“Fantastic location - tired house”
Booked almost 12 months in advance for this large town house only 1-2 minutes walk from the main square.
The location is great, to the end of the road are a few restaurants (Thai / Chinese / Indian) and also a couple of take away places. A further 30 seconds to the left is the main market square with many pubs, cafes and shops. To the right side of the road down the main street is a very conveniently located Coop, Booths was also very close by but we never had the need to use it.
Although no parking restrictions on the street itself, finding a space is extremely difficult. The house does come with a single space at the rear of the property but is only big enough for a small car at best. My short wheel base Land Rover Defender just fit on. If you don't need to use the back door, you will gain about another 1 foot of parking space......the back door opens outwardly.
If the house is rented for a large group and you arrive in more than one car, you might have a few problems. We did find though that later in the day / early evening, some spaces did become available but you have to be ready to get in them quick. Should you need parking during the day while you intend to wait for a space, the Football ground offer full day parking for only £3 and access from there is easy through the park and over the footbridge rather than having to walk all the way around.
The first problem we had was with the keys, none seemed to work very well and at first we thought we had been given the wrong keys. A simple maintenance job was required......a bit of oil in the mechanism worked a treat and no more problems were encountered with the door.....but why couldn't the management company take care of this??
The house itself was very spacious but we all thought it was tired and needed a good refurb. The 2 double beds were uncomfortable for both couples although I realise not everybody has the same type of bed. The double bed in the rear room was held up in the middle by a small table. The double bed in the front room definitely sags to the middle.
No complaints from the younger generation that stayed in the two top rooms in the single beds.
There is a small notice at the foot of the stairs which states dogs not allowed upstairs but in the front first floor bedroom, there was clear evidence of a light coloured dog having been present. The cleaner must have been in a rush as the carpet didn't look very well hovered at all.
In the early hours of our last nights stay, we were woken several times but the radiators, air inside suggested they needed bleeding but at various times throughout the night, all I could do was get up and turn each radiator off as it made what only could be described as machine gun like noises.
None of the above spoiled the stay as we were out most of the time during our stay although if the radiator problem had occurred earlier on in the stay, that might be a bit different.
Plenty of easy and difficult walks can be started from the house with pubs close by too for a rewarding real ale once showered and changed.
We intend to stay in Keswick again for the next New Year but will not be renting this place again.
- walneybill, January 2015
