Phenests, 24 Boscundle Avenue, Falmouth, Cornwall inc Scilly, TR11 5BX

Dont get me wrong, the house has served it purpose, however Sykes cottages are a bunch of con artists. You cannot check into the property until 1600 on the Saturday, we left Lincolnshire at 0800 and arrived at 1630, me, the wife, 2 daughters, 2 dogs, 370 miles. We wanted to get into the house, empty the car, let the dogs stretch there legs and then start our holiday.

We opened the door and immediately thought the place was dirty, there was rotten food and milk in the fridge, the rubbish bins and recycling outside had clearly not been emptied for a while. Carpets dirty, beds unmade with food and hairs in them, bathroom dirty, towels strewn across the landing. We tried the contact numbers we were given, no answer on UK ones, and the final ones were in Sweden, which we would not call as its a cost to us. We found Sykes number on their website and got through to them. Very apologetic, assured us they would speak to the local agents, arrange for it to be cleaned immediately and they would get them to phone us to confirm. In the meantime, we were told to go and get something to eat and drink to the value of £50 and they would refund us this money.

No phone calls from local agents

1900 no cleaners

2000 no calls

2030 Cleaners turn up just as we did (in the hope hous was ready)

Cleaners did a QUICK job so we could get into the house, the cleaner had never been to the property before but told us its the dirtiest rental they had ever had to clean

My wife messaged Sykes more, filled out more complaints and guess what, they have ghosted us

No sorry

no compensation

Nothing to see of thr £50 we spent on food and drink

Absolutely disgusting service.

The house was never spotless, there was even old dog poo in the garden. It was not a good experience and has left a very poor taste in our mouths. We will never use Sykes again and I would advise the owner of this holiday home to not use them either, and to ensure if she is paying for cleaners they actually clean.

The house is tired but great location, it needs decorating, it needs a deep clean, probably needs new furniture. If we had not had this hellish experience we would probabaly consider using it again, but not through sykes and only if we could be 100% sure it was cleaned. My advice dont book it until things drastically change in the management of the property. Such a shame as its in a great location, in a lovely part of Cornwall

Property: The location of this property is tucked away from the beautiful town of Falmouth on an estate. As you drive up to the property you get a lovely view of Pendennis castle further to this you can see the sea from the driveway of the property which was nice in the glorious weather that we were fortunate to have all week.The property is nice it is a home from home everything you need has been provided by the owners. Some areas of the house could have been cleaner but overall it was clean and tidy. The TV is smart so you can log in to your favourite streaming services (just remember to log out on departure). The bedrooms were well presented, clean and a good nights sleep was had. As mentioned as we had lovely weather all week we utilised the garden in the property by sitting out with a nice cold beer or glass of wine for the ladies. If you like cats (we do) you may be visited by the local friendly felines. During the day and nights it was very quiet we didn't hear anything from the neighbours and our sleep wasn't interrupted once.

Surrounding area: Just 4 mins in the car is the lovely Swanpool beach it's small and on a sunny day fills up pretty quickly. There is a large car park and there is a cafe on the beach so refreshments were readily available. Falmouth town is lovely but time your arrival just right as the car parks get full very quickly in the peak times.

Day trips we took: Pendennis castle well worth the money and if you can join the guided tours for an in depth history even better these are included in the ticket price, In Falmouth we walked along the harbour, visited Trago Mills and had a lovely fish and chip lunch in the Harbour Lights restaurant, for Sunday lunch we visited the Norway Inn on the road to Truro lovely carvery, for our young one we visited Flambards where a great day was had by young and old who enjoyed the Victorian village and Blitz exhibition, Truro was a feature of our holiday visiting the wonderful cathedral (donation) and spending an evening at the hospital (don't ask), and finally we went down to the lizard and had a fantastic cream tea , 2 scones and pot of tea (£8) in the cafe at the most southerly point of Britain we then drove round to Mousehole and found the delightful Rock Pool Cafe situated in the car park with stunning views of the sea and St Michaels Mount whilst enjoying a good latte from here we ventured round to Porthcurno a stunning beach we didn't go to the Minnack Theatre but we have been before.

Conclusion: Overall a nice base for our exploration of this part of Cornwall. Previous reviews have said about how dirty the property was on arrival and this did make us worry at first but i'm glad we booked as it would seem the criticism has been taken on board by the owners and as i said the property was clean enough. I would recommend this lovely house to friends and family.

This house and garden is in need of updating and the general cleanliness throughout

is not acceptable. Only having one WC which is upstairs would make it very difficult for those with mobility problems. The house is located about 3 mile out of Falmouth, but there is a mini bus goes through the modern estate once an hour.