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Post Info TOPIC: Pet Friendly Cottages - A Warning
greyflintstone


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Pet Friendly Cottages - A Warning
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Hi all!


Well we are back after nearly 3 weeks away on holiday!  The washing machine has never stopped since we got back!  Ah, the joys eh?!


Anyway, I wanted to share with you all our experience of a "pet friendly" self catering cottage in the hope it might save somone else a lot of upset.


We had booked a cottage in Wiltshire - which specifically said it was pet friendly.  We travelled from Scarborough down to Wiltshire - a journey time of about 6 hours in really, really high temps.  There was just me, Chas and the 3 dogs (no kids !).


We arrived at the cottage - which was sited on a working dairy farm - met the owner and was told where we could walk the dogs, where everything was etc etc.  We got the dogs settled in, had a cuppa and then had to go to the supermarket for some basics.  We locked the dogs in the kitchen (as we do at home), asked the owner where to go and set off.  Less than an hour later we came back and the owner stopped us and informed us that we couldn't leave the dogs alone in the house!  She said it was one of her "things" (we hadn't been informed of this beforehand) and wasn't providing cheap boarding kennels for the dogs (at £300 a week, I don't consider this to be cheap!!).  When I said that we had only been shopping and what were we supposed to do with the dogs, she said (wait for it ..........) "Park under a tree and leave the windows open"!  You can imagine the scene can't you?!!  At that point I walked away as I was in danger of either thumping her or saying something I really shouldn't!!


We were both very, very upset! We had planned a couple of days out to local attractions, which would have been impossible if we had the dogs with us.  We were left with only a couple of choices - don't go anywhere and keep the dogs with us, travel back to my parents in Scarborough (but then we've lost the money we paid for the holiday) or put the dogs into kennels for a couple of days.  We ended up doing the latter.  It was very stressful for us all - but the dogs were brilliant.  I have to say a massive public thanks to Kitty who owned the kennels as she took the dogs as short notice.


Sorry this has rambled on but if you have a holiday booked and "pets are welcome by arrangement"  please, please, please check if you can leave the dogs in the house.  We found that we couldn't go out for a meal, for a picnic, a wander around the town - even for an hour.  Had we known this before we booked the holiday, we certainly would have chosen somewhere else.  Please don't let yourself get in this same situation - it's not pleasant, and doesn't make for a relaxing holiday!!


 


Sharon


x



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FAJ


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Gawd, Sharon, what a nightmare. It's certainly wise words to check precisely what "pet friendly" entails. Steve and I went away for a few days last year with Pearly to self-catering accommodation, which stipulated that pets were not to be left alone in the cabin. But we knew this upfront, so it wasn't a surprise. (Plus we'd only had her for a few months so we wouldn't have left her, but that's neither here nor there.)

What a crying shame that your holiday was ruined. It's their loss, cos no-one even remotely connected with GAL will ever go there!

Fiona

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bluesmumanddad


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How awful. If you booked the holiday via an agent perhaps you could ask them to add a note to the details stating dogs are not to be left alone so no one else is caught out like this.

We were very fortunate and booked a cottage in Ravenscar North yourkshire and the owner was full of admiration for us having a greyhound as was very into animal rights and didn't put any restrictions on us other than dogs were not aloud upstairs and this was clearly stated on the accomodation details before we booked. We are rather mean and Blue isn't aloud upstairs at home so this didn't bother us!

-- Edited by bluesmumanddad at 17:18, 2005-07-28

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Manda
skinnydugs


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Hi as me and pauline are not long back from our walk I have phone no's of some really pet friendly places. Ill get Glenda to post them on the gal website for all to see.


Esther



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Susan Ian and Erin


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Yes


This happened to us. After some discussion it transpired that the reason they had done this was that some not so good dog owners had left pets in the past and trashed the place. Owners had not cleaned up after dogs etc. Point being why do they then advertise as dog friendly and why are certain people allowed to keep dogs that then gives all our dogs a bad name.


Our holiday was fairly ruined as well and as you say did not prove as relaxing as it should have done!


Susan and co



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Carol


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I'm really sorry that you didn't enjoy your holiday and it is a shame that you didn't know in advance that you couldn't leave your dogs on their own.


Me, Iain and the dogs go to a wonderful cottage in Moray for our hols.  We're not allowed to leave the dogs on their own there either, but to be honest, we get up in the morning, have a big breakfast and that's us out for the day.  It suits us fine to have the dogs with us cos, to be honest we're pretty boring and enjoy tramping round the forests etc all day.


The really good thing about 'our' cottage in Moray is that although you're out in the sticks, you're only 10 mins away from 2 big towns (Elgin and Forres) where there are supermarkets and 5 mins away from a chippy and a Chinese takeaway in the nearest village.  This means that one of you can go off to the shops or to get food and the other one can stay in.


Also, if you want to do the touristy things, you can take your dogs to the fabulous castles and beaches that litter the Moray country.


Anyway, I suppose the point of my rambling is that if you fancy a trip to sunny Moray, get in touch and I'll give you the details for the cottage.


C



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Lesley


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If that cottage is advertised through a company you should definitely contact them and register a complaint.  It is ridiculous for them to say it is dog friendly and then say you can't leave them even for an hour or so while you do the shopping.


How very fortunate you were able to find a kennel close at hand who could take them at short notice.


We have been considering the idea of having a few days away with dogs, so I take note of your experience and will make full enquiries before we book anything.



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Christine Young


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Hi Sharon


What a shame your holiday was not as free of stress as it could have been! But really, it should have been made very clear on the owner's advert/literature and even while booking that 'pet friendly' means you can bring pets with you but you can't leave them alone in the cottage. There was no need either, for the cottage owner to be nasty about it in her speech about 'cheap boarding kennels'.


We were lucky when we booked Troustrie Guest House, Crail in the middle of March this year. Although it's B&B, well-behaved dogs are welcome and we were told when booking that although your dog(s) can sleep in your bedroom, they're not to be left alone in the room. That's fair enough when you're told at the outset what to expect. We were also lucky in that we could eat great lunches or dinners in the bar at the Golf Hotel in Crail and have the dog with us too. No one objected. And like Carol, we had our share of fish suppers from that award-winning place in Anstruther and eating them at the harbour with Vegas watching every mouthful!


Thanks for the warning - I'll certainly keep it in mind in future to check that 'pet friendly' means exactly what it says on the tin!


Christine


 



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