Happy Donkey Hill

We were seven families with kids, and there was loads of room for them to run around, plus a big playground. The farm animals included donkeys, llamas, sheep, chickens and emus. Faerdre Manor has nine lovely new bedrooms, seven with en suites, as well as two kitchens. There’s also a fireplace and a BBQ area. Kata was amazing at keeping in touch and got everything sorted within minutes. It’s about a 30 minute drive to Skanda Vale. We’d love to visit Faerdre again next year, and I’d highly recommend it.

We didn’t want to write this, but we have to respond because my father was wrongly named in the review below. On 5 January 2025, my parents rented the Happy Donkey Hill cottage for my father’s birthday. He asked the owners if my girlfriend and I could pop by for an hour or so to bring him a present. Kate initially thought we’d be staying overnight, but my father made clear we were only visiting. Andy agreed, as long as we didn’t stay the night. About 15 minutes after we arrived, Kate messaged my mother to say she wasn’t happy Andy had agreed to the visit and that we had to leave. We hadn’t even got our shoes on. Andy came to the door demanding that we go, saying he didn’t wear the trousers in the relationship and Kate’s word was final. My father asked if we could stay a little longer. Instead, Andy and Kate demanded that my parents leave immediately too. We were willing to go, but couldn’t understand why my parents had to leave just for having family over. My father has a heart condition and my mother is blind. They were made to leave in pouring rain despite having paid for the night, and were led to believe the police were being called. The messages show that the police were never called. We asked for a receipt so my parents could prove they’d paid in full for three nights if the police did turn up. We were told it would be brought out once we were in the car, but it never arrived, even when we went back to knock. Instead, someone sent a photo of an invoice from a computer over WhatsApp. It was disappointing and, honestly, shameful behaviour from Kate and Andy. They blocked us on Facebook when all my parents wanted was a paper copy of the invoice, since my mother had paid in cash, but apparently that was too hard. The invoice says the cottage is for four people and three dogs. So we hadn’t broken any rules or regulations, or their insurance, as they claim.

I’d left a mostly positive, high scoring 4/5 review on Airbnb after our stay, with some minor suggestions for improvement explained constructively. I also said we’d like to come back, which I see as a strong positive when reading reviews. I try to be fair and accurate for future travellers, and wouldn’t give a perfect score unless everything was 100% perfect. But the manager’s ridiculous overreaction, shown in the photos, changed my mind. I’ve revised my rating to 3/5 and certainly won’t return. The poor woman seems to be in the wrong line of work, and I genuinely feel for her. Still, anyone hoping to succeed in customer service can’t react that way to genuine, constructive feedback.

The house was clean and well equipped, with comfy beds, and the location was really lovely.