Southcroft

The owners clearly put a lot into looking after Southcroft, and the place was clean and well cared for. The service itself was above and beyond, and most of our stay was brilliant. The hill is worth bearing in mind if you don't have a car, and nesting seagulls were a bit of a nuisance. The owners mention the hill, though any guest who raises it as a negative seems to get a defensive reply. A few things in the room affected our sleep. The smoke alarm, positioned above the pillows, flashed about every 20 seconds. I agree guest safety matters, but moving it elsewhere on the ceiling or high on the wall behind the bed might avoid disturbing people. I also forgot to mention the glow-in-the-dark fire sign in my review until my girlfriend reminded me. That bothered us too, so after a poor first night we covered it or put something in front of it. I got the sense early on that the owners expect everything to be perfect and don't take kindly to criticism. They seem to call guests out for any negative comment. In one response to another guest, they said, 'you said different to our face and stood their saying everything was lovely'. Sometimes you just decide not to make an issue of something in person, especially if you feel a scene could get ugly. It feels like even a tiny flaw in a review makes you a target, which is a shame. I only just saw the owners' reply to my review, quite a while after my stay. Looking back, I can see my original wording could have been misunderstood, but calling me stupid and going off on a rant was the wrong way to handle it. The way they run the property is exceptional; their responses to guests who mention a problem aren't. I found that unprofessional, even though 95% of everything else was brilliant.