Stanhope Castle — Attraction in Stanhope

Stanhope Castle, Knights Corner, (Apartment 4) (Sykes Cottages holiday rental) Visited over the period 20- 26 August 2022. The apartment accommodates 6 persons. Hot Tub and large gardens adjacent. The gardens are on two levels. Stanhope is situated in an area of outstanding rural beauty, with moors and hills surrounding the town and plenty of local attractions within 30 miles, including Beamish Museum. The property is accessed from the car park by traversing approximately 15- 20 stone steps. (There is no handrail available; however, for most of the steps it is possible to hold the top of the stone retaining wall.) There are a further 5-6 steps up and into the property, again no handrail available and this may prove a challenge for young children and/or those with mobility issues. Dedicated parking is available for up to two cars, however we found there is no guarantee these spaces will remain unoccupied, as other residents/visitors to the Castle may use. (We had to use the car park in the town square when this arose. It would be more helpful if the owner provided signage for the two car parking spaces, just to remind other residents and visitors these spaces are for Apartment 4.) The property was clean and spacious, all on one level. There are three bedrooms, one with an ensuite, plus a large bathroom. The kitchen and lounge area are ‘open plan’ and spacious, easily accommodating 6 persons. Bedroom with Ensuite: There was a tear in one of the bedding sheets that required replacing or repairing. Plug sockets in the bedroom need to be more conveniently located near the dressing table. The blind in the bedroom did not function properly. It was not possible to open and close the shutters, therefore much more natural light entered the room early in the morning, disturbing sleep. (Because the window is high (and recessed) the natural light emanates from the base of the curtaining, thus devaluing, in part, the function of the curtains.) The blind needs repairing or replacing. Shower mat should be provided, as the shower base is quite ‘slippy’. Also required, in the shower, is a ledge where shower gel, and other essentials can be placed whilst having a shower. (None available at the date of visiting.)

General: TV is limited to one in the main lounge area. Thus, if there are, for example, young children who are used to a bedroom door being left open at night, this really means no TV in the lounge, also limiting conversation for adults remaining in the lounge area. (All three bedrooms lead directly off the lounge area.) Suggest, 'wall mounted' TVs are provided in both double bedrooms, allowing residents to watch in comfort, should they wish to do so, without disturbing children. Wi-Fi is provided, the signal strength adequate. Overall, we would recommend; however, the areas for development, outlined above, would further...

When we got to Cosy Cave, the first thing that we noticed was that the garden is not enclosed, what looked like a fence dividing the 3rd property in the photos of Cosy Cave were now a set of planters. The grass area is not really accessible as there are no stairs or ramp to get to it. But thankfully as the property sharing the courtyard/garden (which we were unaware of at the time of booking) was vacant for our stay we were able to make some use of the courtyard.

When entering Cosy Cave it presented well, was clean overall but there were a few things that could do with a clean (kettle was extremely limescaled and bed sheets had a couple of small patches of dried blood on them).

Getting into the evening, it was getting rather cold so I searched for a heating controller but could not find anything, I changed the heaters from 0s to 5s but no luck in warming the property up. I emailed stanhope castle and they sent someone round really quickly to give us the heating controller. The issue with the controller was that in Cosy Cave it is very hard for it to get a signal to actually turn the heat on or up. We tried searching online and found that someone else also had heating issues here as the heating controller is kept in the property above Cosy Cave. Again we were lucky no one was booked in upstairs!

There is a dehumidifier in Cosy Cave that is next to the TV room. After 1 night this gets full and needs emptying other wise will not be running. Whilst it is off you can really feel a difference in your chest when sitting in the TV room. The damp/moisture is a real problem in that room. We also found that our clothes from our suitcase felt damp as we kept our suitcase in the walk through section to the tv room. What also doesn't help is that the heater in that room does not warm up much at all (even when on 5). If those 2 issues were fixed it would make that room so much more enjoyable because the TV is great and the surround sound was amazing.

The bathroom was really nice and clean. The pressure in the shower was great!

The hot tub was really nice! We did notice however there were some bits at the bottom of the hot tub, not sure if these fell in from the cover or if it wasnt thoroughly cleaned. The cover is a bit worse for wear but with use that happens. We did clean the cover and the gazeebo as it was covered in spider webs etc.

If we had known that the courtyard/garden is shared, not really enclosed and that the grass area is not really accessible then we would not have booked Cosy Cave.

With the moisture issue in the TV room it felt unsafe for us to complete out stay so we left.

I asked Sykes for support and have not heard back weeks later.

Update - Sykes told me today that the owner is not agreeable to any financial compensation...

Well, for a start, I have been forced into leaving a review I am not happy with rating wise, as I have to click 1 star when this company is not even worthy of it, but unfortunately there isn’t a zero so I guess this will have to do. I was originally looking for a weekend stay for me, my 2 children and my mum. I fancied somewhere a bit different as a treat for us all. The place was lovely and I enjoyed my weekend stay. I returned home on Sunday evening and I received a phone call from the owner of the Knights Corner property. The gent was asking if my stay had finished and I am now checked out as Sykes had apparently advised him that I may only be staying for the weekend. I advised I would be returning as I had paid for 7 nights. He did ask some intrusive and inappropriate questions regarding my return. Eg; what are you doing with your kids if you are returning without them? Who’s coming back and when? Anyway that call ended with me stating that I would advise him if I did check out earlier than my 7 nights stay I would let him know. Then… an email came through from Ruth the other owner who was quite frank and rude in telling me that Sykes had misinformed me and that I am not allowed to return without the original guests that checked in with me as this was classed as sub-letting. I advised that nobody was paying me to stay there, so it wasn’t sub-letting. I was simply treating my family. The Sunday evening emails ended sourly and I didn’t dare return as it is quite a drive away to be shown the door when I got there as I wouldn’t be with the original family members I stayed with. I then contacted Sykes who took full responsibility and after listening back to the original phone call admitted they had misinformed me and should’ve checked with the property owner before my stay. Beware of Knights Corner in Durham. They will send you rude emails on a Sunday evening and ask intrusive questions. They also have a sign up at the property that I wasn’t too comfortable with as it stated ‘when hot tub not in use, lid must be replaced. If this is not actioned the hot tub will be turned off.’ Which is fine in itself but there is a camera mounted on the property looking over the door and garden area, so I assume they look at the camera to check this as they aren’t local to the property to pop in. I must admit knowing they can see me, my children and mum using the hot tub definitely did give us the relaxing quality family time we desired. I would never recommend this accommodation to anyone and would strongly advise...