3 Glendowne Terrace

Reviews (10)

• Kim

  Once you locate the property you can’t park on (the very, very busy) Skipton Road so you have to find parking round the corner (somewhere on Electric Avenue) or in the alleyway at the back of the property (if you’re lucky). Once you find parking you have to walk around the front of the property to get in as the back gate is bolted and locked shut and once you do gain entry you can’t leave the property by the back door as the door doesn’t lock from the outside, so every time you want to go out or unload your car, you have to park, go around the front and then walk though the whole house to unlock the back door to unlock the gate to bring your cases etc in. It doesn’t start off well in relation to the parking, but around the front of the house the gate doesn’t open or close properly, the front path is covered in moss which is slippery when wet and the front garden is a mass of weeds (not like the pristine photo on the website), plus the windows are filthy and covered in spider-webs. Perhaps that’s why when you enter the property there is a sign indicating that you should take your shoes off. Bearing in mind at the front door you are offered a selection of used, dirty slippers and at the back door used flip-flops and sandals! On entering the property you find that the ‘plush’ lounge suite is covered in a throw (which you are instructed not to remove), but I doubt you’d be able to snuggle up as it is very uncomfortable and feels like it slopes forward. The kitchen also revealed a gas hob (not electric as advertised on the website) which is dirty and covered in baked on food, together with an aged oven and grill (which appear to have been the subject of a ‘deep clean’ (the agent’s words) by the owners after previous complaints). Not sure having looked inside I considered these to be clean, let alone the subject of a ‘deep clean’. Hence we didn’t use the hob, oven, grill or microwave due to their dirty condition. There is a washing machine, I did open it, but it smelled so we didn’t use it – but if we had there was nowhere to hang washing – no clothesline outside or airer inside. We didn’t use the hot tub (not our thing), but noting the comments from previous guests, am not sure I would want to anyway (but having said that we didn’t open it up so it could have been fine (noting that the water had been tested 2 days before our booking commenced)). Bearing in mind there is reference to the narrow tread on the stairs – going up is OK, but you need to be careful coming down as the stairs are quite steep and the narrow tread mean you have to come down almost sideways to be on the safe-side. Once upstairs, the ‘sleek’ bathroom isn’t very sleek – the sink taps are very dirty, the towel rails are covered in rust and dirt (the rust I could accept, but putting nice, clean towels over the dirty towel rails does rather defeat the object). The shower is poor at best, the water flow is dismal and the shower leaks when turned off (so much so that if you leave it in the holder the water drips sufficiently fast enough to splash and run along the side of the bath and onto the floor creating a slipping hazard, hence finding the shower head in the bath tub on our arrival), the shower curtain rail is rickety and wobbly, the venetian blinds are dirty and so is the window ledge and a “suspicious stain” on the toilet seat referred to by a previous guest also appears to still be there. The bed was fine, although the double room consisted of one chest of drawers which appeared to be of cheap construction (the bottom two were a bit dicey and stuck together when opened), two bedside drawers and a rickety hanging rail and coat hangers: the twin bedroom had what appeared to be a child-sized wardrobe in the room. We didn’t use the games room on the top floor – went up to have a look but it was airless and warm and the windows were covered in green moss. The ’Welcome’ info booklet referred to “helping yourself to the semi-skimmed milk, tea, coffee and sugar” – I couldn’t find one tea bag or one granule of coffee (but there was a couple of sachets of sugar) and the milk was long life, not semi-skimmed. Also there wasn’t any shower gel or shampoo (most places have at least small bottles of the basics) – so on arrival (from Australia in our case) not only can you not have a shower to freshen up, but you can’t even make a cuppa without doing a shop first! The whole place had a musty smell was full of labels directing guests to not do this/not to remove that/don’t touch this – down to a sticker that advised of various games above a basket which contained (you guessed it) various games. I did complain to the agents about the state of the property (and sent photos as they requested) and asked for my booking to be cancelled and receive a pro-rata refund and although the agents assured me they had passed on my comments, photos and request on to the owners, and that the owner had to be given an opportunity to rectify any issues I raised, the agents advised they had failed to hear back from the owners. (Seems to me the owners were prepared to wait it out until my booking ended rather than try to do anything to rectify/respond to the issues I raised.) If I were the agent I would drop this property from my portfolio for fear of being sued for false advertising or else ask the owners to provide current, up to date photos and descriptive information. I don’t think the current state of the property is accurately reflected in the description on the agent’s website nor do the photos accurately reflect the quality of the fittings for the price being charged in the rental (which is quite pricey: you might want to consider staying at the Travel Lodge in West Park, which is cheaper per night and includes a buffet/cooked breakfast (and is also closer to the centre of Harrogate than the property)). My advice – don’t waste your hard-earned money, there are better places to stay for what this owner is expecting you to pay for a dirty, smelly property with cheap fixtures and fittings.

• Jennie

  The photographs need updating to reflect the property as it is now. The whole house would benefit from a good deep clean both inside and out. The house does not have any kerb appeal. It looked rundown from outside, slippy path, weeds and overgrown tree and dirty windows and windowsill. Lots of signs around the house saying do not use, do not remove etc. What we found rather off putting was used slippers and used flip flops at the front and back door. The outer back door didn't lock. The property was grubby. The kitchen cooker hood was very greasy, not enough pots, pans or utensils to cook a dinner. The cups were dirty inside which put us off from making hot drinks and cooking in the property so we ended up eating out each evening. What was a nice gesture was the water bottles and the milk left for us in the fridge. That was nice but we didn't use the milk because we didn't want to use the pots. The bathroom was grubby, Shower was disappointing with no pressure just a trickle which constantly dripped when turned off. A wobbly hoop holding the shower curtain over the bath wasn't great either. Luckily we were out all day at the Great Yorkshire Show so just used the house for somewhere to sleep. We slept well, the beds were comfy and we were warm, didn't have to use the fire or the heating so I can't comment on them. The tv was useless, no Freeview tv. You had to have an app to watch iplayer or itvx but couldn't just watch Freeview. We didn't want to use the hot tub because of how grubby the house was and reading some of the comments in the guest book said it smelt so we gave that a miss. A shame because it could be made a really nice house if it was looked after. Glad it was just a base for us at night and not a holiday home.

• Yvonne

  For us this was the perfect location for exploring the area as it meant not always needing to use the car to get around. The number 4 bus runs hourly into Harrogate bus station and is just a few steps away. Be aware that for the return journey some busses on the number 6 route change to the number 4 at the bus station so check the timetable as the display only shows times for the number 6. The weather was perfect all week, the back garden is a sun trap. If we visit this area of Yorkshire in the future this property is one to keep in mind.