just a few minutes walk away. We enjoyed using the hot tub too. We were happy with the facilities provided, but with exceptions (see below). Supermarkets and shops are just a few minutes drive away.

The lock on one of the patio doors was faulty and seemed to lock when in fact didn't. It made the expected noises and clicked into place as if locked but sometimes wasn't. We discovered it only locked about 50% of the time that we tried so we stopped using that door once we managed to lock it and reported it to the agent. A maintenance person did visit to fix it which improved it slightly but even then on 2 out of 6 times it still didn't lock when we tried it. The family bathroom door when closed was very difficult to open due to it sticking. That was remedied by the maintenance person. The situation with the dishwasher was the most frustrating. On arrival we noticed many items were inadequately cleaned. We found there was still a detergent tablet in the dishwasher dispenser, the jets were totally clogged with limescale and the filter needed cleaning. Also there was no dishwasher salt in the machine. We therefore purchased dishwasher salt and then spent some time clearing all the limescale from the jets in the hope that this would resolve the problem. Unfortunately it didn't. After running the dishwasher many times on each programme it always failed to go beyond the initial cold rinse and hence does not release the detergent capsule. We informed the agents, who sent the maintenance person. They put further salt in it and used Finish dishwasher cleaner. Sadly this was ineffective because the dishwasher still failed to go beyond the initial rinse. Therefore, most of the dishwasher cleaner was still in the container and had no effect. In conclusion after our arrival we had to thoroughly handwash all cutlery, crockery, utensils and cookware prior to use, and did not have the benefit of the dishwasher during our stay. We were upset with the last call from one agency rep due to feeling she was unpleasantly attempting to shift blame onto us rather than apologise and accept any responsibility for maintenance failures.