Bight Boathouse, Dartmouth

Ok. So the place is very dated and could do with been refurbished and brought back to life. Pool needs regrouting. Sofas in the lounge need replacing desperately. Some curtains seem to be disintegrating. However we didn't come on holiday to look at the furnishings. The house has all you need or want to spend a week there albeit very outdated. We enjoyed the pool and the sauna. The views from the balcony are outstanding! The pool table was an assett so was the chess board. Please be aware this property is not suitable for anyone with mobility issues. It is access down stairs then each floor is accsessed by a spiral staircase. Car parking for 2 cars only but you can park further down on the street. Overall we enjoyed our week here

A mixed group of us stayed here for New Year 2021. The view is amazing. Everything else about it is awful. The experience starts from the overwhelming smell of damp that greets you as you come down the stairs. Opening the cheap 1970s patio doors, you are greeted by an interior that resembles a care home (thick, white tubular stair rails) and is dated. The carpets are threadbare and dangerous, especially on the stairs. The main living room is equally dated and the kitchen is appalling. The bar stools for the breakfast bar simply don't work; the breakfast bar is not fitted to the floor and everything appears dirty (there was a half smoked joint under the bar). Although advertised as accommodating 11 people, there is one bathroom with no shower and an awful black en suite bathroom that has a poor quality shower with a sign on the door saying "this shower may not work". The pool was dirty, with loose tiles and eroded grouting. Special mention should be made of the bedrooms. The mattresses are so thin as to be useless. The sheets are not clean, don't fit the beds and are of exceptionally poor quality - we found washing them to alleviate some of the discomfort caused by their quality. Not one person had a good night's sleep for the time we were there. On stripping the beds to leave, one of our party found glass beneath the sheet. On one day, there was a flood in the pool room - water pouring onto the electrics and causing them to short. On contacting the owner (there was no point contacting the agent, Sykes Cottages, as their customer care is non-existent), his response was that it was due to the amount of rain. The attending engineer observed that they were aware of a leak and had buckets in place to catch water in the pool-service room. All of this cost in excess of £4,000 for a week. All of our party left before the end of the week; we simply could not tolerate it any longer. But for the company and the time of year, we would have left earlier. Even the view of the Dart doesn't compensate for how awful this place is. It needs to be gutted before being rented, or at least cleaned and the beds replaced. I would save my money and take an AirBnB in the Dart Marina.

Have paid £4,000 for a week we had expected at least a basic level of cleanliness and repair. The property is run down to the point of being dangerous! Hazards are everywhere, too many to list. From the trip hazard on the threadbare spiral staircases to the rusty non functioning gym equipment and sauna. The pool has junk and broken tiles on the bottom. Sharp edges everywhere which was a serious H&S issue. Dismantled fire alarms and a CO2 alarm that kept going off. Nothing was clean, everything had a ‘sticky’ feel to it. The place needs gutting and renovating before allowing anyone else in. We were shocked how someone could be allowed to rent this property out in its current state. There is going to be a serious accident here unless something is done. By far the worst holiday home we have ever had the misfortune to stay at. Skyes Cottages needs to remove this listing from their website immediately until the property has undergone significant improvements

We stayed here a couple of years ago. The place even then needed an upgrade. On the first day our dog fell over the balcony sustaining serious injury. My brother in law slipped on floor and needed stitches in his head. I fell by the pool and had life changing injuries to my wrist. Would love to hear from others on their experiences in this house

Positives - view is stunning and there is parking on the property. Negatives - this is a tired, dated property which needs extensive renovation and a deep clean. It is not worth the money we paid. The "lavish" en-suite was dark and dingy, with dirty shower tray, two lights not working, taps awkward to turn off and a toilet which was difficult to flush. Helpfully, a bowel was at the side so you could use it to fill the toilet system with water! The en-suite bedroom was also well past its best with dated furniture, rusty rails inside wardrobes, peeling wallpaper, dismantled smoke alarm, dirty scruffy curtains hanging badly. Given that this property sleeps 10 you would expect the family bathroom to at least have a proper shower and not a hand held one over the bath. Again problems flushing the toilet. The sofas are dirty, collapsing to the sides and belong on the tip. Another smoke alarm dismantled - this is a health and safety issue and a common theme. Again bulbs need changing. Threadbare carpet on the spiral staircase so care needs to be taken when using the stairs. The patio furniture is broken. The gym equipment is rusty, parts broken and dangerous. The sauna light doesn't work or the booster on the jacuzzi. This place is an accident waiting to happen. We are awaiting Sykes' comments.

If you would stay literally anywhere for a great view then you just may like this place. However, if you're expecting a higher end modern place to stay then forget it. I totally agree with the previous comments made by people who have stayed here, in that it's massively over-priced, badly in need of a gutting refurb, and there was so much wrong with it I'm not going to embarrass the owners by listing all its faults here. On the other hand if you want rotten patio furniture, smoke detectors broken, cracked ceilings, and an 80's decor that Delboy Trotter would turn his nose up at then look no further. Most of the gym equipment is either disfunctional or dangerous, the sauna has no lighting so be careful you don't trip into the hot coals, and if all this doesn't finish you off then the wasps nest near the overgrown plantpot terrace might. Nice view though.

I can only endorse the previous review. On arrival the main entrance stank of fermenting rubbish. The list of broken items is extensive, jacuzzi minus bubbles, bubble bath in ensuite minus bubbles, table on the patio broken, thread-bare dirty carpet, stained settees, loos that don't flush properly. One of the patio doors simply fell off its hinges when opened, thankfully onto an adult and not a child who would have been seriously injured. That took a week to fix, the loo was never sorted. I also agree with the previous reviewer about Sykes, they were completely useless and I certainly wouldn't book through them ever again as they obviously take no interest in the properties they let out. Apparently it is perfectly acceptable to advertise properties that bare no resemblance to the description. We met two friends of the owner on separate occasions, who thought it was amusing to tell us 'Terence never bothers to do any maintenance to his properties'. Ain't that the truth! Save your money.

We paid £4000 for a weeks stay in August 2018 through Sykes Cottages. We wanted a really good property and location for a family holiday which this property appeared to be. We were a bit shocked when we got there at how shabby and dated it was and also found that it was in need of a good clean. The carpets are well worn and stained. The taps in the bathroom were hard to turn off and the toilets had large signs on saying to flush twice (which still did not do it) Our main problems were with the pool area. It is advertised as having a gym, sauna, jacuzzi and games in this area. Well the jacuzzi packed up on the second day and we were told that there was nothing to be done as it was peak season. - This was not surprising as the buttons to turn it on were located under a thick piece of black tape!. The sauna had an exposed circuit board inside and would not switch on easily. The gym equipment was ancient, rusty and totally unusable. The whole pool area was dirty. None of the arcade games worked. To sum this up - the whole house needs a deep clean or updating and is not worth the money charged. I have photos to back this all up. Sykes cottages have told me that they only take the booking, any issues are between ourselves and the owners. I will never book through Sykes cottages again and if I had read their reviews prior to booking then I would not have booked through them. They do not check their properties that they let out and have nothing to do with you when you complain.

The pictures look fabulous , but from the minute you walk down to the unkempt weed strewn entrance and walk in ,the non-maintenance of the whole place is glaringly obvious . There are only 2 cleaners for this huge huge house and how can they possibly keep on top of everything in the limited time they have . The whole place needs a deep clean and massive investment for the price the owner is charging . It may have been grand in the 80's ( most fixtures and fittings are from then by the looks of it ) but it is shabby now. The multi-gym snapped on the second day of our holiday and how there wasn't a serious injury i will never know . I phoned Sykes immediately ( the booking agent ) and the owner let himself in without letting us know whilst we were upstairs having tea and he was more concerned to find the pool cover off , rather than the fact his equipment had nearly seriously injured a member of our group . The pool cover is ripped and for fear of ripping it further and the fact the children were going back to the pool after tea is the reason it was off . The toilet area in the Leisure Suite is an absolute disgrace , the pool lights went out leaving children in deep water in the pitch black, and the house lights went off on occasion, the arcade games do not work , there were no batteries in the remotes, there was dog excrement on the terrace , there was no hot water after a bath and this is advertised for a party of 10 . The spiral staircase is threadbare on every step end making it a dangerous trip up and down without care , there aren't enough snooker balls for a proper game , and more spot balls than stripe balls for any kind of game of pool . The tea-towels defied belief , so grubby , so I bought my own , I could go on but i think you get the picture . Sykes gave us money back after seeing the photos i took and sent someone to look at the property after we had vacated . Its position is utterly fabulous which is the reason we stayed . To sit watching the comings and goings on the water and to be so close to it was amazing , but having stayed in similar priced homes this is the worst one I've had the misfortune to book . Dartmouth itself is stunningly beautiful and I'm sad to have to leave such a negative review . Hopefully after Sykes Cottages sent their agent out all these things have been rectified , I have many photos of the house and its general state of repair , so there can be no accusations about this review and nowhere any sign of any untruths either.