We booked Woodend Cottage in Thirsk in 2024 when the reviews were first class for a holiday in July 2025. In fact our eldest son and family acted on our recommendation to visit in April 2025 and mentioned that it was far from clean. By the time Holiday Cottages eventually posted our daughter in laws comments a second comment concerning cleanliness had appeared on the site. We contacted Holiday Cottages and asked to be released from our contract but the owner refused. In fairness, however, we were informed that the owners had replaced their cleaners and that a deep clean would be performed before our arrival. We took Holiday Cottages at their word that things would be clean. They were not. Some things had been cleaned like the bed and the kitchen work surfaces but the home had a very strong smell of wet dog, very thick amounts of dog hairs in the carpets to the point that you could rub your hand along it and end up with hundreds of hairs and cobwebs in a number of places where a duster had rarely if ever used. None of these things on their own would have been enough to reject the cottage but what came next was.

The owner was immediately contacted and was asked to send someone out to deal with the areas which had been missed and perhaps supply something to deal with the smell. She could hardly have been less helpful. Initially, she hung up when called and later ,when she did answer she said that there was a hoover in the cupboard and the cobwebs just needed a wipe. She said that there was no smell of dogs and that no dog had been in the cottage for more than a week. She then said that she had been warned by Holiday Cottages about us and that we were very picky and funny about things and that we were SCAM Artists! She left the conversation by saying that she would send her husband over as there was no smell of dogs. The owners remarks and hostility were unsettling. A situation that could have been resolved amicably by them offering to resolve the cleaning had turned into something that no one wants on a holiday. That evening a complaint was made to Holiday Cottages requesting an immediate change of location and when this went unanswered it was followed up by a telephone complaint the next morning.

After the complaint to Holiday Cottages the owner of "Woodend" turned up at the cottage and was seen as she approached the door. It was clear that she had started a video recording immediately before knocking on the door. When she entered the house she was very nice and pleasant but never at any time told us that she was videoing our interaction. She agreed that she would send out a cleaner.

After this interaction I contacted Holiday Cottages and told them what had gone on. Holiday Cottages said that the owner had denied secretly videoing this interaction and when asked if she had admitted to calling us SCAM Artists, they said not exactly in those words.

In view of the obvious animus and hostility shown by the owner and lack of empathy by Holiday Cottages, together with the fact that they had refused to relocate us we left having had the worst 20 hour holiday imaginable.