Alveton, Farley Near Alton Towers

Stayed here with my family during august 2020 and looking at previous reviews will take your money but not improve the property at all. All the issues listed in other comments were exactly as described during our visit. I feel 3 star is very generous for this property and will not return, i would advise anyone planning to stay here to look elsewhere.

We have just came back from this trip as a group of 8. We were told to arrive later and leave earlier as the cottage must be deep cleaned due to COVID.... I do not believe this cottage was deep cleaned prior to our arrival, something which I don't believe is allowed to happen under the current circumstances and I think all bookings should be cancelled until the owners comply with the current government advice. The benches and tables were sticky and upon looking under the sofa and cushions it was covered in dust and crumbs from previous visitors. There were also cobwebs in most rooms once we looked. Other issues: Tv didn't work in bedroom downstairs 3 No frying pan All showers leaked horrendously. My daughter came into the bathroom looking for me whist I was showering and slipped landing on her back (no major injury thankfully) The bed downstairs was very well worn... we called it the banana bed The sofa is so old and worn there is no leather left on the arms... we sat on blankets The patio door is a struggle to open and once you do the handle falls off (this has also been mentioned on previous reviews) There was a storm during our stay. When coming into the garden the fence pole fell over narrowly hitting children on it descent.Upon looking at it it had clearly fallen before and was stuck back up with sealant... Not all of the bedroom doors close The owner doesn't seem to reply to any complaints so thought it was best to warn others as we originally filtered our search for a property by looking at trip advisor scores of over 4 stars.... something this property is not

“Disappointingly misleading description of Stylish, spacious, quality accommodation. Would be much more suited to 7; needs some TLC, attention to detail and a good clean. Whilst the Wifi issue I detail below is hopefully unlikely to affect others, I think it only fair to mention the response of the owner when I emailed to ask her to consider a small compensatory refund and to give feedback on the property (price of property is now halved and on sale which feels more of an insult). I received no reply at all from my email or follow up text. The owner didn’t even do me the courtesy of sending an apology or acknowledging our feedback. It felt very much like she had my money and was not interested if there were any issues with the accommodation or if we’d enjoyed our stay. The Wifi was down for our entire stay. Obviously this wasn’t the owners fault however in an area with extremely limited mobile signal this significantly affected our time away. After trying to get the Wifi up and running the owners last contact with us was a short line to tell us midway through our week, “they [BT] are sending a new hub which will arrive tomorrow”. No hub arrived, we let the owner know but she didn’t contact us again. We couldn’t book anything online (Alton Towers being more expensive on the door), look at places to go, at menu’s or book restaurants. This meant that for the week our 10 people party had to drive round in a 3 car convoy looking for signal to be able to discuss where we could eat or go. Although I recognise this is a first world problem it did significantly affect the enjoyment of our holiday. I would challenge the description of this property as Stylish, spacious, quality accommodation as this was disappointingly misleading. • The doors of 2 of the bedrooms upstairs do not shut, limiting privacy. • There is no mirror in the downstairs bedroom (small point but links into quality). • The blinds on the dorma windows don’t block out any light so they don’t seem to serve a purpose? Blackouts would be better especially as this would be the obvious choice for a children’s room . • A double and single bed are camp-bed style and not very comfortable. The 2 people sharing the double roll into the middle all night and end up squashed together. • Only 2 out of 4 bedrooms have wardrobes to hang clothes and the 2 wardrobes provided are so short I couldn’t hang a knee length dress without it gathering on the floor. It should be standard in all rooms to have an adult size wardrobe and a few drawers. • The sofa and table would benefit from rubber feet as the slightest movement and they slide all over. • There are only 7 mugs so not everyone could have a hot drink at the same time. • General cleanliness was lacking throughout (cobwebs in many windows and dust on ornaments) but the worst was the kitchen, I had to wash up a lot of the pots and pans before we could use them. • The size of the dishwasher meant that we ended up having to wash up after meals because we couldn’t fit much in; this is not a dishwasher for 10 people. As there was no drainer we couldn’t leave pots to dry, resulting in meal times being more work than they needed to be. • The dinner table does just fit 10 people round but is a squeeze (there’s no leg or elbow room and once those at the end are seated they are there for the duration of the meal otherwise everyone has to get out to let them out) • It was pointed out in a September 2018 review that there are no doors in the fridge, there still aren’t so there’s nowhere to put open bottles. The fridge itself was just too small for 10 people and half of it is freezer, when it would make more sense to have more fridge than freezer. (Though I recognise this is personal preference and may not apply to everyone). • Space to hang wet towels for 10 people is very limited and there is nowhere to put wet coats, clothes or shoes when you come in from the rain, we had to make a makeshift clothes dryer out of the fireguard. A few more hooks on the back of doors and a foldaway clothes dryer would help. Overall we thought Alveton just wasn’t ‘spacious’ or designed for 10 people and had extremely limited storage for that many people. When compared to other properties we’ve stayed in it simply wasn’t value for money. I’d give the accommodation 3.5 out of 5 if it was a maximum of 7 people and given a good clean, unfortunately I’d only give the owner 1 out of 5 for her lack of interest in improving her property or caring if the occupants had a pleasant experience.”

An exceptional property, had an amazing weekend.

Stayed here for a bank holiday weekend with group of friends, cottage was nice and we enjoyed our weekend stay. My only area for improvement are that there was no coal or firefighters for BBQ, no extra wood for fire which was main heat source for cottage, and not enough toilet roll or dishwasher tablets. I would of expected these at least as essentials for the price paid and for ten people you would expect there to be enough of these essentials. I expected to bring everything else but not all this aswel. We ended up spending extra and getting all these things from local shop. As I said nice cottage but suggest these improvements for others.

We found our overall experience in this cottage to be excellent. The accommodation is very well laid out, spotlessly clean & tidy and a nice size throughout. It is perfectly situated for Countryside walks and Alton Towers is only a few minutes away. Our only very small gripe was that without the open fire in the living area going, the one storage heater in the room was not adequate to heat the room fully.

Exceptional cottage, all the mod cons and great owners . Would highly recommend this accommodation!

The location is perfect for Alton Towers. There really is no where else that comes close. That said, we found the property to be a very quiet and peaceful haven in the countryside and never had any issues with noise or disturbance. It was also generally well placed for access to a lot of other attractions and we made the most of this.

The cottage itself was perfect, really nice bedrooms, a lovely open plan kitchen and living room and all the amenities you could need. The views of the surrounding countryside were lovely and despite the closeness to Alton Towers there was no noise.

Good homely space and worked well for our group. Nice furnishings and décor. Excellent bathrooms. Appreciated the DVD collection. Overall we really liked the property.

Met by Sarah at the cottage she was lovely and very helpful. Cottage was lovely ideal for the 6 adults and 2 children who stayed. Lovely coal fire which in fact was so hot we had to let it go out. Anyone wanting to go to alton towers it was a 5 minute walk from the house so didn't need to queue for parking. Nice pubs near by but also had compact kitchen which was excellent for making meals as well . Whole family enjoyed stay and would definitely go back again . Gill Durham

A lovely cottage, within walking distance of alton Towers for 4 20+ year-olds. We had a lovely relaxing weekend while they were all out! Very comfortable, well-appointed and equipped. A great place to tour from (for us) and lovely local pubs serving great food and real ales.

We had a really enjoyable weekend and the property was amazing and just topped of our holiday nicely.

The location was excellent and we would stay again - we hadn't realised that the area around the property was so beautiful. Was pleased to see that the owners had supplied some milk and biscuits and a few tea bags.

The cottage is in an excellent location as we were visiting Alton Towers - this is just a 2 minute walk from the park. The house is a fantastic size, and I would definitely book this property again.

We thought the house was outstanding, and the distance to Alton Towers was understated - it really could not be closer.

A fantastic holiday in a peaceful environment. We had a very relaxing time. Five stars.

The cottage itself was beautiful and very well put together. The garden area was lovely and the barbecue was easy to use. The walk into Alton Towers was fantastically easy. It really was a 5 minute stroll to the front gate, so we did not even need to queue for the monorail.

Good location for surrounding countryside, facilities and walks etc.

The location of the property was ideal for exploring the nearby attractions, with Alton towers on the doorstep. The cottage had a lovely rural feel and was of a very high standard.

The location was excellent. The owners had presented an excellent property and it was very clean and tidy. Perfect weekend, thank you.

An excellent property ideally situated for us to walk to the alton Towers Spa - about half an hour away. Very clean and modern. An excellent winter retreat. The outside space is shared or is a small fenced courtyard which might be a bit limiting in the summer months.

The cottage was one of the best of the many we have stayed in. Modern decor and good open plan layout. We walked to the spa at the Alton Towers Hotel, only 30 mins away.

Lovely and clean, modern but comfortable. Liked the fact that there were fresh flowers, pint of milk, biscuits for arrival - nice to think that you have been expected! Also fabulous that the open fire had all been set up for us. We loved sitting round it and enjoying a glass of wine. We are very keen to book again for next year. Please ensure the property owner gets this very positive feedback!