Upper Winstone Pond Lodge

Loved the cosy feel and the ducks just outside the lodge!! Really nice comfortable feel to the place.

Nothing really! The shower was hard to control the hot/cold balance but that’s it!

Everything! The style, the layout, the decor, the views, the facility, the parking, the chickens, the eggs!

We loved the location, it was very convenient with easy access to various attractions on the island and opposite the Donkey Sanctuary. The views from the upstairs windows were stunning, looking across the fields and hillside - it was very peaceful. The decor was tasteful and we found the kitchen well-equipped, blankets were provided for the evening and plenty of games to keep us occupied in between times, as well as a TV on each floor. Our favourite thing was the little lady cat who visited each day; she was a sweetheart - we are cat-lovers, with a puss at home, so her visits were very welcome, and she made the place feel more homely. My daughter also enjoyed the chickens and geese on-site. The value for money was brilliant (I believe we were on an introductory Booking.com rate). Key collection/check-in and check-out were simple and went smoothly without issue.

The worst thing for us was the mattress on the main double bed (it was firm, to the degree it felt like being on a duvet on on the floor - for context, medium to firm usually suits me fine). After the first night, we gathered the mattress from the sofa bed and placed it on top (under the bedsheet), which helped a little, but sadly, I still left the island with back complaints. Based on this one issue, we couldn't stay again - unless resolved. Although the decor looked very nice we felt that some corners had been cut and a few things could be remedied to make the stay better: The coat pegs were falling out of the wall, some touch ups in the bathroom, but mainly the hollow floor/walls downstairs combined with the mesanine; this created a very loud and reverberating effect on movement inside and around the lower floor, meaning that once one person was awake, so was everyone else - this may not be a problem for some, but for us (with a child who wakes early at 05:30) it was a downside in the mornings and also a little tricky in the evening, we had to have the TV on very quietly once our daughter had gone up to bed in the evenings, we played music to try to help her sleep and drown out any noise from us, before we did.