Dovedale, 4 Pitt Street, Ryde, Isle of Wight, PO33 3EB

The first impression on entering the house was the overwhelming smell of air freshener. It seemed overzealous, until the reason for it became apparent. As the air freshener subsided, it was overpowered by the stale, musty smell naturally present in the house. The cleaner must have been aware of how bad the smell was, and had clearly tried to hide it with air freshener. The smell was exacerbated by mould in the bathroom, and evidence of damp in the bedrooms.

At first glance, the interior looked ok, but we soon found cobwebs and/or spider?s webs in nearly every room. There was dirt on many of the surfaces. Shelves, skirting boards etc. had years worth of ingrained dirt. It is inconceivable that this house had had a deep clean any time in the last few years. Reviews from at least two years ago mention cobwebs and dirt. Many of these, the owner had responded, saying that if the issue had been raised during the stay, the issue could have been addressed. We tried. The owner offered to send the cleaner back to give it a more thorough clean, and spray bleach on the mould. The cleaner explained that she wasn?t a professional cleaner, was doing it temporarily over the summer, and had given it what she referred to as a ?mum clean.? Bleach won?t kill mould, it only masks the problem, and the place was in desperate need of a serious deep clean, which would take days, not just a quick once over. The cleaner wasn?t going to do anything we couldn?t do ourselves, so we declined this offer.

The bedrooms also smelt of damp/mould. All four of us began coughing when we had been in there a while. Given the impact of mould on health, we asked to be moved. Having reviewed the photographic evidence we supplied, Sykes Cottages said this was ?unacceptable? and found alternative accommodation for us. We are immensely grateful to Sykes for their understanding.

The cupboard to the left of the sink, where the clean plates are kept, stank badly enough of mould that it made me recoil when I opened the door. The plastic tub in the cupboard under the sink, which contained dishwasher tabs, was grimy that I had to wash my hands after touching it ? not an overreaction, the grease / grime was visibly on my fingers.

On arrival, we found there was no fence between the garden and the next-door neighbour?s garden. Hence, there was a complete lack of privacy. We wouldn?t have booked it if we?d known about this. The explanation was that the wind had blown the old wall down in the recent storms. The owner arranged for a temporary fence to be put up between the two gardens. This was see-through mesh, which is not entirely adequate, but was clearly intended to help.

To close, I would note that the property was advertised with ?ample? off-road parking. What this actually means is parking for one car. How this is ?ample? for a property that sleeps at least six, is beyond me.