All reviews of Andrew Nicholson
Review about: Toad Hall Cottages
Old Home Farm
This is a good location and a spacious/warm property.
Sadly the kitchen equipment was seriously pared down (due to covid apparently), and some of what was there was still dirty from previous guests. Cracked glasses had been left in the cabinet, and some of the lightbulbs in different rooms had not been replaced before we arrived.
We found an old biscuit under one sofa, and there were several cobwebs and spiders in residence on the day we arrived. The tumble dryer filter had the previous guests' fluff and hair in it. This was despite a supposed "deep clean" pre-let due to covid which meant a delayed 5pm access time and a requirement to vacate by 9am.
Other than the master bedroom the beds have sprung mattresses which are too far past their best and left our daughter spending the last few nights on the floor. One of the two sofas sags so badly it is difficult for two people to sit comfortably on it. The bicycles (which we had indicated we intended using during our stay) had e.g. flat tyres, slipping gears, and in truth were in serious need of a service.
We stayed here in October so put the gas fire on. When lighting it there was always a ball of gas which blew out and caught the back of my hand the first time. I have grown up with open and gas fires so am naturally wary, but this fire could easily badly burn someone.
We won't be using Toad Hall agency in future as their approach to constructive criticism is to deflect any responsibility for problems and blame everyone else including the owners and guests.
If you do stay anywhere via Toad Hall, make sure you notify them immediately of each, any and all problems - even if it is just a blown lightbulb or a dirty pan. They will otherwise hide behind their small print which requires you to notify them of issues as soon as you find them.
Due to covid meaning nobody should be entering the property during our stay, I spent £10 on three replacement light bulbs as there were no spares of the correct type to be found in the property (loads of the wrong type though).
I explained this to the agency along with my other comments and their response was there were spares locked away in the cleaners cupboard, and they could have arranged for someone to deal with the other issues during our stay if we had told them. I'm really not sure how they reconcile this to the covid safety approach, and to be honest several of the deficiencies should have been picked up on the pre-let check.