“Upon our arrival at St Giles, we spent 1/2 hour trying to retrieve the key from the key safe only to be told (after we rang Lake Lovers) that the code in the email they had sent us was the wrong code!”
Upon entry to the extremely cold cottage, we lose another hour trying to fathom the heating which is not as described in the cottage instructions, nor on the Lake Lovers website: the thermostat described in the instructions and the oil fired boiler described on the website no longer exist and there are no instructions how to use the air source heat pump that's replaced them!
The hour and a half lost, trying to get into the cottage and then trying to heat it meant we missed our dinner ...
Upon entry to the extremely cold cottage, we lose another hour trying to fathom the heating which is not as described in the cottage instructions, nor on the Lake Lovers website: the thermostat described in the instructions and the oil fired boiler described on the website no longer exist and there are no instructions how to use the air source heat pump that's replaced them!
The hour and a half lost, trying to get into the cottage and then trying to heat it meant we missed our dinner reservation at the Britannia Inn!
Despite setting the heating and the water to be permanently on, 24/7, the cottage was only just warm enough and on one evening we ran out of water after just 2.5 showers (after which we discovered the water tank had an immersion heater).
In all other respects St Giles is a really, really lovely cottage. All the rooms appear to have been recently decorated and the little touches (the pictures and ornaments, the books and games, etc) make it very homely. The appliances and the fittings in the kitchen, the bathroom and the shower room are all quality, modern, stylish, clean and work really well. The beds are really firm, very comfortable with quality bed linen. The towels are large and still nice and fluffy. The shower gel and shampoo dispensers are a nice touch. The single room for cooking, eating and sitting wouldn't suit everyone but it worked very well for us. There's a few mud stains on the carpet next to the front door but otherwise, and with the obvious exception of the heating, this is a near-perfect cottage.
