Norfolk Hideaways Avis 

We had lovely time at Toad Hall in Burnham Deepdale. Great position for beaches and sight seeing. The cottage was comfortable and generally well equipped. However, as always there were a few small issues. The kitchen knives were pretty blunt. There were no logs on arrival. There were no bags to put the dirty linen into which we were asked to do at the end of our stay and the shower tap in the upstairs bathroom was almost impossible to turn on. Surely the cleaner would be aware of such issues. Most cottages we have stayed in give a small welcome pack but nothing here. A great shame that these small details had no been dealt with.

We stayed at Manningham House at Ringstead near Hunstanton for a week beginning 9/9/23. My overall view was I was very disappointed. The pictures that I viewed on the Norfolk Hideways website are not a true reflection of the property itself. It's obvious that many of those pictures were taken some time ago. The pictures indicate a different landing and stair carpet to the one that is there now and there is a hedge in the garden which isn't there now. My biggest disappointment was the kitchen.In the pictures the table sits on a carpet there are cushions on the seats and the table didn't have a table cloth. In reality the table sits on no carpet there is plastic table cloth and the cushions are different. the chair cushions were heavily soiled with stains. Overall the kitchen was filthy. The kitchen utensils were on the window sill in a jug which was full of dead flies. The kitchen cupboards were filthy. It took us all of Sunday morning to clean the kitchen to a reasonable standard for our stay. The rugs in the bedrooms were filthy the sheets were grey and smelt of body odour. The couches in the two reception rooms were stained and dirty. On a positive note the bathrooms were clean and the hard floors were clean. This is a lovely house well designed and laid out. It has well designed kitchen units and some great features. In my opinion the place, especially the kitchen needs a good spring clean. the soft furnishings need to be cleaned. When people like my self view a property on line that is what they expect to see when they open the door. Norfolk Hideways need to view the property in line with the pictures that they have on line and they will see the difference.

Recently stayed at Bosky House in South Creake. Great property and perfect for our family. On our first evening there we discovered that we had no hot water and the downstairs lights kept tripping every few seconds. I contacted the emergency number who assured us they would have someone out the next morning.
We went to the beach on the Saturday and I received a call to say the connection between the boiler and the digital system had broken but had now been fixed and it was all working. They had also called out an electrician who had resolved the tripping issue. On our return, everything indeed had been sorted and worked well for the rest of our stay. I then received a follow-up call on Monday to check everything was still working. Excellent customer service and we would happily use Norfolk Hideaways again.

We booked ‘Keepers Cottage’ Docking with Norfolk Hideaways for a 4-night break to celebrate a family birthday with our young twins and small dog.

On arrival there were spiders and cobwebs in every corner of each room (ceiling and floor), which we assume housekeeping must not consider worthy of cleaning up, but we just quickly resolved with the hoover which we also ran across the floors because they were generally dirty. The main problem however appeared (or crawled out!) early on the first evening when we noticed a large beetle in the kitchen, then another, then many more appearing in every ground floor room. We caught and "dealt" with the first 15-20 before realising it was a never-ending endeavour, every time we entered into a room having been away for 2 mins there were 3-4 new beetles, and even whilst sat in a room they kept coming out of crevices. It was uncomfortable sitting there with them crawling around our feet, and around our small children and dog, so we gave up and went upstairs to bed and emailed Norfolk Hideaways with photos explaining the issue.

The support team phoned the next morning and told us that the beetles were harmless, and offered the services of their "genius" pest control guy, who could come to the property to “explain the beetles were harmless”. When pressed that the issue was more widespread than a ‘few beetles’ and we were very uncomfortable and could not have our children on the floor, had to have every belonging off the ground, and could only be away from the beetles if we were upstairs, which was ruining our short break, we asked for a partial refund so we could return home.

Norfolk Hideaways said they would contact the owner and let us know. We were informed the owners were in France (no doubt enjoying their holiday!) and had refused to refund any money but would agree for pest control to attend the property and spray the house. We explained that this was not an outcome that we felt we should have to deal with on a 4-night stay and we did not want our family or belongings subject to fumes.

Norfolk Hideaways went back to the owner, and after sometime we received an email stating that the owner had said:

“We’ve decided not to issue the refund. It is a farm in Norfolk so bugs are common. Please apologise to the guests but this is our final decision.”

There was zero mention of the property being on a farm or part of a farm when we booked, and frankly just because a house is on, or near to a farm does not make it acceptable that it is overrun with pests! This property is just not well maintained, it’s dirty and shabby and unsealed. Some pretty cheap sealant around the doors and stairs would go a long way to solving this. It really is not suitable for a holiday in its current state.

We phoned Norfolk Hideaways again, to appeal to them, but they proceeded to say that there is a clear statement within their own contract on this issue:

"LOCATION...In rural areas, insects and other creatures are fairly common and not necessarily an indication of poor housekeeping standards. Whilst preventative action is always taken by the Property Owners, these creatures can never be eradicated completely."

We were made to feel unreasonable for not wanting to be in a property that underwent pest control. We even said to the lady we spoke to, that we understand it was entirely possible that this was a ‘time of the year’ problem but that anyone would feel exactly the same if they were on a short break. Unfortunately, the discussion was to no avail and we had to abort what should have been a lovely break early, losing our money, time and the holiday booked from work.

We have booked with Norfolk Hideaways before, on a number of occasions but from this experience we have learnt that their business model is that if there is a problem you will be reminded the contract is not with Norfolk Hideaways, but is in fact directly with the property owner, and so if that owner decides to be unreasonable Norfolk Hideaways cannot / will not do anything.

As well as the contract we have since been told by email that Norfolk Hideaways are disappointed that they “did not get an opportunity to resolve the matter for us” and that it has to be resolved whilst we are there, but no-one goes on a short break, a very costly short break, expecting to have to pest control suggested, so that was not a viable or reasonable solution.

A thoroughly disappointing experience, do not book this cottage, these owners will not accept any level of reasonable complaint or work with you to resolve it. We would really question why Norfolk Hideaways choose to work with Owners like this.

Note - please do not mix up this cottage with other Cottages of the same name on the website in other parts of Norfolk. This property is located near Docking.

Booked this cottage thru Norfolkhideaways, easy enough. However on arrival found stained cups & cutlery...multiple chipped plates & bowls.
On departure found car, which had not been moved throughout our stay had been keyed, despite it being parked in a considerate position, in location advised on arrival instructions. I am now incurring a repair cost of £250.
Norfolkhideaways simply claim no responsibility. First & last time we will use both them & this cottage. MY ADVISE IS BE VERY AWARE BEFORE BOOKING THIS COTTAGE!

How are you still in business? You have been slammed so many times your Trustpilot reviews are beyond comprehension...bad. It took us 2 years to get back our deposit during lockdown. All you townies, STOP and I mean STOP using them, I live in the neighbouring county of Suffolk, and believe me there are more reputable companies you can use to book your Norfolk break. If it wasn't for the Londoners who know no better, you'd be out of business along with your disreputable landlords.
Thornham in Norfolk is nothing but rental cottages, it used to be a thriving village.

Hi
I had and my family had stayed at three properties previously with Norfolk Hideaways and they had been excellent .
BUT this time we stayed at MONTGOMERY cottage Docking and the standard of the cottage was very poor .I had read the reviews online at Norfolk Hideaways and they bore no resemblance to the cottage we stayed in .
I checked on
Trip advisor and there were several reviews that also shared our concerns .
So sadly we will not be using them again as they did not provide us with any assurances we would not experience this poor quality in the future .
We are a large family and network of friends and unfortunately they will lose a great deal of business .

The good points - plenty of light. Woodburner works well. Kitchen modern with good appliances - no tumble dryer. Heaters work well and provide plenty of heat. Shower works well. Nice little garden.

The not so good points - on a very busy road so need to take care coming in and going out especially with young children or the elderly. No tumble dryer so in cold wet weather you would be stuck with wet laundry. If you have a small dog the gate is not secure - the dog could easily get through the railings in the gate. The bathroom is quite small and using the loo would be difficult if you were a big person.

The stairs are very steep. The bedrooms are quire small and the smaller of the two is especially so. The cottage is advertised for 4 - four is 2 too many. The bed in the bigger room is a double but not large - the sheets are synthetic and the duvet - also synthetic - barely covers the bed. If you open the window you are bombarded with noise from the traffic.
There is a trundle bed in the smaller bedroom.

The hot water comes on in the morning and the evening - but at neither time is there enough to have a bath with a comfortable level of water.

The rental is not cheap and for the price not value for money.

Booked a week long holiday, found we as a family could no longer make it. Cancelled months in advance, they kept the deposit which is 1/3 total price. Could easily have been relet, and no doubt will be. Outrageous there’s no even conditional return of deposit (ie returned if rebooked by another customer) when cancelled so far in advance. Use another company with better and more flexible terms. Cottage itself is nice but as they frequently say, they’re just a bookings and management service, so cottage nothing to do with them and still 1 star.

The property is in a stunning location, and has a wonderful view.

Unfortunately, these are not down to the owners or management company, and is really where the WOW factor ends. The property itself was poorly maintained (water pressure low, array of cookware inadequate (e.g. three saucepans for a six person property!!)), was in desperate need of redecorating (pleny of scuffs and scrapes on walls and skirting boards), badly cleaned (loads of cobwebs, spiders, dead light bulbs), and despite Norfolk Hideaways "encouraging" their owners to provider a welcome pack, we received a scourer, thimble of washing up liquid and three dishwasher tablets! could have been wonderful. But penny pinching meant it was far from it.

To be totally transparent, I have not mentioned two other issues, which were resolved satisfactorily at the time. Pre-stay we were advised of a delay in the cleaning on the first day, and as we explained we had kids who needed feeding before the new 6pm arrival time, they did agree to reimburse our out of pocket expenses. They also fixed an oven which broke during our stay, albeit it took 3 of the 7 days to resolve! They provided a table top oven which sufficed. Annoyingly, they did not apologise until I specifically stated that they had not said sorry, over a week after the broken oven. They have used this in other feedback to claim the apology and reimbursement were relating to the poor state of the property. But it wasn't. This is terrible customer service and the property was nowhere near the website pictures portrayed. I'd avoid both!

What a disappointment! My wife and I were very much in need of a relaxing long weekend; time to chill out and get away from the stresses and strains that we all seem to endure these days. My wife found the above referenced cottage on the Norfolk Hideaways website, so she booked it for us for 3 nights from Sat 18 June to Tues 21 June 2022. No 33 is actually three cottages in one (no 1, 2 & 3). We were in Cottage No 1. At this point, I would refer you to Norfolk Hideaways webpage advertising this cottage. One picture shows the front of the cottage and refers to it as the Front Elevation. My wife assumed the main coastal road was in front of the cottage; with a space to park the car in front of the cottage itself – my wife assumed the cottage was set back from the main road with a rear garden, which would have been acceptable to us. But no! The main coastal road actually runs to the left of this picture, right next to the end wall of the cottage and pass the garden fence you can see! It also passes the “garden/courtyard enclosed” (as per NH’s website). The parking space is indeed in front of the cottage but to access it is very dangerous, because you can’t just swing-in and park, you virtually have to do a third point turn in the middle of a busy road in order to actually park the car in your small allocated space. To make matters worse, this so-called parking space is actually on a slight bend, so unless you back-in to your parking space you have no line of sight of oncoming cars when backing out.
Regrettably, once you have backed-in to your parking space, you find the rear of the car is right up against a high hedge. The space itself is very short which leaves no room to open and underload the boot of the car. If you move the car forward to gain more working space, the car’s nose is dangerously close to the road, which as previously mentioned above, is on a slight bend. It all turns into a nightmare. Each cottage has one narrow parking space, thus there is very little room either side of the car to fully open the car doors when loading or unloading the car. Our parking space was right next to a line of about six wheelie bins (2 bins per cottage), so how the dustmen would have been able to access them without scratching the car goodness only knows. Obviously, the line of wheelie bins is just out of shot from Norfolk Hideaways’s picture of the Front Elevation!
Once inside the cottage the traffic noise is quite noticeable as vehicles pass by, even more so with the front and garden doors open in warm weather. Here we are by the sea to “take the air” and all we get is a lung full of dangerous carbon particulates, that is, exhaust pollution from vehicles passing by the cottage – not very healthy for asthma sufferers. Over and above the air pollution, one would also suffer from light pollution from the headlights shining into the bedroom at night.
I truly believe Norfolk Hideaways have, intentionally or unintentionally, totally failed to provide a meaningful and informative narrative on the actual location/positioning of the cottage in relation to the main coastal road, nor any mention of traffic noise inside and outside the cottage. They have provided on their website numerous “lovely” photos of the cottage itself, but of course no photo of the main end external wall of the cottage next to the main road, nor any picture of the parking space(s) and the line of wheelie bins. Traffic noise maybe not a problem for many people, but for us it is; regardless, the main road and traffic noise should have been mentioned in the description of the cottage, but will they do that in future….
Having realised that we had been misled by their website, I immediately telephoned Norfolk Hideaways and explained the problem and asked whether we could move to another vacant property, the first response of the lady at the other end of the line was “there will have to be a double charge”! Perhaps a more understanding response would have been on the lines of “oh dear, let us see what we can do to help you”. Needless to say, we got straight back into the car, with another three hour drive, all in the same day, in front of us to return home. To date, we have received no communication from Norfolk Hideaways. Another lesson learnt!

The Innings,Burnham Deepdale
We paid up front,got a confirmation stating 'you're all paid up' then get an email the next day asking for a further £25 for the dog, bad practice we thought.
We were looking forward to getting into the property. It was very cold and had been a long journey. On entering you are immediately met with a cold house ! It was quickly obvious that no one had used the property for quite a while.Most of the radiators had been turned off. The pre-arrival blurb states that they advise owners to provide a starter pack of logs/kindling for the log burner yet none were present. There was no starter pack or anything in the kitchen either, not even a pint of milk in the fridge ! We have always had something to make a drink on arrival elsewhere. There was a coffee machine but what pods does it take ?.
So off I went to the shops to logs,kindling and milk.I previously noticed a box of matches in the kitchen so went to use it to make a fire but it was empty ! so off the shops again for matches. The house finally got warm by bedtime. We then discovered that the water heater had been turned off ! so no showers for us. We discovered that the water heats up using economy 7 during the night which is extremely noisy even with bedroom doors closed. The bathroom extractor fan is also ridiculously noisy and must be faulty. This can’t be used if someone is trying to sleep. The conservatory is freezing and couldn’t be used, looks like the underfloor heating had been disconnected. The guttering above the patio doors has separated and therefore leaks onto your head. The garden has not had any attention since last year with filthy table and chairs. There is a general lack of cooking utensils
On a positive, the property is in a great location and cleanliness and furnishings were all to a very good standard. The owners really should stay in the property now and again to appreciates its issues and should not be so mean! Provide a welcome pack for what it costs, it means a lot. We wouldn’t use Norfolk Hideaways again. Its back to barefootretreats for us. They have it off to a tee, someone checks the property before you arrive and there’s a wonderful surprise welcome pack too.
And yes we did call Norfolk Hideaways twice about this on arrival but seemed to fall on deaf ears

Excellent company and i do not understand the negative reviews, I think some individuals must be having a bad day. I have stayed at several of their properties and have had to ring them over issues with the house. The last time was because the washing machine was broken and leaking water everywhere. A Plummer arrived within 15 mins and so did the house keeper. The women I spoke to at Norfolk Hideaways were very good and helpful and I have never found the staff anything other than kind and courteous. I genuinely think the holiday company is misrepresented by some of the reviews and In my experience it is an excellent company.

Booked Stone Cottage, Sharrington, Norfolk. Very tired property, certainly wouldn’t say the property had had any form of deep clean. You can hear the mice or rats (or some form of infestation) in the top bedroom in the eaves. Very off putting when you’re trying to sleep. Not great inside, the cottage is desperately in need of some love and attention. Grounds are nice. Will cut our stay short and go home to cleanliness and comfort.

Booked Sands cottage In snettersham. The property was filthy, the cesspit leaked and the owner was unwilling to sort, very disappointed. No offer of any compensation Spoke to Norfolk Hideaways who did nothing to rectify this. We book cottages 3 times a year. Steer well clear. Useless.

This is the 2nd holiday I have booked with Norfolk Hideaways . Unfortunately due to the pandemic the 2nd one had to be postponed and rearranged due to the pandemic . Personally I could not have asked for better service regarding rearrangement of this holiday . Whenever I have contacted them they are always helpful and fast with their responses . Both cottages have been lovely and matched their descriptions . It is probably difficult for them if the owners are organising their own cleaning . It is up to whoever is renting the property that week to raise any issues with the owner or Norfolk Hideaways whilst they have chance to do something about any problems . Thankfully I have no issues to complain about and any minor issues like a flickering bulb can be left on paper for the cleaners to pass onto the owner . Thank you very much

Just returned from 5 days at Toad Hall at Burnham Deepdale Norfolk. Very disappointed with the cleanliness of the place. Although this is an old property it hadn't been properly cleaned for quite some time. Dust everywhere, cooker a disgrace, extractor covered in grease. Poor quality bedding and stains on sheets and pillows. One pillow had no pillowcase on. Showers very small. Mirrors dirty as was the floors. Bulbs missing and no spare. Constant flickering lights in the dining room. Finally no recycling bins. Extremely disappointed 😞

Absolutely appalling Customer Service from Norfolk Hideaways. Think very carefully before booking with them.

My husband and I had booked a Norfolk Hideaway cottage for a walking holiday this September and on our 5th day there the weather was awful. We walked 15 miles in torrential rain and got back mid afternoon to the cottage, cold and wet through. We were looking forward to drying out and getting warm but were extremely disappointed to find that we could not get the central heating to work. The instruction manual provided said to just turn up the temperature control if you needed more heat but even though the room temperature was registering 15 degrees we could not get the heating to work.

As a last resort we thought we would use the gas "wood" burning stove in the living room only to find that there was a notice on the fireplace that said "Please do not turn on the stove, it is for decoration purposes only". No heat to be had anywhere in the house.

The following morning we rang Norfolk Holidays who told us that the heating is controlled remotely by the owner who not only controls the room temperature but they also control whether the heating is turned on or not!!

We take 3 UK holiday cottages every year and have yet to have this experience in any one of them. This cottage was supposedly 5 star but better heating facilities are available in Youth Hostels!!

We would never book a cottage without heating available when we need it. This cottage should amend its advertisement to say "Heating at the owner's discretion"

Today, in answer to my email complaint last week, I have received a shocking email reply from Lyndsey Webb, Head of Management Services at Norfolk Hideaways who says that they will not be doing anything at all about it. "Thankyou"!

So - when Norfolk Hideaways advertise properties with heating make sure that you can actually use it.

If they show flashy pictures of sitting rooms with wood burning stoves, make sure they work.

Better still - spend your money with more reputable firms. There are plenty out there!!

PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN BOOKING WITH THIS COMPANY
Took payment in full to ring back the same day to say we couldn't have the holiday we had paid for as someone else had booked it a minute before us and that there booking system had allowed that to happen.

Great location but the Myrtle Cottage was grubby, run down and ill equipped. The baby highchair and cot were both filthy and I had to clean both on arrival. No cot mattress provided. No clothes airer or pegs for the washing line. The straps on the highchair were covered in food and mould. The bathroom was clean but the mat was old and grubby, the mugs were stained, cutlery dirty. Kitchen floor was dirty Lino that looked 50years old. The cottage has so much potential but it felt cold and unloved. We drove past Norfolk Hideaway’s offices in Wells and saw their fancy fleet of branded Mini Coopers - it’s a shame they don’t use some of their money on cleaning and updating their cottages. The photos on the website are also very out of date and misleading. One big plus was having our own parking space though. We’ll definitely be returning to North Norfolk but will be avoiding Norfolk Hideaways!