Upper 3, Dartmouth

I want to be clear that the location of this property is fantastic for a stay in the centre of the beautiful Dartmouth. If location is more important than some of the things I am going to mention then you should consider this property; especially if the owners rectify some of the maintenance and hygiene/cleanliness issues. I must state that the communication from the customer service team has been quick and excellent in listening to the issues raised throughout the stay. I would highly recommend booking with Sykes Cottages / Coast & Country Cottages for their customer service. The parking permit is a fantastic thing to have for a stay and we had no issues parking even on busier days and there are two EV chargers in the car park. The listing does state the property is located next to a public house (The Dolphin) and we did note this prior to booking so I do wish to make that clear to anyone reading my next point. There is a washer dryer but a sign advising you not to use the dryer for safety reasons. There is a small dishwasher but it is asked pans are not cleaned in it and to limit use to smaller items. The property is located next to a public house and a few metres from another larger public house (The Market House Inn). Both are open until 11pm. Customers smoke and drink outside up to around 11.15pm and can be rowdy and loud. Both public houses play very loud music including live music. We did stay on the Euro Final night so noise can be excused but we were unable to sleep due to the loud music and noise from customers until around 11.30pm for 5 of the 7 nights we stayed. We were advised on the Friday after an awful nights sleep that Thursday is live music night around Dartmouth and we heard incredibly loud music from multiple locations. If you enjoy getting to sleep before 11pm or have young children I would advise you to avoid this property especially if there are events happening during that time. The noise is not the fault of the property owner, however I feel the listing statement regarding the public house is hugely understated and we would not have booked the property with a clearer statement on the listing. Any rubbish has to be collected in black bin bags and kept in the property until the night before departure. At that point you must place it all in a seagull proof bag outside the property. There is nowhere to store this rubbish other that inside the living area prior to that point so it can be rather smelly and unpleasant to keep rubbish bags in the kitchen especially when hot weather and staying for a number of days so please consider this. We had to purchase air freshener sprays to make the pong. The property itself does require some maintenance and attention. It felt like the owners had perhaps left it unused for a time or it had lacked some upkeep. It may perhaps also be that people who have stayed prior to us had not reported maintenance issues and the owners are not aware so all I can state is that the property felt unloved. I won’t list the issues but I hope the owners taken some quick action. I was advised by the Coast & Country Cottages team member on handing back the keys that the owners had in fact not had the property listed for a time and were due to visit the property next week to undertake some maintenance so that is great to hear for future customers and nice to know my feedback during the stay was reported to them. I would say my core concern during the stay was the hygiene and cleanliness issues in the kitchen. The chopping board was in a state that it should have been replaced some time ago. There were dirty mugs and plates in the cupboards when you got down to the latter items piled up or further back in a cupboard. The knife block included rusting knives and it should have been relaxed some time ago. There appears a lack of care in the cleaning process for the property and better or more frequent review of equipment provided should take place. During the stay I mentioned that there was a need for some cooking utensils such as a spoon and spatula, plus some smaller bowls for cereal. The customer service team did quickly provide a chopping board set, bowls and utensils quickly. My concern was these appeared in the kitchen without us being aware someone was going to enter the property whilst we were out. This felt intrusive and was a concern of who had entered the property with all our belongings there. It is important that something like that needs to be advised in advance even with a text or voice message if not able to speak on a call. This takes away from the positive action of providing the items. Our feelings were reported to the customer service team and acknowledged. We purchased some food and milk on arrival but it turned out the fridge was not set to be cold enough for suitable storage of the food and it was too warm. We don’t know this initially as we were out in the day but milk wasn’t cold, strawberries went mouldy in less than 48 hours, and we had concerns with the risk in consuming the meat and cheese. This cost us approximately £30 in waste due to having to discard. I reported the concern to the customer service team and will seek compensation for this loss. The team should ensure the fridge is cooled enough and on for plenty of time prior to any arrival. In terms of arrival at the property, when we collected the keys we were advised that there may be a musty smell in the stairs area due to not being used for a period of time. This certainly was the case and whilst they smell dissipated with time, the smell of the bin bags replaced it per my earlier note. Good points: 1) location in centre of Dartmouth 2) customer service from the team 3) board games and dvds provided 4) parking permit provided during stay 5) lots of excellent places to eat nearby 6) large bedrooms for up to 6 guests Bad points: 1) maintenance issues need attention 2) poor cleanliness in kitchen 3) missing items in kitchen 4) very loud music from local venues (not just the public house next door) for majority of stay 5) seagulls are incredibly loud and it cannot be underestimated how loud they can be day and night albeit not the fault of the owners 6) hygiene concerns with filled bins bags stored in property during stay especially during warmer weather (smelly and unhygienic) Overall whilst my review has a number of negative issues mentioned, there is scope for some simple actions to be taken to resolve some of these. The information folder was clear and informative so do ensure it is read on arrival. To take the customer experience to the next level I would suggest it’s nice to arrive after a long journey to a little care package. Perhaps milk, bread, tea bags, or even items for a Devon cream tea. The points mentioned in my review were communicated to the customer service team during the stay. I hope this helps anyone looking to stay at the property with what I hope is a balanced feedback.