Crookedstone House

The bathroom itself was stunning, but it was in a separate room outside our bedroom. The room had nice period details, though there was no fridge, the TV didn't work, and flies were already inside. It was hot, but opening the windows brought in a shocking stench of dog mess, so we had to sleep in the smelly room instead. We barely slept, in short bursts of about ten minutes, because dogs kept barking and growling all night. From the back of the room we could see at least six dogs among piles of poo, barking at every little sound. The general areas smelled too. I understand it's a working farm, but that was hard to get past. We had trouble finding the property because the Google Maps coordinates were wrong, and there were no signs at the gate or house. Since it's been used as accommodation for years, I wasn't sure if I was trespassing. The landlady was pleasant and the location was good, but after paying £90 to listen to what felt like a badly tuned dog orchestra, I'd almost rather have slept at the airport. Avoid if you can.

My husband has a lung disease, and animal hair and dander affect his breathing, so before booking I emailed the owner to ask if the rooms were kept free of animals. She didn't reply. We'd stayed on farms before and enjoyed it, and we knew this was a working farm, so we weren't objecting to animals being there. We were just uncertain about whether the rooms would be okay for him. There was no sign, so we weren't sure we had the right address. An old car by the drive had two dogs inside. The front door was open, and debris blew in; a table with business cards reassured us we'd found the place. We called out and waited, then a lovely girl came down and chatted with us while we waited for the owner, Primrose. We immediately noticed a strong dog smell, and my husband was already feeling its effects. The downstairs also looked unkempt, which added to our concern. The girl kindly offered us a place outside in the fresh air. As it was before check-in, we decided to go for lunch, but even after that short time in the house my husband was having trouble breathing. We decided not to stay, and were also uneasy about food preparation because the areas we saw suggested low cleanliness standards. We explained the cancellation to Primrose by email and again got no response. We booked through Bookings.com and asked her to waive the fee. This time she quickly said no. We accepted that and told her she could treat the payment as a donation, perhaps toward a deep carpet clean. To be fair, we never saw the upstairs rooms, which might be lovely and free of smells, hair and dander.

We had a very pleasant stay and would book again. The house is beautiful, our room was clean and well furnished, and the big back garden and quiet surroundings were lovely. The landlady was accommodating and helpful when our flight delay meant arriving late. It's about a ten-minute cab ride to the airport.

Our expectations were already rock bottom by check-in, and somehow the experience still exceeded them. Maybe look at other options near the airport.