Winterton Cottages - Great Yarmouth

Julie B.

Just back from three nights at Hall Farm Barn, Happisburgh. A beautiful home designed with style, elegance and everything you could need for your stay. Loved it and highly recommend.
Thank you to Sue & Simon for making such a great place to stay and unwind and for the lovely welcome basket.
The property has a private rear garden overlooking the fields, with sun loungers and covered seating area. Great walks for the dogs across the fields and to the beach with a pub on route.

Jodie B.

Update: you said 5 additional hours cleaning, then it was 10 hours total and now it’s 16. So what is it? Just post the photos of the ‘disgusting state’ we left it in. Bins overflowing with nappies. Everything soiled…. You must have evidence so by all means - please share it. Speaking of which - here are all of our 5 stars reviews.

We stayed at Field Barn this past week. Initially everything was fine. A day later we received a message informing us that we had damaged the property and they were looking for 10 plus additional hours cleaning at £175 for leaving it in a state!

I’ll be honest my first thought was what on earth are they talking about?!

They stated that their cleaner sent photos of damage and it being a state. Upon viewing the photos her complaint was that:
We had used the BBQ & Oven so she had to clean it (obviously)
There was a smudge on a glass door
There was a finger print on an unsecured glass table (I kid you not)
Someone may have spilled a bit of coffee on the kitchen floor/wiped it up but I guess not mopped so was a bit sticky (?)
They provided a cheap IKEA high chair plus a fabric inner (nice but not necessary). Our 10 month old got a spot of pasta sauce on the washable fabric inner. This is what they referred to have damaged as it transpires.
They have huge plush velvet sofas and chairs. The sofa especially already had a bit of normal wear to it (nothing crazy - still absolutely fine) and one of the kitchen chairs had crumbs on it… so they’ve chosen to steam clean them.
Dishes piled up. I left two stacked by the side as the dishwasher was full.
We didn’t strip all the beds. At a luxury stay - we guests only partially stripped the beds, even though they don’t have to, and that is a complaint.
We left nappies in the bin and didn’t take them out. Not true. I took out the kitchen bins before leaving and then realised my baby had done a wee and to probably change the nappy prior to a long drive. This was one nappy and it went in the bathroom bin…
They also said we didn’t lock the house up which is insanity as we did and placed the key in the key box as requested.

10 hours additional cleaning comes from (literally more than an end of tenancy!)
A £175 cleaning fee (on top of the one we already paid upon booking) suggests that they aren’t anticipating doing proper professional cleans in between stays. I did notice a thick layer of dust and dead fly on the laundry room window sill & kitchen window sill (they’re high so maybe missed if you’re shorter?). Plus the glasses and plates were grimy and had dish salt on them. Then, when searching for my partners glasses, I looked under the beds and sofas and down behind things and found EVERYTHING was hiding historical dust and cobwebs (and an only pair of socks from another guest).

So I can only assume they’re not doing proper cleans anyway, just quick tidy ups before someone else checks in. After all - They did state that stripping the beds is outside the normal scope of what they do. So what is within scope?

What we did before we left: Cleaned the whole kitchen with the products they request you use (see their own photo), vacuumed throughout, filled the dishwasher (they complained it was over filled then complained we hadn’t turned it on…), put all dirty towels in their appropriate bathrooms, put bleach down the toilets, emptied the bins, stripped one bed - all overlooked as if it didn’t happen and instead accused of leaving the place a disgusting state like we’re rockstars trashing a hotel room not a professional couple with 2 small children.

So I would question what their professional deep cleans actual involve. They clearly don’t assign enough time to complete them, or maybe just hope no one uses the oven or BBQ? And considering this is a dog friendly stay, by a beach, with muddy walks all around… I question how sanitary the place really is if a cleaner complains about having to mop the floor. Just a thought.

I have provided some example photos of the ‘state’ in question. These are the things that they charging us £175 for. Be careful.

Julie L.

Just returned from a long weekend at The Tiddler at Winterton on Sea. Absolutely loved it! The bungalow was spotlessly clean and extremely well equipped. Immaculately decorated. Loved Winterton on Sea, nice pub, cafe and fish & chip shop, all within walking distance as was the beach.
So much to see and do very dog friendly too. Will definitely be back again! Thank you so much 😊

Stephen H.

Last day here at our second stay in Ships Timbers, and it was as good as we remembered. Charming little cottage, good, enclosed little garden for the dogs and only a few minutes walk from the beach and town. Staircase as challenging as ever but we’re in our 70s and manage them ok. Great value accommodation in a charming seaside village.

Jayne T.

We've just stayed at Periwinkle Cottage and it was amazing. Family memories, lovely comfort and everything provided for. Fisherman Returns nearly opposite BUT no noise, do lovely meals. We had a fantastic time and would definitely book again. Communication was brilliant and Peter couldn't do enough for us.

Chris G.

We stayed at Sea Clef a lovely comfortable bungalow looking out over the dunes. Homely feel and the dogs enjoyed the garden and the beach walks. Winterton's staff were friendly and helpful shout out to Georgina for having to respond to my various questions on the area.

Tula T.

We have been lucky to stay in a number of the cottages offered by Winterton Cottages and they have all been fabulous. Ranged from just 2 of us, to a family group of 8 plus 2 dogs. Website is easy to use to browse and search, with lots of photos of the accommodation and I’m loving the new floor plans on some of the descriptions. They are quick to answer any questions around bookings and recently helped with a number of recommendations when I was booking for a special anniversary, which is just one of the benefits of it being a company based in the village.

Lisa M.

We have booked twice with Winterton cottages, first booking was in May at Church Farm, fantastic experience. Second booking at Evas Lookout, not so impressed. We booked the lovely upside down house, but as beautiful as the location was we had a few issues, there is no toilet on the first floor.
the water pressure in the kitchen was awful, the water literally dribbled out of the tap.
There is no privacy screen on the window in the family bathroom, so anyone in the garden can see you naked having a shower!
door handles were loose and coming off, we had an unexplained power cut, one evening at the property, no other properties in the road were affected,
hot water for 8 people was limited and we run out of hot water for 24hrs,
the tv in bedroom 4 is not a tv! Its a screen to use with a dvd player or games station. And is still being advertised as a tv!
Rachel said she was unaware of this, and its never been an issue in all the 6years of managing the property!

Rachel basically made us feel unwanted and that we were a burden, her answers to our issues were:
‘We had a difficult handover from the previous tenant’ & ‘well, you could always leave early’,
rather than apologising and appearing remorseful.
We are not unreasonable people, we understand that wear and tear on high traffic holiday lets is bound to happen. We completely understand, but It was the passive aggressive attitude from Rachel & to this date no apologies at all !
Still waiting for our deposit refund !!!!!!
Stayed 12-19th August 2022