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"The cottage was disgrace and badly neglected."
Very shabby and desperately in need of attention. It was the worst cottage we have ever encountered by a long way. No welcome pack, no useful information e.g emergency numbers, instruction manuals for equipment, where things are - the washing machine was in a shabby wooden garage yet two, yes two, dishwashers in the kitchen! The list goes on. We are sending some very strong feedback by post as you don't answer e-mails. WE COULD NOT POSSIBLY RECOMMEND THIS COTTAGE TO ANYONE.
Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused by these issues and how strongly you feel about the cottage. Your comments have been passed on to the team here at John Bray Cornish Holidays. All suggestions/comments can be viewed by the property owner so these are appreciated. - John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner.
Property Owner
Reviewed by Mr William1.3★Nov 2024
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"We absolutely love this home by the sea!"
It has outstanding views and a lovely light and happy atmosphere with lots of room to relax. Loved it!! Can’t wait to visit again! It’s our ‘happy place’!
Thank you so much for your comments. We love hearing just how much you continue to enjoy your stays here! Hopefully we can welcome you back again soon! - John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner.
Property Owner
Reviewed by Anne4.4★Oct 2024
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"Kittiwake is in the most amazing position."
I have been staying there since 1981 or before. I certainly danced on the beach at Charles and Diana’s wedding. I don’t mind it is old fashioned. However, the Henry sucks up the Lino and my cousin had to push the Lino back into the fitting slots. Why not get a G tech. We were delayed in our arrival and didn’t notice there was an open doggie poo bag outside the French windows until the Tuesday after we arrived. Perhaps that explains the multitude of flies in the conservatory. The property needs a mop and bucket to wash the floors as a lot of bits seem to accumulate on the floors. It takes some experience to guess the oven temperatures. The shower is fine but I remember bathing my 51 year old son in that bath when he was 8. The dirty sheet, and it was the same one, on the top of thewashingmachinewasa bit off putting, I noticed on October the3rd and it was still there, when we left on the 11th.
The curtain rails need replacing and so do the curtains, they were hanging off in the living room when we arrived. A bit off putting you know. I only have praise for the John Bray maintenance men. I have always found them friendly and helpful and they are great. I imagine they must feel that life ISA’s uphill battle. Well done them. Dirty sheets are a healthhazardyouknow. However the position makes up for everything. I’m now into my eighties and am sad to think that has probably been my last visit as the path has got a bit steep for me.
I have many glorious memories of Kittiwake and wish the owners every good wish for the future
Jane Talbot
I have no objection to you publishing my comments
Thank you so much for your feedback. We are so glad that you enjoyed your stay as usual. All suggestions/comments can be viewed by the property owner so these are appreciated. We hope we get the chance to have you back one again! - John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner.
Property Owner
Reviewed by Jane1.9★Sep 2024
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"We have been revisiting Gullsway (in particular Kittiwake) for 30 years now as we absolutely love the location but still can’t give it a good rating on feedback as it continues to look so ‘tired’."
Clearly it gets booked all year round, so people (as do we) compromise comfort / cleanliness, for the superb views but it’s disappointing that the owners don’t care for the property as you’d expect, to invest in it as it richly deserves
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us, all comments are visible to the owner. We hope to welcome you back in the future - John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner.
Property Owner
Reviewed by Susie2.2★Sep 2024
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"We had another great week staying at Gullsway/Kittiwake, combined with the Annexe and September Tide."
See review from last year for detail. As long as you don't expect modern over-shiny perfection, this is a very comfortable, well-provisioned, house in an excellent location - a real Cornish holiday house - great views and easy access to Polzeath beach. Open the easy-sliding windows in the sun room and you're almost out there in it...!
---- A few notes for the owner / Brays / Sykes
- the black kettle was a bit temperamental on its base - you had to turn it to make connection, and it got worse during the holiday - maybe replace?
- still no "house guide" - is it the policy to put all needed information in the emails? - but it's not there either yet. For example, is there a bin collection day? Where is the bin store?
- it was a wet week (!) - a fair stream comes down the path ending in a very boggy patch at the top of the lawn - could drainage be improved to prevent this? It was hard not to make a muddy mess coming and going.
Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused by these issues. We have been working closely with the owners of the Gullsways to improve and renovate them as much as we can. Your comments have been passed on to the team here at John Bray Cornish Holidays and to the owner to help with this. We are glad that you still managed to enjoy your visit despite these issues and would love to welcome you back to North Cornwall in the future. - John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner.
Property Owner
Reviewed by Quintin4.4★Feb 2024
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"Perfect location and a lovely property"
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We are very pleased to hear that you liked the property and its surroundings. We look forward to hopefully welcoming you back in the future - John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner.
Property Owner
Reviewed by Matt5.0★Oct 2023
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"Thoroughly enjoyed our stay."
It would be useful to have simple instructions on setting up and using the electric hob, grill and the ovens. Shower head needs a clean or replacement and the hook on the back of the bathroom door is working loose.
Some information about the local shops would be good. Trebethrick General Stores are now open and 10 minutes walk via the road or 20 minutes along the coast and up through the lanes. They have excellent pastries as well as a small range of frozen meals. A free John Bray map of the area would be great too!
Thank you for your comments, we have information folders going into each property now this lots of local information as well as instructions for the house.
John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner
Property Owner
Reviewed by Rose4.1★Sep 2023
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"The property had been redecorated and we thought that it was nice."
It was clean and warm, and we had a lovely holiday. We would like to rebook again for next year.
Thank you for your lovely comments we look forward to welcoming you back next year
John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner
Property Owner
Reviewed by Pam5.0★Sep 2023
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"A great place to stay with such glorious views."
The accommodation was clean and beds and chairs comfortable. The kitchen was stocked with many utensils. We liked the number of seating available too. The only criticism is that the road to reach the property was unpaved and our hybrid car got damaged because of it. Any chance of it being paved in the future?
Thank you so much for your feedback. We are so glad that you enjoyed your stay and would love to welcome you back anytime in the future. Our sincere apologies regarding the roads, we will speak with the owner and see if this is anything they can sort - John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner.
Property Owner
Reviewed by Carol5.0★Sep 2023
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"The seascape and location was excellent."
The property itself was unclean, i.e. all floors, stain marks on the furniture in the lounge so I didn’t use that room. I hovered, moped floors and disinfected all surfaces. Dog paw prints on glass windows and window ledge in 2 rooms. Clean bedding was provided. The whole property despite showing as one in the photos when booking is in fact 3 properties. I complained and this was resolved satisfactorily and timely. The price reflects the aging property and contents. As said the location is excellent and ideal for coastal path walks or water activities. John Bray was also very helpful.
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review, I have mentioned all the cleanliness issues to the housekeeping team. We have also do a review of the property and we are working with the owner to try and improve these issues. We do hope to welcome to North Cornwall again soon. John Brays on Behalf of the Owners.
Property Owner
Reviewed by Michelle1.9★Mar 2023
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"Having been in many properties in the Trebetherick/Polzeath area over the years, we booked Gullsway Kittiwake (and the Annexe) with some trepidation as the customer reviews were poor."
However, we found a solid traditional Cornish holiday house with plenty of quirks, not a boring modern designer home as so many of the properties here are becoming, with fantastic views of Polzeath beach and the panorama from Stepper Point to Pentire Head. Everything about the house was functional - and it would work well for a larger party with the other properties (we had the Annexe too - so eight of us): two dishwashers, plentiful tableware and cooking gear (more than in any other house we've been in), comfortable beds, varied living spaces. The house is fully double-glazed and hence warm as toast, even in February. The wifi seemed fine to us, and we streamed movies in the evening - despite the listing saying this wouldn't work. So - a great week!!
We do have some feedback, mainly for Sykes/Brays, that would have made our stay that little bit easier:
- There was no information posted about rubbish - where were the bins? is there recycling? what day is the collection? Your emails indicated that this would be posted, but wasn't.
- There was no information about the laundry room.
- There was no red laundry bag in the property for the end of the stay - or at least we couldn't find it - we added ours to the Annexe's red bag.
- The property is heated by a large number of electric heaters. There was no guide on using them or setting them - and so they were on much more than necessary, wasting the Owner's electricity.
- The fridge was a bit grubby on arrival - it could do with a really thorough clean of e.g. the glass shelves which had accumulated some dirt at the edges. As one of our party said - it's fine when it's your own dirt, but not when it's someone else's! Not a big thing - but it just does set a tone on arrival. (By the way - despite many reviews here, we found the property to be otherwise quite clean enough.)
- The sun room is obviously the gem of the house, with its brilliant views - some more comfortable chairs in here would really be great.
Generally - Gullsway is an unusual/quirky house, and a fuller introduction to in one of those typical "house folders" would have been useful, to give us the missing information. I thought that was standard practice for a letting agent - but didn't find one there.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We are delighted that enjoyed your holiday at Gullsway Kittiwake and particularly loved the views and position of the property. We really appreciate your comments regarding the lack of information provided in the property. This is currently something we are working on internally to try to ensure information like, how the bins work, laundry and heating is information readily available for our guests. We will also share your comments with the cleaner regarding the cleanliness of the fridge and ensure this is addressed going forward.
Thank you once again for taking the time to share this detailed feedback and we hope it won’t be too long before we welcome you back to Polzeath.
John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the Owners
Property Owner
Reviewed by Quintin4.1★Feb 2023
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"Sadly this house is in need of some tlc."
It's filthy! We did complain on arrival of the funky smell and layer of filth/dust in every room. The agent was quick to send cleaners for another clean which left a much nicer smell of cleaning products. But the house remained filthy, hairs and clumps of dust are everywhere. It made for a very uncomfortable stay but the views are incredible!
Thank you for taking the time to feedback on your stay. We're very sorry that you had to experience these issues during your visit but thank you for your patience and understanding whilst we tried to sort them for you. Your comments have been passed on to the team here at John Bray Cornish Holidays. We hope to welcome you back to north Cornwall in the future. - John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner.
Property Owner
Reviewed by Lizzie1.9★Aug 2022
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"Perfect position for walks and handy for surfing."
A perfect place to sit and look at the view if older.. maybe a bit of a refurbish might be a good idea. Oven a bit iffy. I certainly bathed my 8 year old son in that bath in1981 and he is 48 now and possibly when he was even younger.
We had a very enjoyable holiday
Thank you so much for your feedback. We are so glad that you enjoyed your stay and would love to welcome you back anytime in the future. - John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner.
Property Owner
Reviewed by Jane3.8★May 2022
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"Kittiwake provided EVERYTHING that I look for in a self catering holiday."
The property might be a tad faded, in some peoples eyes, but for me this makes for a more relaxed stay. It was extremely well equipped, the views stunning, wonderful walks from the cottage and facilities close at hand in the village.
Thank you so much for your kind words. It's great to hear that you had such a fabulous stay and had the perfect base to explore the local area from. - John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner.
Property Owner
Reviewed by Nicola4.7★Mar 2022
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"Standards have slipped."
Saved by the view
Thank you for taking the time to feedback on your stay. Your comments have been passed on to the team here at John Bray Cornish Holidays. We hope to welcome you back to north Cornwall in the future. - John Bray Cornish Holidays on behalf of the owner.
Property Owner
Reviewed by Beryl4.4★Oct 2021
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