Finest Retreats - Town Head Cottage in Grasmere

Location was outstanding. Very scenic. Only a few min drive to Grasmere yet you felt in the middle of nowhere! Was the perfect area to stay and be able to explore the Lake District! Lovely old cottage built in 1688, plenty of space, comfy beds (loved having a king size bed in the main bedroom). Lots of seating available in both kitchen/dining and lounge room and a spacious bathroom too. Awesome to have a washing machine that includes a tumble dryer. Much needed given the climate. Having a fireplace and a potbelly stove are nice for the ambiance of an old cottage. Loved having free parking pretty much at the door. So convenient.

The heating (storage heaters) was locked at 16C and wasn’t turned on prior to our arrival. They charge up overnight and release heat slowly generally the following day, so our first night we were freezing! To their credit, the property managers at Finest Retreat listened to our concerns and were able to get the owners to turn up the heat a little and it was a bit more comfortable after that. Customers really should be able to have the ability to choose the temperature they want and shouldn’t need to wait til the following day for some heating to come through. Storage heaters is not the most effective form of heating. Great to have fireplace and potbelly but would be good if wood were left to use them, even if it’s with an optional extra fee. That didn’t help when we arrived at 7.30pm and the house couldn’t be heated properly. We didn’t have room to bring wood with us even if we had known. We did get some the following day since our luggage was in the cottage and now had room in car. More toilet paper needed. 4 rolls for a family of 5, staying 4 nights, just not enough. Some basics such as sugar, coffee, salt, pepper, etc would be nice too. (Teabags were provided). I think this is the only place amongst many on our trip around the UK that hasn’t had. Toilet blocked for no obvious reason but we were able to clear it ourselves with plunger. Without these issues I would have rated the place 9/10 or 10/10. Easy fixes to improve your ratings.

It was self catering holiday the location is stunning but the state of the property was very disappointing and in serious need of upgrade especially living room and kitchen. On arrival we were told the grill is not working. In the name of toiletries there was a hand wash in bathroom and kitchen but the washing up liquid was enough for one day, the toilet paper was so cheap that it sticks to wet skin there were four rolls for six of us for five days a roll of that quality doesn’t last long. There were no hand towel in the bathroom or kitchen and no kitchen roll. We were provided with a bath towel and a hand towel each which were worn out, and no spare. The cottage was equipped reasonably but please make it clear in your advertisement to bring your own extra towels: toiletries, toilet rolls and kitchen roll tissues washing up liquid and wood for the fire etc. it was very disappointing my husband had to take our ill son back home because of cottage being so cold for three nights until we managed to get the wood fire going to heat up the cottage which meant family holiday wasn’t quite a family holiday, one more thing one day before the last there were no water I tried calling emergency number but no one answered then i checked with the neighbours they said it’s a issue in the whole area which luckily was fixed couple of hours later. We had to go into Ambleside for the logs for the fire which is over ten miles away.

This holiday was planned by my son for me as I was going to have major surgery on the 6th of September 2024. When we arrived at the property it was raining quite heavily there was no door mat so by the time we all went in with our bags the inside of the cottage hall way was very wet so I had to find the cleaning cupboard where I was welcomed by spiders and cobwebs and a mop head with wrong fitting handle so what a great start. We haven’t seen this many spiders and cobwebs in our life except on TV. I understand the season and location has a lot to do with these unwelcoming guests but a good clean would have helped. The downstairs of the property especially living room and kitchen is in quite poor state and could benefit greatly from some attention being given to, with clean carpets; rug and sofa; the rug had holes in it and it was so filthy I wouldn’t even like to see my cat on it, sofa which was once cream has turned almost brown and makes you feel itchy, as for curtains water mark and everything else in the room was mishmash, and not to mention the main attraction of the cottage the wood burning fire which was covered with cobwebs and the ash tray was filled with all sorts. When we arrived the cottage was very cold there were two electric radiators one in living room and the other in kitchen which we turned on; as for the central heating it is set to a system which charges during the night when the tariffs are lower which is fine but considering the location even in August it was pretty cold this meant we couldn’t warm the cottage until night time. When I was making this booking I spoke to the staff at the Finest retreat office and explained that my son who is coming with me is on dialysis and feels very very cold so can they make sure that cottage is nicely warm but sadly this was not the case, and also they didn’t advised me that we needed to take our wood for the fireplace, cottage didn’t warmup so My son who is ill had to go back home because of heating issue

Beds where really comfortable

Heating set only on 16 degrees and you can’t change it very cold especially when come back from hiking trip clothes doesn’t get dry