Westerly Cottage, 2 South Place, Sheffield, Penzance, Cornwall inc Scilly, TR19 6UL

We visited in April to celebrate my partners 30th birthday. The cottage was beautiful, but unfortunately filthy. We spent the first night cleaning thick black dust & cobwebs from the living room, kitchen, stairs and bathroom. There was also food splashed up the tiles and wall by the job in the kitchen, and obvious black mould around the mastic around the countertop. The counters were also sticky, including the kitchen island which was varnished & had newspaper print stuck to it. Literally a few seconds with a wipe and it was gone, which would suggest none of the surfaces had been wiped down. The grouting was also brown & was easily cleaned with a sponge, water and dish soap. We also had to re wash the white bed linen as although it was of good quality, there were several questionable orange marks, and the throw also had a lot of black dog hair on it, as well as the marks. We have two dogs ourselves so don?t expect it to be pristine, but one run through the washing machine with a normal amount of vanish (found in the kitchen cupboard under the sink) & the stains and most of the hair had gone. When we removed the bedding the mattress had a lot of liquid marks and debris, just a hoover and a waterproof mattress protector from Asda would have helped with this. There was also a lot of black mould in the bathroom and in the kitchen. There was also some in the airing cupboard but that wasn?t an issue. The issue was the large pieces that we were able to remove just by buying a £1 bottle of Astonish mould remover the next morning. We felt dirtier for showering the next morning & then found black mould the size of the palm of my hand where the bread boards were stored, making direct contact with something used in food prep. Oh & just to top it off there were two yellow marks on the cream carpet on the landing, up against the wall. Yes they looked like urine, no I couldn?t bare to check, we just left towels over them so we weren?t standing on them. The carpets were also dark grey around the edge, just like they just weren?t hoovered with that slim nozzle, and it was a build up of dust like the rest of the house. Yes the cottage was older, the doors were a bit stiff and the window in the living room leaks, but the cottage was filthy. The sofa in the living room also needed restuffing, as you could feel the wooden slats underneath you. This one wasn?t a major issue, but will also point it out whilst I?m here! To make it worse, Sykes communication with the owner was awful. We arrived on the Sunday & spent the evening cleaning, as well are part of Monday morning. We were told the owner would come by Monday night (so we stayed in) but they never did. Tuesday morning we were told there had been a communication error & he would turn up at some point that day, but to leave the keys to the property in the lock box for him to gain access. I had already told them we had cleaned everything but the shower & the thick hair & dust around the fridge (we refused to cook there even after scrubbing it, so left it as it was making us retch & generally upsetting at this point!) Tuesday night we got back to nothing changed, with a message from Sykes saying the owner would now be visiting Wednesday morning. That night we decided to cut the ?holiday? short & drive the 6 hour journey home the next morning. After getting home & contacting Sykes several more times, we were given a partial refund of £200. The original booking was £370. I understand people need to make a living, but my partners break to celebrate his 30th birthday was ruined because of a build up of black mould and thick, dark dust, cobwebs and questionable marks allover the bedding. I did think a lot about holding off on such a negative review, but the cottage was filthy & I would be embarrassed living in that, let alone renting it out for a week at £370. I really hope that since our stay the cleaning regime has been changed, or if the owner finds out that a stay has been that bad they could make contact with the customer. We weren?t able to contact them, but we?ve used Sykes several times before this & the owners have always had access of our numbers & messaged us with access details or just introducing themselves which was a nice touch before our stay. Just a suggestion but would have probably softened what happened. Also a broom would have also helped in the cottage.

Positive points were that it was nice to watch the cows in the field opposite in the morning & the cottage was very pretty (if you squinted)

Great location for visiting this part of Cornwall with its amazing coastline and visitor attractions. The house was originally furnished to a good standard, but it has not been cleaned or maintained to an acceptable standard. Sykes Cottages have not been checking that the cleaning/maintenance company they employ, are actually doing their job and it is not until they receive visitor complaints, that they do something. However by then the visitor is very disappointed.

We stayed at Westerley Cottage the first week in September 2022 and we had to clean everywhere, before we could settle.

Kitchen - The glasses looked and felt like they had been washed in greasy water, there was dried food on plates and forks, tea rings on cups, food crumbs in the cutlery drawer, dirty pans which were going mouldy.

Bathroom - black mould and calcification on the shower head, thick black mould on the bottom of the shower unit, soap scum around the edge of the washbasin, the loo roll holder had fallen off, the bathroom door did not stay closed.

Lounge - curtain rail kept falling off its bracket, rain came in under the front door and soaked the mat.

This is a pity as the cottage could be lovely, as it's in a great central location, near the coast and has lovely friendly neighbours.

If you were the guests after us, you would find a clean cottage, as we had cleaned it. we will not be visiting that cottage again and we will be reluctant to use Sykes Cottages ever again