Duvale Priory - Holiday Accommodation Devon

We have just celebrated our 60th birthday here with friends and family - and it was perfect - lovely and warm, lots of space - with an outdoor hot tub and table tennis, and an indoor pool table. Lots of lounges to hang out and a dining room where we could all eat together - we were 30 in total. Rosena was helpful - but left us to enjoy ourselves with intrusion. Just great - many thanks Rosena !
Jan 7th, 2023

First let me say that the location and outside of the building is beautiful. However, the inside is extremely dated and worn. I dont mean antiques and historic, I mean 70s and 80s fixtures and fittings, mattresses and pillows that should have been thrown out and replaced years ago, sofas that have been used for so long that theres no lift left in the cushions and youre virtually sitting on the floor. Its not particularly clean either, oven had burnt food left in it, coffee maker had mouldy coffee grounds left inside, cobwebs everywhere. This I could all forgive as mistakes happen and nowhere is as comfortable as home. but the owner and her laminates on every wall, cupboard and surface which are rules, dos, donts, and all contain a mention of charging for every misdemeanour are completely over the top and bordering on OCD. She meets you at the door and gives you a tour of the property which is great but mentions taking money again and again. We left that property cleaner than we found it and she still managed to find something to charge for. It is marketed as a high end, luxury rental, it is absolutely neither of those. Its a large property perfect for a large group get together, however the owner seems to be at odds with this as she doesnt want anyone to enjoy themselves as youre constantly worrying about marking, breaking or leaving something dirty. At the prices she charges, we paid over 10k for 4 days, and the way the property is marketed as a group house she should expect some cleaning to do and the occasional accidental breakage. Its wear and tear and perfectly normal. Needless to say I wouldnt stay again, I can find better more welcoming places to spend my hard earned money.
Dec 29th, 2022

We have recently returned from a 3 night weekend break at Duvale Priory. The house itself is very spacious and was perfect for a large group which included adults, teenagers and children. The property is in a beautiful location and we enjoyed our stay as a group with lots of fun and activities within our group. The overall cleanliness of the property was not great and we found lots of flies in the bedrooms and living rooms which was very unpleasant. No signal to the networks and Wi-Fi was also very poor. Our biggest issue which we feel is important to share is that the property is very cluttered and the owner has an inventory of everything in the house but does not at any point share this with you and on leaving does not allow you to go round the house so she can point out any missing or damaged items. She then emails you to tell you what you have damaged carpets with food and pillow missing and takes out money from security deposit which is payable on top of your final bill. We feel it is also important to point out that before you leave you are expected to leave the property as you found it, this apparently includes stripping beds, hoovering , cleaning ovens , floors etc. We never had to do this in any of the large properties we stayed in previously and felt that the nearly 5000 pounds paid for 3 nights should include cleaning, we always treat the properties we stay in with respect and remove all rubbish, and leave them tidy and have never lost deposit money before. Accusing customers of damaging Jacuzzi by opening the front and damaging it and removing filters from Jacuzzi, steeling a pillow, without proof and taking deposit money from us has really spoilt what would have been an enjoyable weekend. We used the hot tub only once and she banned us from using it for 2 days as she claimed that it was damaged by our children. She got it checked after we have left and apparently nothing wrong with it and filter came off accidentally. She could have checked this sooner and could have let us use the Jacuzzi even though we have paid the rental nearly 5000 including the use of Jacuzzi. She should have given us some refund as compensation. Other annoying thing was that she was outside in the pickup car counting the number of people leaving and observing whether we are stealing anything from the property as she did not believe us the number of people in our group which we never lied. She also commented in the email that she is not able to accept any future bookings from us which she knew that we are not going to book again. Good luck with people who have paid deposit for the future holidays. Very disappointed with owners attitude and never deal with this lady again.
Aug 18th, 2022

May 27th, 2022

Apr 26th, 2022