Finest Retreats - Courtyard Cottage

The place was right near the high street in Kendal.

Unable to park next to property, due to the courtyard already in use. However, we parked in the parking place just over the other side of the high street, paid £21.00 for 3 days parking.

The cottage was clean and warm.

The property is advertised with free on street parking, but that’s for permit holders only. You can only park for one hour and not return for another hour. You then have to find a public car park and pay for the length of your stay. Some of the pans need replacing, as the handles are not secure. One of the kitchen chairs need mending or replacing, as the back is incredibly loose.

The cottage was nice and as described in the pictures. It was well furnished and had most things needed for a comfortable stay for a family. The living room was great with a lot of games that families could play with. Kitchen was well stocked including some spices. Bedrooms are okay, not the most comfortable. Location is very close to high Street and also the main highway in case you are driving. Train and bus station are 15 mins away. So all in all a descent stay if not for the terrible customer service.

Okie we have to talk about customer service which was appalling to say the least. I can't believe that property managers are not fired. Let me mention a few examples - 13 days before trip my daughter had chicken pox and we requested a cancellation or a rebooking which they refused as policy says 14 days. The issue was they would not respond quickly to requested and won't pick up phone to listen to what I am asking. Eventually they forced us to take this vacation which turned out all right. - Internet broke down day 3 of 7 of the trip. And no one looked into it. In fact there was no response for 2 days from anyone to my calls email and messgaea. No one would pick calls or respond to voicemail. So didn't have any Internet for most of the trip..the 4g connectivity is also very poor so made it tough to plan. - car permit was not in premise and they kindly paid for private parking. But I had to message a couple of times to check on this. - Check in time is 4 pm and they dont have a space to stow luggage.. They were also inflexible for any request to change check in and check out times even though there was no one occupying property a day before us and day later. And you had repeatedly keep asking and reminding them if they can make an adjustment before getting a 5 word reply saying sorry we cant. Few additional quirks. - The bed linens were 100% polyester which feels very uncomfortable. The matteres in second bedroom were also not great. - The main bedroom bed is definitely not suitable for 2 adults to sleep in. At best an adult and a child. The second bedroom can fit in 2 adults - Most toiletries were not available which I guess is mentioned by omission. Somehow the manager made it feel as if it's a standard thing. - the kitchen is in ground floor, bedrooms in first and living room in second. Not an issue for us but in case you have mobility issues.

Bathroom , kitchen , sofa, was nice, location was ok.

Parking permit was removed from the cottage,So payed an additional £41:50 for our stay. Which I got a refund back. Dirty tissue was found in one of the single beds, so Daughter wouldn’t sleep in bed the first night, so ended up on the sofa. But this was sorted the next day, as I phoned up to say I wanted the bedding changed. Cobwebs and large spiders, in most rooms. Bins overflowing at the property, right outside the front door, that was before we added our ONE bag of rubbish, the smell was awful. Very busy road, noisy, speeding cars. Two glasses in the kitchen was cloudy, caused by endless dishwashing . Downstairs toilet, Radiator on all the time, noisy door. No pint glasses. So Two calls sorting parking, beds. Not a great start to your Holiday. The Towel’s didn’t smell fresh, so ended up buying some febreze freshener.

Adequately furnished, clean, spacious lounge. Close to town.

Huge pile of rubbish right outside front door. Both bins filled to the brim. Kendal is a lovely town but I’m given to believe the location of the property is in the worst area of Kendal. There were discarded furniture (sofa and mattress) just outside. No valid parking permit as advertised. Mistakes happen but poorly addressed by management. Had to park car across town. While searching the house for the parking permit I came across some threatening letters in the pile of unopened mail (did not open any - they were addressed to “occupier” and had words like “final warning” visible through the envelope window).

Location in Kendal is great. House was very spacious for us (couple) and parking on the road worked out well though I'd imagine in the busy season that might be more of an issue. Very happy with the facilities, cleanliness etc

Loved the location of the property, just at end of the main high street off a side road so was quiet. Accommodation was in fairly good decorative order, just needed a few bits touching up. Spacious accommodation over 3 floors with very large bright lounge on the top floor. Bathroom was fantastic, best we have stayed in in this country. Bath was huge and the shower with rainhead was amazing. Very spacious room. Property had a dishwasher which for us is a real bonus as we don't own one. Shame not included in the description! Good communication with the owners and was able to move our dates by a day due to attending a close friend's funeral. Would recommend the property as overall very good value, good location and quiet. Just need to address a few issues as detailed below. Kendal is a lovely town and feel I explored it thoroughly. Great cafe's, restaurants and supermarkets.

On arrival, the green and black bins were overflowing with black bin bags. No idea why these had not been emptied!! Instead of being placed away from the property were left right outside the door. No microwave which we would have preferred over the air fryer that has been added. Towel rail in the bathroom was not working. Radiators when put on in the evening did not always work, not really an issue as lucky enough to have very warm weather. As others have stated bed linen could be refreshed, very scratchy duvet cover. Apart from arrival day and departure day when managed to move car nearer to the property, we had to park quite a long way up the road each day. However the parking permit was really useful to have.

It was very clean and local to the amenities.

It was absolutely freezing cold on arrival, no heating on at all!!! It took all night to warm up; we had to go to a local pub to warm up and my husband had to sleep in his fleecy jacket. Living room right at the top; long trip down to kitchen for anything; lots of stairs for my disabled daughter to climb. Expected double bed to be king size; husband is 6’6”. One chair in the kitchen has a very loose back which, if a heavy person were to sit on it, it could break. The heater at top of the first set of stairs did not work at all. The upstairs lights could only be switched on/off from upstairs. No microwave. We reported the toilet in bathroom blocked, but no one offered to help unblock it, despite reporting it. The poor plants were on their last legs, I managed to ‘save’ them with a little TLC & water. The lock to the entrance door was temperamental, and we struggled to open it a lot of the time. My daughter got stuck inside. The single beds weren’t very comfy, probably because they were cheap!

Great location, lovely cottage, easy to park on the road, that was no problem

A microwave would have been handy as I like to heat my plates up before serving food. The door was hit or miss, the key was fine opening the door door from the outside but took some time on occasion. The wall heaters weren't the most straight forward to use