Monarfon, Benllech

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and found the property to be dirty with cobwebs and spiders in most corners of the rooms. The mugs and glasses in the cupboards were dirty. The window recesses in the lounge and dining room had black mould. The rear patio door would not lock so the house was not secure; I do not accept that a broom handle is adequate security for my family and my belongings and I’m confident that an insurance company would not accept this either. The bedroom walls and ceilings had mould as well as the window recesses. The single room still had dead insects and dirt on the window sill. The bin still had a used earbud in it. I felt that the mould was a health risk and the lack of security meant that I could not stay in the property. I called Sykes to advise them and they told me that they would contact the owner. In my opinion, the house needs an awful lot of work to make it a habitable and enjoyable holiday house. I expected a clean, secure place to stay but this property fell far short of the mark. The property owner has offered me less than 30% of my booking price as compensation when contacted for a full refund. I feel that a full refund is a reasonable request for a cancelled family holiday. I was in the property for less than an hour and this time was used to gather photographic evidence of the poor state of the property and to contact Sykes. The photographs on the site appear to be at least five years out of date. The only positive thing that I can say about the property is that the en suite was the only clean room. My family were devastated as we got back in the car to drive home. I have now read other reviews which prove that the property owner was aware of the unsecured patio door and the dirty state of the property.

Plus sides are the great location and size of the property, enclosed garden, comfortable beds and nice showers. We had a lovely holiday despite the disappointment we felt when we arrived at the property. Negatives are the general neglect of the garden and property, cobwebs and spiders everywhere, rotten windows, the patio door has to be locked with a piece of wood! Generally the kitchen needs a good clean, there was disgusting ' gunk' around the kitchen sink. We gave the kitchen surfaces, plates, cups etc a good clean before we felt comfortable to cook anything. There is no kerbside appeal, whoever took the photos for the website did an amazing job!!!

A fantastic holiday in a really lovely house. Superb location, just a short walk to a lovely sandy beach, large enclosed garden, and nice decked area to watch the sun go down with a glass of wine. The house it really warm and cosy, any contrary to the previous review found, we found the cleanliness to our expectations and no bad smell.

Monarfon Cottage Anglesey My wife and I were due to stay at Monarfon Cottage between March 7th and March 14th 2020 with our five year old Tibetan Terrier Flo. As we approached the cottage we noticed that the house next door is in a dilapidated state and does not create a good impression. There is not a lot the owners of Monarfon can do about that but it definitely is an off putter. As we entered the cottage we noticed a strong smell of “drains”which was coming from the down stairs toilet and bathroom area. On investigation, this area is badly in need of refurbishment. The lounge area is fine and the kitchen a decent size. The utility room is in a poor state with damp evident in places and looks more like an outhouse than a utility room. The door from the utility goes to the side of the house where the fence between the dilapidated house and the Monarfon property is broken down and subsequent felling of shrubs has created an area that would allow the next door’s dog to enter the Monarfon property. Although there is a gate to the rear of the property we felt that the dog next door could easily scale that. By now we were feeling less than enthusiastic about our weeks stay. The upstairs, however is quite nice and more like what we expected but the smell of the drains was still there even though we had opened the downstairs bathroom window. Our decision to leave was made when I opened the doors to the Welsh dresser in the kitchen. The only item that was in there was a box of RAT POISON! Why this was in there I don’t know but the thought of there being vermin in and around the property and the fact that there may still be rat poison in or out of the house made our decision to leave a no brainier. We were not prepared to put our dog in any danger. We spent the next 90 minutes searching for other properties. Subsequent contact with the owner confirmed (in writing) that they have had problems with the drains and did in fact have a vermin problem in summer 2019. He said that both had been resolved but from the smell it was clear that the drain issue hadn’t and who knows about the vermin issue? The owner said that the neighbours in the dilapidated house feed the wild life (and presumably still do) and that was probably the cause of the vermin issue. From the look of that house it may we’ll be the vermin issue. Although the owner said he was sorry he made no offer of compensation. After sending a subsequent E mail he offered me 25% money back on the week which was nowhere near enough as we had had to source another property at a higher price than we had already paid for Monarfon. We had booked the cottage through Sykes Cottages so I spoke to them about the situation and I was advised that we should have contacted them immediately and they would have tried to resolve the issue with the owner. At the time of making our decision to leave, it was 15:30 on Saturday afternoon and we did not see how the drain issue could be resolved quickly. We did not feel that the issues we encountered could be resolved to our satisfaction and we were not prepared to let it spoil our holiday. Further discussions with Sykes did not bring any joy as they simply repeated that we should have spoken to them and that any compensation would be at the owners discretion under these circumstances. We have stayed at a lot of properties over the years and many of them booked with Sykes. I can say that we have never felt that we had to leave a property previously but we would not have stayed at Monarfon any longer than we did. Anyone wanting any further information can contact me on [email protected] I wish we had taken more notice of a couple of the other reviews on the Sykes website as it could have saved us a lot of money and wasted time

Monarfon is a lovely, airy and comfortable cottage in a lovely location. The garden was a bonus and two fabulous bathrooms! We had a fantastic holiday and will be booking again as it appears the owners have tried to get everything just right and succeeded.

Lovely comfortable holiday home. The owners very helpful and made sure that we were happy.

Monarfon was lovely and warm, in a quiet cul de sac. There are luxurious bathrooms and the property is very spacious. Chose Manorfon because... Very close to a fabulous beach. Pub nearby. Enclosed garden. All turned out to be so!

Loved the dining area and the very smart bathrooms, especially the walk in shower in the master bedroom ensuite. Enjoyed the proximity to the beach and managed a few walks despite the stormy weather. Didn't use the garden much due to the weather but it was a lovely big space.