Marsdens Devon Cottages Reviews 297

Lovely clean and spacious property, ideal for our family of four and pet Labrador. High spec equipment, comfortable beds, attractive furnishings, friendly neighbours and helpful housekeeper! Thoughtful welcome pack. Beautiful location, ideal for walks with stunning views. Great chippy which also serves fresh seafood!
Woolacombe is a 25 minute walk (downhill, a bit longer on the way back up!) and Ilfracombe a short drive away - useful for the large Tesco with ATM cash point - not everywhere takes card!! We thoroughly enjoyed our stay, would definitely recommend and will hopefully be back!

Absolutely wonderful, everything you need, location and accommodation, and the views are spectacular

Great cottage by the beach. Clean, newly renovated. Good service by Marsdens.

Stayed at Beechcroft cottage in Dartmouth. I'm not sure who is fault, the owner or the company but someone really should take responsibility for the appaling condition of the accomodation. If I had taken the time to look for reviews I would never have booked to stay here. Neither the website nor the Cottage enable reviews to be left but my goodness its shocking! When booking you think great, a large property that is pet friendly in a fabulous location. The cost of staying for 1 week during peak season is fairly high and I honestly expected to be staying in a high standard cottage. Upon arrival there is more than 2 stairs which is stated in the details. A full flight of stairs then a lift which has seen better days followed by 2 steps down past all the rubbish. Upon arrival to the cottage it seemed that a guest in a neighbouring property was allowing her dog to wee right in the middle of the small courtyard. Apart from the smell we had to ensure we didn't walk through it whilst bringing our luggage down. I honestly believe that pet friendly holiday accomodation does not have to be filthy. Unfortunately this was the case here. Not only was the garden full of other dogs poos but the decking stank of wee.
Inside the property was not much better. The bedrooms were tired and dated, the carpet dirty. The blinds in the family room on the second floor did not work. In july you would want the windows open but they were all absolutely filthy! The bathrooms were vile, in the main bathroom the shower didn't work. (It would appear that was also reported 11 months ago!) The ensuite shower was so weak you couldn't wash long hair. The shower tray in the bathroom on the lower ground floor did not drain. Described as a walk in shower, you had to climb 2 steps 1st!! The bedrooms were not much better, The carpet was very old and filthy around the edges. Obvious water marks around the sinks and loos. The Kitchen was slightly better but we scrubbed it down 1st. The living room did have stunning views but the cushions on the sofas were filthy. All the balcony's/ decking just had wooden furniture dumped and stacked up. There was absolutely no effort to make the outside space appealing and the garden itself was overgrown and covered in dog poo. There was even a pile of left behind used poo bags!!
I honestly wished we had never booked to stay here. It is old, tired, filthy and very very disappointing. I'm don't think I can emphasise enough how horrid the interior of this house is.
I would recommend that no one ever stays here until the owner spends time and money making it habitable and somewhere that people actually enjoy staying for their holidays!

This property is excellent. Couldn't get closer the beach! It's homely and modern with every bit of cutlery and crockery you need. Very clean and inviting, it was just the perfect place to stay during the recent heatwave. The beach is easily reached via the slipway literally next to the house, and if you're able, a quick amble over a few rocks will put you straight onto the sand. (Depends on tides though). As it was extremely hot, we took advantage of the patio area and the sun loungers and parasol supplied and just relaxed, listening to the waves and the sounds of the beach feeling part of it. Able to go body boarding and swimming to cool down and straight back to the house without messing around on the sand. Fantastic house if you love the beach and Croyde has everything to make a holiday.
Would have rebooked but we shall be taking our dog next time and unfortunately Spindrift, and Croyde beach in the Summer, doesn't accept dogs.

Are they at it again? This year a holiday apartment I stayed in at the end of April start of May 2022 was priced at £828/week Next year, 2023, the exact same apartment, same week, is advertised at £1027 - a whopping 24% increase!
Is that 'price gouging' or what? I know inflation has taken off and we're in the middle of a 'cost of living' crisis, but a 24% is, it seems to me, totally unfair and excessive.
This company is part of 'The Original Cottages' group, so I suggest people keep a close eye on all their associated group prices for the future - they did not come well out of the pandemic due to their shocking behaviour at the start of it and now it looks as if they may be aiming to recoup 'lost profits' in double quick time!
Sort out the airports and Spain/Greece here we come for 2023!

Great place
Basically furnished but good location and nice gardens

Great location, Great property. Great views. Clean and well equipped. The real bonus is the totally enclosed garden (great for kids and dogs). Golf club next door allows visitors to use bar etc.

Thoroughly enjoyed the holiday, would go again but next time for 2 weeks rather than 1.

Not happy with the condition of the property, e mailed marsden who said owners responsibility! No where offered to post reviews . 20 pound non returnable deposit added ! What’s that got then ?
Rubbish company , read the reviews before you use this company !

Lovely central for Braunton and parking a bonus

Excellent cottage for a family holiday in Combe Martin. Very close to the beach and the restaurants/pubs and there are hill walks right from the doorstep. Cottage is comfortable and has an excellent garden that is not overlooked and is a sun trap

Booking through Marsdens was very efficient and overall we were made to feel happy and excited for our holiday. On the day of our arrival, to reach The Lodge, Woody Bay there was quite a nerve racking drive down a very steep winding single track lane, the signage to the Lodge was not very clear. We drove in and out of the grounds of Martinhoe Manor, where The Lodge is situated then eventually saw the caretaker, who showed us where to park. By the end of the week we were thankful we didn’t have to navigate the steep hill anymore!
The place has a stunning view down to Woody Bay from the main house, which you have to walk past to get to the Lodge. Through the trees we were greeted by our own unique view, with a glimpse of the sea and the South Wales coast in the far distance. We found however that the outside space to the lodge didn’t get a lot of sunlight, even on the hottest days it was quite cool and shaded. Maybe needing one or two of the trees pruning to take advantage of the view. The lodge was very basic and quite dated with dark dingy decor and fittings. Carpeted in the lounge area and bedroom, we had to keep running the Henry over it due to bugs from the wooded area outside, ticks in particular were a huge problem, especially after walking through the grounds and flies everywhere made it awkward to have the windows and door open for long. This then caused the lodge to smell as the hoover had not been emptied for weeks and was full of previous guests dust.
We have stayed in many holiday lets and understand the inventory is based on the property grading, but the Lodge has to be the worse for what’s included. No thoughtful extras that help when you are self catering, and although towels are included, don’t expect luxury.
We were told by the caretaker feel free to explore the extensive grounds which we did but were disappointed to find very overgrown and dangerously unmanaged areas that needed warning signs, with overgrown paths and uneven steps and rusty/rotting seating areas and benches.
The pictures of the grounds online are completely different from how it is today, we even found what we thought was a stunning outdoor swimming pool, but on closer inspection realised it had not been used for some time, a large branch was taking up one side of it and the green swamp water was only fit for frogs.
We made the mistake of not including our two small dogs in the initial booking, as we had originally planned to leave them at home with our daughter, but ended up taking them on a last minute change of plan. Half way through our stay we received rather an abrupt and random text message, from an unknown number telling us we had been seen with two pets who they believed had not been paid for and we must leave £60 in the lodge or give it to the housekeeper Katy who we had not even met, the caretaker Dave or pay Marsdens £80! Not sure why the price changed from £60 to £80 either.
It felt like a ransom note shoved under the door… talk about making us feel uncomfortable. We left £60 in cash in the kitchen, the housekeeper/cleaner probably pocketed it, how would we even know!
Overall a lovely secluded spot in a stunning setting but frayed around the edges. We wouldn’t stay here again and would definitely not recommend the accommodation.

Beautiful property, really well equipped. Dog friendly. Great for us as we have family in the village. Vera our dog loved be close to the beach at Saunton

A lovely raised ground level apartment with the best sea views from the charming little balcony.
Apartment was spacious and well appointed. Large atrium with glass roof over open plan lounge and kitchen - glass does need a proper clean though. Bedrooms and bathroom all spacious with lots of storage. Fine for dogs but balcony and side garden not secure. Lovely gardens in front of property and 1min walk to Lynton with it's array of eateries, coffee shops, pub etc. and walk down to pretty Lynmouth is wonderful. Make sure you ride back up on the funicular - great fun but a little dear at £3.30 single trip but try it once for the experience.
Little bits and pieces needed attention in the apartment and have mentioned on a previous review. If Marsdens Cottages addresses these then I would give full marks.
Great location for exploring North Devon and locally there's the most wonderful walks including the 'Valley of the Rocks' walk along the coastal path only 30mins from the apartment - mainly level walking with stunning vistas.

We have been booking our holiday through Marsdens for 12 years now.

They have a good range of properties available and are well maintained with high cleanliness standards

The service is fantastic and whenever we have had queries or a problem, it has been dealt with and sorted immediately

I would highly recommend them

Booked with Marsdens on several occasions and never been disappointed with the service received. Properties have always been described accurately, booking on their website was straightforward and their customer service was excellent - had several queries/requests prior to our recent family holiday and all were answered/resolved quickly - normally within a few hours. Marsdens will continue to be our first port of call when booking a holiday.

No problem at any stage, easy booking and payment process.
Accommodation and location exactly as stated on website.

Friendly prompt service who kept us informed every step of the way. Would not hesitate to use Marsdens Devon Cottages again

Excellent customer service. The apartment had everything you need with fantastic views towards the sea and hills. Location is a 10 minute walk from the sea and also close to local shops and pubs/restaurants. Provision of an additional key for the front door and apartment would be useful. We had an excellent holiday. Thank you.