Stepping Stones, Catterick

Where to start with this house? It could have been amazing, but there are so many problems. • Cleanliness – the house cleaning was really poor. Kitchen worksurfaces were only partially clean when we arrived, tables in the lounge hadn’t seen a duster or cloth for many months, stairs were really grubby. As we were leaving, a woman arrived to clean. She had a small child with her but if she was expected to prepare a house of this size on her own, it’s no wonder it was dirty. • When we arrived many of the plates and glasses were dirty and very wet. The reason soon became apparent – the dishwasher is very poor and needs to be replaced. It only works on the intensive setting (there was a notice about this) and we had to google to see which symbol this was. It didn’t dry anything and the other settings left everything unwashed. In addition, many of the (mismatched) plates were too big and blocked the rotor arm. We spent the first couple of hours washing and drying everything • Most of the beds had no pillow protectors and some didn’t have mattress protectors. I find this very concerning, particularly in covid times. • The oven in the main kitchen doesn’t work properly – the clock needs to be set in order to use it properly, but the clock is broken. The only way we could turn the oven off was by using the mains switch. It is clearly old and needs replacing • Cooking equipment was OK but was obviously old and used – we had the impression that the house owner had collected old pots and pans from freecycle sites. • There was no information book! I have never stayed in a cottage with no book containing general information. Half way through the week I spotted a small tablet, which required me to log in and accept marketing preferences. I gave false information – this is very very unfair to holidaymakers. But it turns out that this was the ‘information book’ and contained instructions for the sauna and hot tub (which we’d already worked out) and the bin day (which we’d missed). This is a very poor way of giving important information. • Kitchen cupboards were dirty and full of other people’s food • Cottage next door – this should not be let as holiday accommodation. One of my sons commented that it reminded him of a student house. This was not a compliment. It was extremely shabby, hadn’t been decorated for many years (I believe it was a long-term rental when the current owners bought it), the cupboards were shabby with peeling plastic on the shelves (I didn’t even unpack my clothes), wallpaper was peeling. I’ve never stayed anywhere as unpleasant as this. • None of the blinds in the cottage were hanging at the windows and we realised that they had Velcro attached – every night we had to stick them on and unstick them in the morning. I mentioned this to the guy who came to service the hot tub – he said that guests had broken them all (!) and they were going to get them fixed. • The bathroom in the cottage was pretty grim. It was actually 2 rooms, one with bath, shower and sink (no handwash), another with loo and sink. It hadn’t been touched for many many years and wasn’t particularly clean either, with mould in places. I have complained to Sykes but they quickly lost interest. I doubt they have ever visited the cottage. There is a hot tub, sauna and games room which are fantastic. But that's not enough when the living accommodation is so poor.

Paid £4000 for a week at Stepping Stones in Catterick - large house which albeit in a lovely setting is not everything it promises. The list of problems and issues is, quite frankly, endless. Doesn’t resemble the pictures or description and what should have been a hassle-free week turned into a comedy of errors and ‘let’s spot the next problem’. It was clear very quickly several things were broken, missing or simply filthy. One towel per person for an entire week. A missing lightbulb in the lounge lamp. A kitchen doorhandle that kept coming off in our hands. Nail sticking out the bedroom floor. Toilet handle that kept dropping off. And then a “blocked” shower that poured water into the kitchen. Finally fixed on the 4th day of our holiday. As we only had 3 days left in the house by this point and although we could have reported the rest of the list of problems it would have been impossible to resolve in that short a time. Also to be frank we didn’t want more people interrupting what should have been a peaceful holiday. Complained to skyes, took over a month and constant harassment to get a response which was basically "tough luck". I'll never book with them again and suggest you don't either.