Stepping Stones

We had a great time with our family in this lovely house .

Everyone enjoyed the games room, sauna and hot tub . Beautiful location with nice walks around overlooking a stream . However there are a few maintenance issues for example, loose door handle leading from kitchen to hall, large crack across the induction hob, cleanliness of shower head , broken picture in family room just left on chest of drawers , displays not working on gym equipment, football table not in working order and could do with new flights for the darts . Hot tub water was discoloured but after notifying owner this was rectified the following day. There was no welcome pack with instructions for care of the hot tub . However all that being said if these minor issues were rectified it would enhance this beautiful house even more . We would recommend it to large families as it’s well laid out and suited our group .

Absolutely lovely house, great for our families to share and loads for us to do.

We had a wonderful break thank you

We loved our stay at this property, which is brilliant for a group of 13-14.

The village is lovely, with just enough local amenities. The games room is great but our group feel it could be improved even further with a TV on the wall and a pool table rather than a snooker table, which would then allow for further seating. A couple of the bathrooms have some minor updates that would enhance the standard of finish.

No concerns with Sykes’.

The cottage we stayed in does need some maintenance and a bit of TLC. There was a broken blind in the top floor family room, broken door handle and shelf in main bathroom, and the gym equipment digital readouts didn’t all work.

The house fitted our needs perfectly.

It was warm, comfortable and well equipped (apart from a vegetable peeler!). A couple of door handles kept falling off, and the downstairs toilet door stuck a couple of times, but this all added to the character of the place. Thank you very much.

We enjoyed our stay.

The house was lovely and met our families needs. Beautiful location. The game room was very popular. Also plenty of use of the hot tub and sauna. All beds were comfortable. A couple of negative things, the bathroom in the cottage need alot of tlc, had to clean the shower head. Standard of cleanliness could of been alot better. Needs a deep clean, not just a change over clean. Shower room in attic bedroom leaked into the bedroom below. Also quite a few maintenance jobs need doing, ie handle comes off the door off the landing shower room.

Overall we had a nice stay.

I think the owners have become complacent, the imagoes on the listing don’t portray the property accurately. The property is tired and needs some attention. In the first morning I did contact the owners who were very responsive and sent a handyman very quickly, I had reported that the heater in the attic room was broken, the shower in the en-suite didn’t drain, the kettle needed to be condemned and that a number of door handles kept coming off. The property is lovely and quite old so this needs to be taken into consideration, however this doesn’t excuse paint needing to be touched up in many places and tired furnishings. The separate games room is great and nice and warm. The advert lists a sauna and a gym, both of these were not operational, the sauna had cables in it and the gym’s floor had been taken up so was not usable and unsafe. I didn’t see anyone come to treat the hot tub with chlorine whilst we were there, they may have done but I doubt it. We have been to many houses as this is an annual trip, it was disappointing, there was no welcome pack, or pack of information about the local area or how to use things in the house (if there was one we didn’t find it). The DVD player in the small living room didn’t work properly, Indiana Jones is in it on repeat but it doesn’t play. There are a few nails stickling out of floor boards which are dangerous to bare feet, definitely recommend wearing slippers. There was no kindling for the fire. I’m not sure how often Sykes Cottages visit the properties they are promoting but looking at this one I think it needs to be more often as this experience has not encouraged us to use Sykes again for our trip next year. It is also important that visitors report things that are wrong as I imagine most of the time it is the cleaners who see the houses, not the owners. I do not feel we have received value for money.

The house is great, location excellent, BUT.

..the house is tired, there were no instructions for anything, no guest book etc. Some of the appliances were not great, a broken fridge in the kitchen, a poor oven in the main kitchen small things which could be fixed/replaced relatively cheaply. The house has damp issues, it's an old house I get it, but it's not help with a poorly ventilated loft shower room...the sauna is great but needs some TLC, the hot tub is great but needs a canopy to keep some of the outside out....but in spite of all this it remains a good house....and leave on a positive the beds are the best I have slept in of any holiday rental

Stepping Stones is two properties merged into one, to make a larger venue, and has amazing facilities right in the heart of Catterick Village, so it's in a good location and right next door to the Bay Horse pub, and opposite the stream that flows through the centre.

The space and facilities look really good in the listing, as it has a games room with a bar in an adjacent building and also a sauna and gym (we did not use them) and also a hot tub in the garden (which we did use but one of us cut a foot on something sharp in the bottom of it causing it to bleed - so be careful!) The actual standard of maintenance of the property leaves much to be desired when compared to other properties we have stayed at through Sykes. We were a large family gathering of 11 adults and 3 babies. Whilst we were there we noticed a few things that needed to be addressed. On the first morning whilst having a relatively short shower in the main bathroom, the water overflowed the shower tray and caused a flood on the bathroom floor, which ended up seeping through to the kitchen ceiling. This was obviously not a new problem as there was evidence of previous leakages in the same place (cracks in the ceiling). When trying to contact the owner to inform him, (we had to call several times before he eventually answered his phone - and only after threatening to call Sykes directly) he was most upset that I was calling him at 8am on a Saturday morning, and he was quite rude saying "it was not his fault!" His attitude was far from helpful, and I was dumbfounded to receive an email from him shortly afterwards stating that my attitude in the call was unacceptable, and if I complained again with a similar tone he would ask us "to vacate his premises with immediate effect!" Fortunately, the handyman came round later the same morning to clear the drainage pipe that caused the shower blockage - but surely this should be cleaned regularly? For a property that supposedly caters for up to 14 there was a definite lack of enough glasses (only 2 wine glasses and 6 pint glasses in the whole house). The microwave oven is very small and I couldn't even fit my standard sized rice cooker in it. The frying pans need to be renewed, as the non-stick layers are peeling off so are not useable. In the utility room, the biggest fridge doors don't close properly - you can see the light inside from the outside of the doors, so food stored in there didn't last as long as it should have. (The handyman came round to measure up for a new fridge apparently - so they are at least addressing this!) The door handle to the downstairs toilet fell off and trapped one of our guests in there for several minutes - he had to call for help via his mobile phone to be released! I contacted the owner by text message to inform him of these niggles, but omitted to tell him about the toe nail clippings found under the bed in the main bedroom! Ugh! Would I stay at Stepping Stones again - erm NO!

This was our second visit to Stepping Stones.

The first time was 4 yrs ago. Enjoyed it then and enjoyed it this time too. Great location and a lovely friendly local pub nearby. Great to have the hot tub, gym and sauna. Accommodations great for up to 14 people.

This is a wonderful property set in a beautiful quaint village location with a lovely picturesque stream running in front of the property.

The bedrooms were very spacious and light and the beds and bed linen were particularly very comfortable. There were plenty of crockery, cutlery and glassware to cater for large groups and there was plenty of fridge space, although we did have a slight issue with the main fridge in that it wasn't working properly initially. The dishwasher was also not working at all the whole weekend which wasn't ideal given our group size was 12. The games room was great, the snooker table was excellent but the table football has seen better days and there were balloons and confetti left over from a previous gathering. The hot tub was a great addition and was used a few times over the weekend. There was private off road parking for four cars plus another couple of spaces directly out the front. The village pub is practically next door. Although the style and design of the house was very nice and sympathetic to the period property, I would say that it was a little tired in places but it is such a large property, it would be difficult in keeping it looking pristine. However, overall, it was ideal for our family get together.

We had a great weekend at the stepping stones.

A great place to stay and plenty for everyone to do of all ages. I just wish the check in time was a bit earlier and the check out time was a bit later as it’s a lot of money for 1 full day and night.

Absolutely brilliant weekend.

The property was all we could have wished for. Totally beautiful and practical for a weekend with the girls. Would 100% come back and recommended.

We were disappointed by Stepping Stones.

It's in a lovely location and is a big house but it seems to have fallen into a bit of disrepair. Some things that were broken or not working were: dishwasher (a handyman came to look at this while we were there but could not fix it), sauna (not working), gym equipment (only rowing machine worked properly, the electrics on the cross-trainer didn't work and there was a pedal missing from the bike), oven (seal broken so slow to cook things, particularly if not on top shelf), lots of the crockery was chipped, there were large nails sticking up out of the floor, the floorboards were completely broken in a couple of places meaning it was unsafe. I wouldn't say this is a safe place to go with small children - we had to do things like put a chair over sticking out nails and put blankets on the floors where the floorboards were broken to try to make it as safe as possible. The owner responded to my message about the dishwasher (see above) but not to a subsequent message I sent about some of the other things. And there weren't any instructions for anything, so we didn't know things like what day bin day was, what to do with the recycling, how to work the heating (it was cold in the main house a lot - one night I slept with a tracksuit on over my pyjamas). The price we paid led us to think this would be a luxury stay, and it really wasn't due to all the issues mentioned above. We feel really let down.

Lovely house with lots of character & plenty of space for 3 families.

The games room, hot tub & sauna added further space for people to hang out & interact. A few little niggles, no instructions provided for kitchen equipment, sauna etc, no oven gloves, not enough washing up liquid, dishwasher tablets etc. Overall though there were many more positives & we'd definitely recommend & go again ourselves

The property was found for us by Sykes, last minute, after our original choice had a drain issue.

Stepping stones is a beautiful old building and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay however it undoubtedly could do with a some maintenance and is a little tired in areas. The toilet in the shower room on the main landing may be leaking from the base, at it appeared to continuously have a small amount of water around it. Upon removing dinner plates from the cupboard on our first evening, they were found to be dirty with dried bits of food on them (had obviously been taken out of the dishwasher and not checked) we had to wash them all before using them. We couldn’t get the sauna to work as the control panel didn’t appear to work and there are no instructions available. Indeed there are no instructions/welcome pack in the property at all. The house however was warm and comfortable and a perfect size for our celebration, in a lovely location.

Thank you for a wonderful stay at Stepping Stones.

The house was everything we wanted and more! Clean throughout and very comfortable. Lots to do for a party of 14 in the house and all our needs were catered for! We would love to stay here again

Had a Great celebration of our Golden Wedding Anniversary with our children and grandchildren.

Didn’t recognise the negative assessments of this property. Very few niggles from us at all. Beautiful surroundings filled with flowers and a little stream near the front of the property which was enjoyed by the younger members of the family, paddling and tying to catch tiny fish in a bucket! Good facilities Hot Tub maintained daily and sauna and gym! Large dining table so family meals were together. John Peters

I had read other reviews and was very apprehensive about the standard of the property but was prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Unfortunately some of the facilities are still not working but you can now go in down stairs toilet without getting locked in as we fixed it ourselves.

This is our second visit to stepping stones, we booked our second visit as the layout of the cottage suits our family well.

However both the first and second visits identified that the house is in serious need of updating and repair. We were very disappointed that the sauna did not work and the sofa in the main living room is extremely uncomfortable and needs to be replaced. As well as this some of our group were locked in the downstairs toilet as the handle on this door was broken as were others throughout the house. I also found it extremely difficult to cook meals for a large group as the top oven would not heat. Also the house does really need a deep clean , lots of the group were not too happy about the amount of spider webs on the ceilings etc. On the plus side the beds are extremely comfortable and the towels and bedding were of good quality. We loved the games room however the dart board was broken as well as the table football and were unusable it was just as well we brought our own snooker cues as the ones at the cottage were in very bad condition. We love catterick Village however we would not stay in stepping stones again unless the house is refurbished and the cleanliness improves.

Whilst the Property was fine and a good space the overall feedback is poor due to too many unacceptable issues primarily resulting from the failure of the Owner to respond to any calls and messages where there were issues with the Property which is not acceptable.

Generally we felt the Property needed some money spent on new pots and pans etc which were poor and insufficient for catering for the size of our Party. Toilet was leaking and sauna was not working toilet seat not correctly fitted and shelf loose. bedrooms should have at least a chair in them. Exercise machines not fully working. Tablet with instructions could not be found. Not what you would expect from a Property costing over £4,000 for what was only 6 days

A fantastic house in a great location.

We are a family of 14 so it was perfect. We loved the space and the log fires and the games room and hot tub The only criticism - there was no cafetière for the real coffee lovers! Also it would have been handy to have a note of useful information like where to buy logs from!

As a large family of 3 couples, 3 dogs, grandchildren and great grandma, we had plenty of space and lots to entertain us.

We have never stayed in this area before but a delight to visit. We walked along the stream outside of the door, feeding the ducks and on to walk by the river Swale. There are plenty of takeaways in walking distance. We cooked a few night and the large dining table enabled us to laugh and talk together. The games room was a massive hit. Darts, table foot and the adults loved the full size snooker table. We played bingo and made cocktails. Everyone loved the hot tub and sauna. The woiden floors made cleaning easy with the dogs. The whole property was safe and secure for children and dogs to roam inside and out. The only thing we would have liked to know in advance was that we couldn’t access three bedroom from one side of the property upstairs. Sean checked the hot tub every day, without being intrusive. Any problems we could have asked him. A great home. Thank you.

We have rented holiday homes throughout the uk for several years and are a large family group of 4 generations.

Our annual holiday together is important and we spend a significant amount of money and time in planning to make the most of the 7 day stay. Stepping Stones unfortunately ranks as the worst property we have stayed in with an owner apparently disinterested in his guests comfort and wellbeing. He contacted me the day prior to arrival to inform me that the dishwasher wasn’t working and that an engineer would attend the Wednesday- day 6 of our 7 day holiday. Also that a gas engineer would attend to service the boiler during our stay. Both of the above are unacceptable to us we expect the property to be fit for purpose and for routine maintenance to be carried out at vacant times eg change over days etc. Two of our party members are extremely clinically vulnerable and we had all taken great care to isolate prior to the holiday to keep each other safe -allowing strangers into the property was an unnecessary risk. The reality was the engineer attended unmasked and although he was relatively unobtrusive and polite he was in the property for sometime. The dishwasher repair never happened in our stay and this was never clarified by the owner as he failed to communicate at all once we had questioned the problems. The property itself is spacious and offers many potential benefits for a group such as ours eg games room, gym, sauna, hot tub however it is so poorly maintained and unclean this overrides any benefit. As I explained to the owner of the cleaning company on day one we can accept a house being shabby in its decor even but being unclean and poorly maintained is unacceptable and more so considering current covid precautions. He attended daily at random times to ‘check’ the hot tub accessing through the main house again unmasked and without any awareness of how intrusive this was for us. On arrival externally the property looked poorly maintained, shabby frontage, dirty web strewn windows, rickety key safe which took several attempts and manoeuvring to function. On entry the main staircase which is the first feature as you enter the property with the sun shining had hand marks clearly all the way up the handrail and the stairs had dust piled all the way up the skirtings. This was my immediate view of an empty ‘newly cleaned’ house. This theme unfortunately was consistent throughout and too numerous to discuss in detail but in summary: Unclean chipped crockery in the cupboards Dirty cups in a non working dishwasher Cupboards littered with food and condiments left by previous occupants over a protracted time as half of it was out of date. Coffee machine completely blocked with coffee grounds and warning lights displaying that cleaning was overdue. Discarded socks under one of the beds Detritus in the drawers and wardrobes throughout. Generally unclean bathroom in the cottage with cobwebs in all the corners, badly stained ceiling and grime on the shower screen. Unkempt garden with rubbish strewn round the edges and the only furniture being benches and a table. Grime and hairs all around the rim of the Hot tub. Unusable dishwasher which we were aware of but no provision of a draining rack to facilitate washing dishes by hand (which for 11 people is never ending). Fridge freezer was a fabulous size however the bottom drawer of the freezer wouldn’t open which meant we had insufficient capacity for our frozen foods. Badly marked conduction hob which turned itself off frequently whilst cooking and oven indication lights not functional so very difficult to know what it was doing. Poor provision of glasses, cutlery, baking trays, mixing bowls and serving dishes all of which we bought. Stepladders left randomly in the study Lamps and main light non functional in kitchen and main lounge. Outer gate to cottage broken latch which resulted in the gate being damaged during the high winds after banging continually all night Dysfunctional smoke alarm on the ground floor of the main house randomly alarming for no reason and eventually wouldn’t stop so we had to remove the battery. The small bedroom in the cottage is so small and poorly furnished it barely counts as a bedroom Despite all of the above we endeavoured to make the stay as successful as able and did enjoy the snooker room and the village setting but we were all relieved to get back to the comfort and cleanliness of our respective houses. I am baffled why nobody has commented on any of these issues in previously published reviews. We have always booked our holiday houses through Sykes as we believed we could rely on the standards being as stated and the quality reflected in the price. We would be reluctant to do so in the future.

We had a great time.

Lucky with the weather. Location better than expected. Lovely walks nearby.

The house is huge with plenty of space for everyone.

The hot tub, sauna and games room were fantastic for a large group too. But there were serious issues with cleanliness - some surfaces hadn't been cleaned for months. And the 3 bed house next door is not fit to let as holiday accommodation.

Fantastic holiday home.

More rooms to chill in. Steam room and jacuzzi where amazing. Lovely village with ample amenities. Great family holiday would definitely go again. Loved it so much.

The Dishwasher wasn’t working from the get-go.

We got hold of the ‘factor’ on Monday but it was pretty evident he wasn’t really that interested in solving the problem. (Voice messages not picked up & no progress feedback/apology throughout our stay). The Key Safe wasn’t functional either. We also felt there could have been better & more garden furniture to add to the comfort and better reflect the price being charged.

The house is amazing!

The bedrooms are well presented and spacious, with comfortable beds. The kitchen suited our needs. We didn’t spend much time, if any, in the living rooms as by far the best aspect of this house is the games/snooker/bar annex. This was ideal, especially in the current climate. Somewhere to spend time with friends without the hassle of booking tables. We did ‘borrow’ the tv from one of the living areas which, along with an Amazon Firestick (suggestion for the owner), meant we could all gather and play snooker, games, chat and have a few beers at the bar in an ideal setting. The gym was mainly used by the kids and they enjoyed having another place of entertainment. The hot tub was warm and clean and large enough to fit 4 adults and 3 kids. The sauna was also a great facet, being able to exit the hot tub, walk through the gym and straight into the sauna was ideal. We ventured into the Bay Horse for dinner on one of the evenings. This is pretty much next to the property and a nice place to visit. The food was typical pub fare and recommended. The surrounding area is great for walks. Access to a walk along the river Swale takes 10 minutes with a feeding stream directly over the road from the property with families gathering on one warm day for picnics and a drink from the pub. A co-op is a similar distance away, along with take-always (Chinese and Pizza) and coffee shop. I cannot recommend this property highly enough.

Lovely house, with great amenities, beds were super comfy and found out on the day we left that they were Hypnos, which is why we all had great nights sleep.

Only a couple of niggles, the knives in the kitchen were quite blunt making it difficult to cut, there were no waste paper bins in any of the bathrooms and some of the cleaning could have been better - mainly around skirting boards. Other than that a great house to spend a week with family or friends.

Lovely cottage would highly recommend.

What a gorgeous house.

It was ideal for the 4 families who visited to celebrate my daughter’s 21st birthday this weekend. The games room was great as were the hot tub and sauna. There was enough to keep all ages entertained and all in a beautiful setting. We’ll be back!

We visited Stepping Stones for a week and had an amazing time.

The listing is accurate but the house is even bigger and better and exceeded all of our expectations. The property is beautifully presented and all of the beds are really comfortable. It's the perfect place to go with family because we could all sit down to eat together round the dining room table or spread out across the 2 living rooms (and the rest of the house). The hot tub, sauna and games room were great. We spent most of our time relaxing in the house but visited the local pub, café, chippy and Richmond is only a short drive away. We also took a walk round Foxglove Covert which is beautiful, worth a google and to check the instructions because you have to go through the army base to get to it. The local park run (Saturday morning) is also one of the friendliest we have visited. I would definitely recommend visiting!

Great house for big groups with benefit of hot tub, sauna, snooker table and darts and local pub almost next door.

Would prefer pool table but knew that before we went. WiFi signal not great in snooker room where we spent most time. Take your own tea towels and oven gloves!

Beautiful location and accommodation.

However there were a couple of things I would like to mention. The oven in the main kitchen was taped up when we arrived and was out of use for the whole of our stay. This left just one oven in the smaller kitchen which was not adequate for the size of our party. The gym/sauna area would benefit from having a shower as it would encourage people to take a shower prior to using the hot tub. At the moment you have to go back to the main house to do so. There were a lot of walls which had hooks/nails where pictures had once been but were now empty. Games room was a lovely area but could have done with some facility for music. We really enjoyed our stay however and the weather was idyllic.

A house full of character.

Good facilities to keep the family happy.. Lots to see and do in the area. .

Beautiful house and location .

catterick village is lovely - lovely to walk by the river . Pub next door - very friendly staff and locals . Food was great. Everything we could possibly need for our weekend - nice touches like wine , bread and cheese left for us and logs for the fire, ice cubes in the freezer - just right for our gin and tonics , candles, bathroom toiletries and even a record player with records! Lovely comfy beds , the house was lovely and warm once we worked out the heating. The iPad which holds the instructions was broken .... Hot tub was lovely but a shame we couldn't use the sauna at the same time as there were 14 of us staying . A few minor blips though - the water tank was leaking massively - we had to keep emptying buckets of water in the cellar which was a bit stressful ! Cottage side could do with a bit of an update - downstairs loo didn't work very well and the door handle had fallen off !