The Stone House

The Stone House proved ideal for our three-generation family break to celebrate an 80th birthday, enabling us to blend simple pleasures with premium indulgencies.

The Stone House is large and very well equipped. The east patio is good for watching the sun rise, and the west for watching it set. There are plenty of birding opportunities in the garden and nearby, and at dusk deer can be seen across the valley. The large u-shaped lawn is ideal for golf chipping practice before playing a nearby East Devon or Dorset course. The freestanding coat rack just off the Entrance Hall makes it easy to dry wetsuits after a day of water sport. We have no hesitation in recommending the Stone House to others.

The house itself is beautiful, set in stunning surroundings, and it provided a great space for us to relax and enjoy our holiday together.

However, there were a few significant issues that impacted our stay. The most concerning was that one of the door locks was broken and could not be secured. This posed a serious safety risk, especially at night, and also limited our ability to go out during the day, as we were not comfortable leaving the house unattended. Unfortunately, we were unable to report this promptly due to the Easter holiday period.

The Stone House was perfect for our family gathering, The accommodation is excellent and very spacious.

The house was extremely clean and very well equipped. I would highly recommend this property.

Beautiful house, amazing grounds, we especially loved the large living room not unlike being in a stately home.

We will be back.

The property was lovely in a great location.

Some furniture is tired. A leg on one sofa in the big lounge was broken, others are bent and also likely to break. sofas in the small lounge are tired and uncomfortable. Left dish washer not working, waste disposal sporadic. Seat pads in kitchen need cleaning. No cushions for outside seating available. Beds could be bigger, 4 poster bed not comfortable. No batteries in the TV remotes, TV’s not all working properly, Internet was very poor, windows need cleaning, moth infestation in annex bathroom and toilet, we had to wash the dining room table cloth before using it, no full length mirrors for the ladies, en suite from four poster room needs deep clean. No tea towels or cleaning products, shower gel and shampoo would be a nice gesture. No scissors in the kitchen. Mop heads need changing as do brush and shovel. Toilet brushes need bleaching or changing. The trees and bushes down the drive need chopping back as the branches caught our cars when passing. Our family thoroughly enjoyed the stay despite the constructive criticism and we appreciated the welcome pack. We would certainly return! Whilst we understand the time required for changeover a 10:00am time to vacate is not great as there is quite a lot to sort with a big family, I am sure 11:00am would be more palatable

The Stone House was stunning.

A beautiful house with wonderful garden - ideal for our 4 grandchildren and 2 dogs to run about. The house was very well equipped and it was lovely to see fresh milk and wine in the fridge on our arrival. The fresh flowers were also a lovely touch. Lovely rooms and comfortable beds. The house itself is very large with a stunning drawing room for the adults to escape to whilst the children enjoyed the TV room. Lovely to have a selection of books and games too. We’ve been to a few holiday lets but The Stone House exceeded our expectations and is by far the best. We look forward to coming back.

We loved it, fantastic stay there, beautiful location.

We think that the restriction on additional visitors for say the afternoon or for morning coffee is disappointing. An obvious exclusion on partying is understandable (and you did have the option of the good housekeeping bond). The welcome pack was lovely. The downside was the presence of carpet moths in bedrooms and the shared bathrooms.

An absolutely wonderful and beautiful house, near the sea and very peaceful.

The house was warm and cosy, the beds were comfortable with good linen. All necessary appliances and for a change, enough crockery and cutlery for the whole day with a large group of people. Two dishwashers was a bonus. The house is very roomy and there's enough space for everyone to spread out. Since the house is listed as 'child friendly' I did think there could have been a few more activities such as garden play equipment and balls etc.

Simply perfect

For the first 24 hours we had no hot water or heating!

! Was sorted on 2nd day, but spoilt our first day there. Property was not cleaned before we arrived, a large cobweb with spider in lounge and others in downstairs toilets. Broken footstool in lounge (someone had previously tried to glue). A lot of the furnishings are very worn (including chairs, sofas, place mats) and kitchen lacks up to date utensils).

We had a wonderful stay in The Stone House.

It is most comfortable, extremely spacious and is very well equipped. We fully intend to return for another stay. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Just bring your own jigsaw puzzle.

THE PROPERTY.

The Stone Cottage was a wonderful property. The rooms were spacious, had tall ceilings, were extremely light with large windows to enjoy the surrounding extensive grassed tidy garden and the open countryside, and were tastefully furnished. The kitchen was generally well equipped. The house accommodated 4 couples very well EXCEPT that one of the so-called bath/shower rooms was in fact just a WC. This is a MIS-DESCRIPTION - made worse by the fact that our lead traveller telephoned Sykes to confirm the facilities pre-booking and was misled then, too. We required and expected 4 bath/shower rooms but did not get them. SYKES AS AGENT. Sykes were very slow to reply to messages sent from the lead traveller’s account pre-visit, or sent meaningless or incomplete replies which in turn had to be queried again. Phone calls had to be made to chase up. When eventually answered (typical wait time 15/20 mins) call centre staff could not provide any additional information to help to resolve queries. Sometimes they called back and sometimes they did not. In one case the call staff member’s personal style came across as argumentative when asked about feedback published on site describing ‘rickety outdoor furniture’. (However, the faulty wi-fi later reported from on-site was resolved by a local contractor early in our stay)

The outside furniture is tired and rickety and not enough for both patios.

Cushion covers weren’t available. We all had a fabulous week there and we were very comfortable.

THIS IS OUR SECOND VISIT, WHICH CONFIRMS OUR LIKING OF THE PROPERTY.

IT IS SPACIOUS, COMFORTABLE AND A LOVELY LOCATION. LOOKS OLD BUT ONLY ABOUT 10 YEARS OLD, SO PRETTY UP TO DATE. HOWEVER, THERE ARE A FEW "TIRED FEATURES" WHICH SHOULD BE ATTENDED TO. THESE ARE LISTED HERE: 1. TV'S NEED UPDATING 2. TV LOUNGE SETTEES NEED REPLACEMENT - UNCOMFORTABLE 3. FULL CLEANING REQUIRED - SOME DUST/DIRT BEHIND/UNDER BEDS 4. MORE CUPS NEEDED - CONSIDERING THERE COULD BE 10 ADULTS STAYING 5. SOME SECURITY LIGHTS NOT WORKING 6. ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF REPLACEMENT BULBS REQUIRED 7. MAIN TABLE CLOTH SPARES SHOULD BE SUPPLIED 8. TWO BROKEN GLASSES WERE FOUND IN CUPBOARDS - NOT BROKEN BY US, BUT ODD TO FIND THEM! 9. HEAVY KITCHEN DOOR NEEDS PROPER DOOR STOP - WHILST IT IS A FIRE DOOR, DO NEED ABILITY TO HOLD OPEN WHEN IN CONSTANT USE

AS your records will show, this is the second time that we have stayed at The Stone House, so it goes without saying that we love the property.

It is in a wonderful location, enjoying lovely views over adjoining countryside, it has accommodation that comfortably accommodates our large family and has an air of quality and good taste. Its location, though rural, is only a short drive to various towns including Lyme Regis, Seaton and Charmouth, all of which are worth visiting. The Harbour pub at the bottom of the road (only walkable by the most hardy I would say) was very pleasant, with log fires and was dog friendly. However, we were disappointed this time to arrive (in the dark at this time of year) to no heating and hot water and no internet. It was also difficult to get a mobile signal unless you called from some locations upstairs or out in the garden to the north. We don't remember having the same problem before and without the internet, it was a challenge to get in touch with Sykes Holiday Cottages. A very pleasant man came to the house, but was unable to sort out the boiler during his visit (which had apparently lost pressure), so he had to resort to turning on the immersions. Please note that even though the use of the immersions ensured we had hot water in about an hour, it was scalding hot which also made the tap itself untouchable. We remained without internet throughout the holiday.

It was a lovely house to stay in, not unlike staying in a National Trust house with its large rooms and grounds and there is plenty to do and see in the local area The only comment I would make is that the property details mentions 3 walk in showers when in fact there are only 2 and one of those is in the ensuite There is also a bathroom with a bath with a hand held shower but I think 2 showers is inadequate given that 10 people can stay there!

Arrived in a storm and, unfortunately half the lights went out (which we would have lived with until Monday, but the alarm was tripped so couldn't lived with that!

) as the power was still on. Amazingly the general maintenance guy came within an hour through the storm and at least got the alarm switched off. All fixed by the electrician on Monday. Good cover. Beds were amazingly comfortable - bad ones will spoil the holiday. Beautiful house belying its age - only 8 years old. Did feel like a National Trust House in places! Perfect area for keeping the dogs in (perhaps not the smallest). Incredibly quite spot, yet only half a mile from Tesco. Certainly recommend

This was a comfortable, tastefully furnished house in a very peaceful location.

We were very happy with our choice.

Spacious, well equipped property in fabulous setting.

We had a problem with the hot water and it was fixed almost immediately. It would have been nice if a high chair and travel cot were available as a house this size is obviously going to attract families. So many seating areas around the whole garden was fabulous but we would have loved a bbq.

As a family of Grandparents, Children and Grand children, we had a memorable stay at "The Stone House".

The property was spacious, beautifully positioned and very well equipped, perfect! Unfortunately what let things down was, of the three ovens in the property, only one oven fully worked, one did not get to temperature and one (in the Annex) did not work at all. Fortunately we were only there for three days of catering any longer it would have been a major problem.

This was our second visit to The Stonehouse and we will hopefully book again in the future.

We absolutely love it here. The house is lovely and has a really homely feel to it. Perfect for a group or family gathering. To make it even better (in our opinion), would be the installation of a hot tub

A beautiful home from home.

Plenty of space and facilities for a three generation family holiday. Crisp white linen on all the beds and fluffy towels were very welcome. The outside space is lovely and well maintained and was much enjoyed by the children and adults. Two very minor points to observe. There were no oven gloves which was unusual given that there are two ovens and a microwave to navigate with hot food. And a note to cleaning staff; although the house was immaculate, the two sets of table mats had not been cleaned since previous use. We had a brilliant time and would recommend and return ourselves without hesitation.

There are quite a few smallish diy jobs to do.

until you stay in every room, you may not know that the window mechanism is sticky...The door lock only turns in one direction. in the front hall, you need two door retainers to hold the doors open so they do not slam. The instructions about the apparently very good recycling caused us confusion when we saw the dust cart, over the hedge, on Monday..they "emptied" two empty wheelie bins. We had several black bags of rubbish in the shed.. Maybe you need to clarify with the council? The house was otherwise excellent! A stone built barbecue would be a big asset, as would a pool! We would l9ve to have learned a bit of its inevitably interesting history!

We enjoyed our stay at the Stone house.

We found it a superbly peaceful location, Ideal for children and dogs. It was a little more remote than we had expected, and due to the elevated position of the house, necessitated using a car to reach the beach or town, for all but the fittest. The house was huge and generally comfortable, although some of the antique looking bedroom furniture was not that practical ie a wardrobe only suitable for a giant and a lack of dressing table type space. We were disappointed to find that the promised welcome pack including a bottle of English champagne, fresh fruit and flowers was not provided. All that was left was a bottle of Prosecco, a box of mixed teas and a pack of coffee - not even any fresh milk! The kitchen was totally lacking in any of the basics normally available for food preparation/storage, that from our experience, have usually been found in similar properties. For a property with two dishwashers there were no dishwasher tablets and there were insufficient cups for 9 people to allow for dishwashing. We were also unable to find any cushions for the garden chairs, which were quite uncomfortable. There were also no hand towels for the bathrooms/toilets and a lack of spare toilet rolls. All of these things are minor but just irritating and with a little more thought could be easily rectified.

Cleanliness feedback marked down only because of the problems with rubbish disposal- bins not emptied by waste collection authorities.

However, if anything, you understated the quality of the house, particularly on the ground floor. A beautifully fitted and spacious modern house set in lovely countryside.

Thank you for providing a truly outstanding property.

We felt like we were staying in a stately home. Beds are extremely comfortable, the furnishings are beautiful (especially the curtains!) and the huge amount of space enabled us to feel totally rested and spoilt. Simply luxurious is every way. Only a couple of small points - a proper big teapot is needed, and the Wi-Fi hub is hidden away in the downstairs loo so coverage around the house very patchy. Thank you very much.