Offa's Cottage, Carreg Y Big, Selattyn, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY10 7HX

Unfortunately, we would not recommend this property to anyone and we actually left days before our stay was due to finish. We ignored the couple of negative reviews on this property - this turned out to be a mistake! It’s a real shame as the location is lovely and the property itself was very comfortable, however we had multiple issues during our stay at the property.

The property was surface clean but we found all sorts under sofa cushions and down the side of the bed. The shower in the ensuite switched from cold to scalding hot with no warning which proved to be lethal! The two downstairs smoke alarms were taken down from the ceiling and left on the windowsills with their batteries removed. The washing machine did not work at all, and the wifi was almost completely unusable and kept cutting out. We informed the owner about these issues, we were particularly concerned about the smoke alarms as we were staying with a young baby, and were told that he would bring new batteries for the smoke alarms (these didn’t materialise despite several further requests over multiple days). The owner said we could use a communal washing machine somewhere on-site but he would fix the washing machine the next day and, when that didn’t happen, that it would take him a week to find a plumber. While not ideal, we do appreciate that appliances break and at least an alternative was provided. Regarding the wifi, he told us that he’d spoken to the internet company and they’d told him the entire exchange was apparently down - he mentioned his wife had also been having issues with it and that apparently all her London-based colleagues were having internet issues too so it was a country-wide thing. He tried the shower but told us he couldn’t replicate the problem, and did offer to fix this but by this point we’d had enough of dealing with the comedy of errors! We informed Sykes of the sorry state of affairs and we left the property.

If it had just been one issue, we would have been understanding as we appreciate that sometimes things do go wrong. Unfortunately though, multiple features were not working as advertised and we had a young baby with us so basics like a working shower, wifi (as there was no phone signal), a washing machine and smoke alarms were essential (not to mention working smoke alarms being a legal requirement).

Sykes were sadly very unhelpful in this scenario and told us any refund would be at the owner’s discretion despite him having directly broken the law as well as Sykes’ own terms and conditions. They liaised with the owner to offer a partial refund which was, quite frankly, insulting and did not cover the cost of the days we did not stay, and then washed their hands of the entire business. All in all, this was a very difficult process and a highly disappointing experience which we hope never to repeat! It seems Sykes are happy to take your money and then leave you high and dry if anything should go wrong. We would strongly recommend never booking with this owner or with Sykes as this has been awful treatment from a supposedly reputable brand.

We had an excellent stay very peaceful and relaxing definitely looking to stay again. Lots of amenities but our main reason was to fish was amazing