Cornish Gems Avis 260

We really enjoyed Little Polkerris, a secluded property with stunning views! The hot tub was an added bonus.

The house was lovely, with plenty of space and all finished well. Although the descriptions said that the garden were set over three levels with 21 steps, it should have said how steep and high the steps were. They were a dangerous for young children or pets. Also we were contacted by customer services from Cornish Gems on the second day to ask how the house was. We let them know that the downstairs wc light was not working, and with it not having a window meant it could not be used without the door open. Also that there was no soap in one of the bathrooms and a bedroom tv was not working because of the aerial cable. I was told that it would be passed over to maintenance. I heard nothing for the remainder of the week. Also the location. St Ives was lovely but the house location, right by the bus and train station felt like everyone going through St Ives were right there. The road was also noisy with people driving very fast past the front door. Apart from that, the pool was great, loads of happy days on the beaches and visiting the amazing places to eat and drink.

This summer we stayed at The Fish Cellar, St Ives through the booking company Cornish Gems. Having stayed at various properties previously through Cornish Gems we have always had a good experience. BUT the Fish Cellar was not a good experience. This property was very tired/dirty and so bad I decided to email and send photos to Cornish Gems to explain my disappointment. This was 2 weeks ago and I have yet to receive a response.

We’ve stayed at many Cornish Gems properties over the years and this was another great one - very well maintained and in the perfect location

We had booked Belvedere House for an extra special luxury family holiday . For the cost of the property I think we were all expecting a property of superb standard .
Whilst the location of the property is second to none and overall it is still a good place to stay we did encounter
several problems throughout our stay that in all honesty are not up to scratch and worth the money paid . Some relate to house maintenance and some to Cornish gems communication . I have listed the issues below :
1)
I had emailed ahead a few months ahead to ask if it was at all possible to check in a little earlier than the allocated 4.30 pm . I understand that properties need to be cleaned thoroughly before the next guest goes in so was not expecting anything too early but maybe a few hours early would have been nice if the property was completed then . Many other companies and properties all over the country have done this previously if asked in advance . I was advised by reply that if the property was ready earlier you would text me with arrival details . The previous guests would have had to vacate by 9 or 10 am . At approx 1pm my brother drove past the property where cleaners were present . At 2.45 I drove past the property and no one was there so I rang Cornish gems to enquire . I advised of my earlier email and that some members of our party had health problems and it would be lovely if we could get in a bit earlier ! I was advised the property was not signed off yet but they would check and get back to me as soon as possible . At 4.10 pm I still hadn’t heard anything ,by now it’s only 20 mins before official check in . I rang again to be told they would check again and was eventually told it was ready . The codes were sent through to my phone and we gained access !
We know the property was at least cleared at 3 so why couldn’t Cornish gems allow an earlier check in given the advance request ?
2) There were several large stains on the carpet in the lounge , in the ground floor bedroom and a few others . It had been vacuumed well but why was the carpet dirty . I understand you are at the mercy of previous guests not cleaning up after themselves but it rather lets down the supposed luxury holiday let. I did let Cornish gems know about this in the 24 hour follow up call and by email .
3) On Monday or Tuesday the property housekeeper just turned up with a fridge engineer . Apparently Cornish gems were supposed to have let us know in advance that the previous week the fridge soft close was not working and the fridge was not getting up to temperature properly . This actually could have been a potential health issue of which we were none the wiser !
Well I had no prior notification of this by email or phone . The housekeeper was surprised we didn’t know . This visit was inconvenient and also could be alarming without any prior notification. Poor communication by Cornish Gems yet again .
4) We had been told in advance about the pool mosaic tiles coming off so pool shoes had been provided . During our visit many more came off . We were told by the pool attendant just to collect them and post under the pool room door . Some pieces were sharp . In addition there were only 2 size 6 shoes provided and there were 3 members of our party who were a size 6 do not an ideal solution. In addition although the pool was clean I did notice some green algae in some of the grout .
5) Most of the inflatable floats in the pool box have punctures so thus need going through to test .
6)The gym photos imply more equipment than in reality . I also reported to you that the seat on the bench press is in disrepair
7)The private patio that you advertise in the property details is fully open to neighbours and the front of the property so a little deceiving in its description . On the private patio is a very old bench that needs a lot of attention .
8)The curtains in the ground floor bedroom have quite a lot of bobbling on the fabric that needs attention.
9) On Thursday - When closing the front door carefully the base of the door handle dropped off !
My sister in law texted the housekeeper immediately as we had been asked to do with any further problems on the Un notified fridge visit day . To be fair to the housekeeper she did ask if we needed a solution immediately . We thought it fair to leave this till departure day as with delicacy it was possible to close the door . The photos sent to the housekeeper showed this had happened due to it being rusty . I presume sea air had been damaging it for a while .
The above issues need to be addressed by Cornish Gems .

Scilly stack is a wonderful cottage located in a remote but not isolated working farm. The owners are incredibly nice and generous as you will discover when you open the gift box full of wonderful delicious surprises (I won’t spoil it for you). The cottage is small but perfectly formed and with great attention to detail and high spec, with everything you need for two people and our furry babies who also loved the place. The location is perfect, quiet, yet less than a 10 minute walk through lovely fields to St Just where you’ll find lots of eateries and friendly people. Try the butchers! Great steaks and pasties!!! And don’t miss the Cafe Dog and Rabbit, great chips and the best cakes!!!
If you like walking like we do you are in for a treat! You are minutes from the coastal path so great walks there: to the left towards lands End and right towards Botallack mine (if you’ve seen Poldark you’ll recognise the mine) or maybe if like us also want to discover circular walks, don’t miss Chun Quoit, one of the best preserved of all Neolithic quoits, kind of a mystical and magical location on top of the moorland, look out for Pixies :)
And the cherry on the top the Golden hour, the sunset, you can enjoy it from Scilly stack or like us, walk to the seafront and enjoy the sun going down. We spent a lovely week and can’t wait to go back!!! Thank you Scilly stack!

Family of six adults recently returned from a lovely week's holiday in Cornwall, but it was not without a few issues regarding the property, which were raised with Cornish Gems a week ago.
The matter has been chased up again but for a second time they appear to have decided not to respond.
As in all walks of life, the best way of keeping customers onside is by communicating with them, especially when the feedback is perhaps not what they want to hear.
The rating above reflects my experiences with Cornish Gems rather than the holiday itself.
Of course, if radio silence continues I will publish a further review, naming the property, which may affect future bookings.

Meva Seas - Mevagissey. Sadly what was advertised on there web site / you tube and what we personally experienced was completely different. On arrival the first experience - were weeds, weeds, weeds everywhere and clearly no garden maintenance had not been done in months. Weeds were even growing out of the artificial grass and swimming pool edges. The swimming pool was dirty, hot tub did not work properly and later advised by the pool service maintenance team - the owner would not pay to have the hot tub repaired. Decoration state in the hall stairs area very poor, and never found the advertised media / cinema room. We found a room with a TV and a sofa - where the TV was not even connected to the DVD Player (no HDMI cable), no aerial connection and not even linked to the wifi.
Coffee machine when switched on - advised - please descale and could not use. Toilet Seat was not attached to the bowl. Tap was not mounted to the sink. To make it worse the electric gate failed and in simple terms Cornish Gems did not know what to do as it was a bank holiday - we nearly called the fire brigade to get us out of the property.
All we were offered was 150.00 pounds in compensation with a very minor discount on another booking. Why would you book another property with them when they advise - everything is meticulously checked. Clearly it was not. very disappointed with Cornish Gems and the owners response

Mill Cottage, Mullion - Exceptional very well equipped cottage in an idyllic environment. Very quiet and private with easy access and ample parking. Excellent for walks, near the harbour and a beautiful beach within walking distance. Ideally situated to visit many well known sites and towns.

Stayed at Harbour heights for 7 days early August. The house was situated in a wonderful position overlooking the beautiful harbour and village of Mevagissey. The views are truly superb. The house it-self was good too, not the biggest house, but adequate for the three of us and our small dog but this house is all about the view from the veranda overlooking the harbour and coast. It was well equipped and clean and we would recommend this place to visit. Mevagissey it-self is a thoroughly charming harbour and village that we would visit again, well positioned to explore the surrounding area's with some great beaches close by.
Good customer service from Cornish Gems and we had no issues.

We stayed at Lantic Barn in Fowey the second week in July. This was supposed to be the Luxurious part of our holiday and we were all so looking forward to it however it definitely didn’t come close to what we had expected. Check in was 6pm so you can imagine my surprise when greeted by cigarette butts and dead leaves (which must have been there since last autumn) right by the front door not to mention a pile of old newspapers dumped next to the door too. Upon entering the property we found paint flaking off the wall in the kitchen and scuff marks on many other walls. I could also tell it hadn’t been cleaned very well either with dead flies on window sills, cobwebs, crumbs on the dinning table and dirty floors. There were quite a few reed defuses around the property and some were empty but the cleaner obviously couldn’t be bothered to even dispose of these. The two sofas in the lounge were filthy. We found a pin on the floor too which was quite concerning as a toddler could have easily picked it up and put it in its mouth. The big sliding door in the lounge could not be opened as the key was nowhere to be found. The fridge had a broken shelf which was taped up with black duck tape and the freezer was in need of defrosting. The bed in the master bedroom had toilet roll stuffed in each corner of the bed frame (I suspect this was probably because it squeaked). In another bedroom the headboard was thick with dust and there were two stickers just left there. Two patio chairs had broken spindles and there was no parasol. The garden wasn’t what I would call manicured especially around the pool which meant lots of debris in the pool. Our issues were raised with Cornish Gems but only an offer to get the cleaner in again was offered. The company confirmed that this property had been inspected in May which baffled me as surely most of the points I raised were visible at that point! I don’t complain unless I feel it’s justified and if Cornish Gems really cared about their guests then they would have come back to us with some kind of compensation but I am still waiting for a reply to my last email. We worked hard to afford this holiday but it felt like the owners haven’t cared for this property and it’s purely a money making scheme. Live up to your ethos Cornish Gems as I feel you have lost your way as your portfolio has grown… you could take a leaf out of Sandy Toes Stays which I have to say gave us better customer service and value for money when we stayed with them in St Ives… they truly did care.

We are currently staying at Tredinnick Dairy with Cornish Gems. We have booked with them a number of times and this is our 4th time at this particular property. We had cause to complain last year when we stayed at Mill Cottage Mullion, as there were a number of issues with the state of the property and lack of equipment (ie no towels for over 24 hours!)
We have 2 more nights here at Tredinnick Dairy and in many ways I cannot wait to get home to a somewhere that is clean and doesn't smell. It is such a shame and a huge disappointment, as every other stay here we have had here has been wonderful.
We arrived here at 4.30pm after receiving the text informing us that our property was cleaned and ready. After leaving home at 5am (a long drive!) we were disappointed to find the cleaner still here when we arrived. She was very apologetic and, assuming she was ensuring everything was spotless, we were happy to wait outside. Sadly we were hugely disappointed. The floors in the kitchen and lounge hadn't been cleaned at all, so there were crisps, feathers, sand and clumps of dust, visible to anyone with a pair of eyes. One seat cushion in the kitchen was so dirty, it is hard to find the words to describe it. We can only assume the previous occupants had allowed their dog on to it. Whatever the cause, the fact that the cleaner appeared to have not even noticed and just left it, defies belief, especially seeing as it is right by the door. I telephoned Cornish Gems immediately to let them know and to make sure they did not blame us for the damage to the cushion. They offered to get the cleaner back to vacuum the house but we said we would prefer to do it ourselves as we had had a long day. It was agreed that we would do it and that someone would take a look at the chair the next day. We were also told we would get a courtesy call the next day checking that everything was ok with the property. 5 days in and we are still waiting for the call. We did however get a call at 6.45pm that night to inform us that someone was coming to clean the house - yes, you guessed it - that night! We were stunned to say the least. Does anyone seriously think that a family on holiday are going to want cleaners in the house on their first night there, especially having already said they would rather do the cleaning themselves?
So, here we are 5 days later, still waiting for the courtesy call to check that everything is ok. It is most definitely not. The house is generally disgustingly dirty and smells of what I can only assume is dog urine. No worktops or surfaces have been wiped, The sink and shower drain in the en-suite are so blocked the sink fills up within seconds. Any cleaner would have noticed this when they were running water in to the sink to clean it. Unless of course they didn't clean it, which judging by the rest of the house is the most likely explanation. We ended up clearing it ourselves so we could use the sink to brush our teeth. It took around 2 minutes but was a disgusting thing to have to do on your holiday. At least we can now use the sink though. We went to use a saucepan 2 days ago which had been put back dirty. And by dirty, I mean DIRTY! There are crumbs in the cupboards, on the worktops and in some of the bowls. Another arm chair in the kitchen is covered in sand. The rug in the kitchen is beyond dirty and should just be thrown in the bin. It was here in 2016 when we first came and I doubt it has eve been cleaned. The whole house downstairs basically stinks and is sticky and dirty and so is not a comfortable place to relax. The smell is probably emanating from the other rugs too, which I doubt have ever been cleaned in the last 7 years this house has been a holiday rental. And finally the parasol in the garden will not stand up on it's own. It is extremely heavy and very dangerous. Quite honestly, this is not luxury by anyones standards. It is definitely not "of the highest quality, cleanliness and safety standards" as they claim on their website. We have photos showing all of the complaints listed in this review and I think it goes without saying that we will never ever be booking with Cornish Gems again or recommending them to anyone.

We have just been away with Cornish Gems.
Please don’t be fooled by luxury because that depends on a number of things.
Who runs the property? Who looks after the property? Who checks the standard?
On the whole and on the face of it Wren Cottage was a luxurious destination.
When things go wrong they Simply so not want know unless it is simple. We had a patio carousel collapse on our sons and a promise to replace but nothing.
If you search for smaller independent companies you will receive a better services
We could write so much more but being honest I do not like this kind of platform normally.

This is our 3rd stay with. Cornish Gems and again, we were not disappointed. Website gives plenty of details, customer service was attentive and properties beautiful and as described on website.

We have used Cornish Gems twice now and on both occasions we have had great Customer Service. I highly recommend them. Their properties are exactly what you see on their website, no hidden horrors.Great welcome pack and our last stay the house was perfectly clean.
In addition they have a tab labelled "Last Minute" some great offers are to be found.

Magic
What is your magic ?
Visit Cob Barn. Time will pause and every problem and grievance passes away. Your mind questions will be answered and your cares will be lifted away.
Magical !

We had a great week at Merry Mead in St Mawes with our grown up family and our dog. House is in a great position and has loads of room. The views are simply stunning and we were blessed with the weather. We will definitely be back and can recommend the house to anyone looking for accomodation for up to 8 adults in this beautiful village. An issue with lights was sorted out the same day.

Outstanding Views!

What a wonderful, homely retreat, perched on the hillside overlooking Mawgan Porth beach and adjacent to the coastal path. The property is spotless, modern and very well equipped with all you need for a family holiday.

Just the ticket if you are looking to get away from it all. With perfect weather, we made good use of the kitchen/BBQ and enjoyed our evenings in the garden / terrace area, watching the tide come in and the sun go down (much needed after walking along the coast line or popping down to the beach which is quite steep in places). Beds are very comfy with fresh linen and towels and the decor throughout befits this quirky seaside property.

We were sad to learn, however, that the house which was designed and built by a local man for his family in the 1950s is to be demolished soon to make way for an ultra modern building. There is quite a bit of property development going on around the area and some pretty outstanding properties emerging and we did have to put up with a little bit of drilling and noise from builders at 2 or 3 nearby properties during the day but it didn't disturb us too much. This will no doubt we all complete in a few weeks.

A real shame, because some people do still want to see the "traditional Cornwall" and stay in cottages like this.

Take a good pair of walking shoes. Mawgan Porth beach front has a pub, some nice eateries where we sampled the fresh mussels and fish, small mini-market with local produce. However, be warned, most of the shops are clearly making up for lost business over the last couple of years and everywhere is a bit on the pricey side. We stayed at St Ives the week before and this was the case there so if you're holidaying in Cornwall this summer, do bear in mind you'll need deep pockets if eating out! However, there are the usual supermarkets if you're happy to hop back in the car and fill up for the week within 20 minutes drive.

The garden gate leading to the coastal path was the best bit for us - we loved the 4 mile walk to Bedruthan Steps which is a must and wasn't too strenuous (although beware there are some steep parts). The views are amazing and the surrounding July heather and wild flowers are simply stunning - there is a couple of cafes awaiting you on the cliff top when you get there so you can grab a refreshment before you make your return journey.

PS: dog owners - this is a great place for you and your pooch as the beach is open all year round to them and restaurants even stock "dog dinners"!

This is the second time we have stayed at Scilly Stack and it doesn’t disappoint. Grouped with two other properties on a working farm it provides easy access across the fields to St Just or to the beautiful and contrasting valleys of Cot and Kenidjack and the cliff top paths to Cape Cornwall. The property it’s self is well appointed and comfortable. The hosts provide a perfect welcoming pack including ( a unique?) delicious porridge loaf. We were fortunate to experience two, almost perfect weeks of weather in contrast to our previous visit when it was unseasonably cold and windy. It didn’t put us off. This part of Cornwall is special.

Well from the moment we arrived at our Beachside holiday home for a week it was simply wow by all 6 of us....

There was nothing we really could fault had everything we needed for a family of 4 adults and 2 boys. The house had everything for our needs that was required for us.

We was in a quiet location of Holywell bay which very short walk to the beach and that was all we wanted.

Had our own two parking space for our cars which is hard to find in Cornwall.

A good size garden for our boys to play while the adults chilled over a glass of wine.

Thank you for helping us create special holiday memories for our family.