Quarrie House

The area is nice, with supermarkets nearby and easy access to the A1 for travelling around Northumberland. The living room is cosy too, with lovely lamps, and I'd have liked to sit and read there. But the floors are noisy and you can hear everything from the rooms above. The walls are thin as well, so bring earplugs. We wanted to leave early. Getting in on the first night was a mess. The sign said the front door was answered 24/7, but nobody answered the ring doorbell or our message. I eventually got in through a private entrance used by someone who lives there and has nothing to do with the house. We later found out the code was for a smart door handle, not the key box beside it. It was dark, and we hadn't realised the handle was smart. We weren't the only ones trying to get in. We also couldn't tell whether the keypad worked, as the dual front doors wouldn't close properly and opened when pulled. Even in daylight, the keypad was hard to see and read. The shared kitchen had several problems. My husband opened a cupboard and it broke off in his hand. I fixed it, then found out from another review that it had been like that for ages. It broke three more times while we were there. The cold tap kept coming off, and the bin was overflowing. We could see an outside bin but thought it belonged to a neighbour, so we texted and emailed the manager to ask where to put rubbish. No reply. The kitchen bin was eventually emptied halfway through our stay, without a liner. Someone had also left a toilet bin on the chopping board, which was disgusting. The tea towels were wet and dirty. We asked by text and email for clean ones, got no answer, and bought our own. The shower pressure was great, but the shower head wouldn't stay up on its pole. The bathroom light stopped working after a couple of days. More texts and emails got no answer, and calls went unanswered too. Showering in a windowless, pitch black room was dangerous because of the slipping risk. A caretaker came a couple of days later, couldn't fix it and said maintenance would come, but they never did. He gave us a lamp for using the loo, but an electric lamp wasn't safe to use while showering. The young caretaker and cleaner was lovely and apologised, though the manager hadn't passed the message on promptly. We left with the light still broken. The place was dirty, with marks on the walls I couldn't identify. The cigarette ash boxes outside were full from our first day through to the last. The caretaker was the only person we saw, despite being told someone lived on site. If something serious had happened, I don't think anyone would have responded. Management didn't get back in touch. The listing called it a b&b, but the small print explained it wasn't. I think it may have been one before, so at least that didn't come as a surprise. The rooms had no towels, but we did get some after asking; the kitchen cupboard incident aside, the towels arrived while we were out and had been left by the hallway fire extinguisher. We only got bath towels, no hand towels or washcloths. Bring your own washing up sponge, cutlery, tea towels or paper towels, and earplugs. The noise isn't the fault of other guests, but the thin walls mean you hear everything. The bathroom door frame had been replaced but never repainted, and the door caught on the carpet so it couldn't open fully. A bedside bulb was burnt out; I sent a photo and asked for towels, but the bulb never appeared. The room rug didn't look clean, even if it had been vacuumed, and the building's hallway and stair carpets looked worn. My husband thought the shower had mildew stains and didn't look clean. The water pressure wasn't great in the reviewer's account of that shower. The beds were cheap Ikea style, with plain foam mattresses about 3 or 4 inches thick over wooden slats. I slept poorly, checked underneath in the morning, and found broken slats. The mattress sagged and the adjoining slats dug into my back. Plywood would have been better. We could easily hear people in the next room. The entry hall was large and bare. The play area had a TV, loveseat, table lamp and football table, but felt cold and sterile. I didn't look in the kitchen. Outside, the grass was cut, but the yard looked neglected, the cigarette can overflowed onto the ground, and the driveway and path were cracked and uneven.