Shelduck Lodge - Pet-friendly Cotswold Lake House

pictures made property look like a higher standard than it was. very tired things not repaired ie parasol, wobbly dining chairs, no toilet brush etc Charles was great to communicate with very helpful. i would use him again but just not in that property

Fabulous week living on the lake .. magical!

I stayed here with hubby, my mum and 5YO and 8YO daughter... it was just the right size for us. There was one master bed, with large hanging space and small chest of draws, one small double room with a tiny airing cupboard turned storage / hanging space and a twin room that just fit two single beds and a bedside table .. but no room for clothes and you can only just open the door.... again worked fine for my family as I organised kids clothes in master bedroom. The living area downstairs is airy and the view from both master bedroom and living area is beautiful view over the lake, where you can often watch people water skiing or swans / ducks swimming around. The Lakeside Restaurant / bar was only 10meters away, but we barely heard them, that was also where you could hire a speedboat to pull inflatables or ski around the lake, but when I asked the restaurant was fully booked for evening meals all week and boat was fully booked for the next week and a half! Actually a lot of the local amenities had been fully booked since before we arrived, I'm not sure if that is a pandemic thing or something that happens every summer, but if you are going I would advise booking activities early!... Not a fault of this property. When we arrived, the keybox was a little stiff and someone came over to help (didn't catch his name), he also promised to send recommendations about local places to eat... but that didn't happen. The front door was a little stiff and the TV is just that 'a TV'... ie although there was an aerial connected, we couldn't get a picture. There was an HDMI cable, so if you bring a laptop with HDMI out you can watch that way. There is also a DVD and CD player (but no CD/DVD's). I did write to owner and ask about this, but got no response. Kitchen was fine and nice that they left some bread, butter, milk, coffee. Would have been nice to see a little 'Welcome' book with local recommendations and instructions for TV.

We enjoyed our stay but the lodge does need some TLC and a good clean. Door handles half hanging off in the bathroom and dusty windowsills and bedside tables. It would also benefit from a welcome booklet with information about the local area and instructions for the washing machine/dishwasher etc. Fabulous location-we loved South Cerney but we would not stay at Shelduck Lodge again unfortunately.

Stayed at the Shelduck Lodge for my birthday weekend, We had a fab time and would go again. The booking process was very simple. The lodge itself was easy to find in a superb location on the complex. Next door but one to a very good restaurant. There was a welcome hamper on arrival and the place was very clean in fact it was perfect. The only thing that took a while to sort was the wifi. The code is on a plastic key in the router! To be very critical for the money we paid the property needs a bit of investment. If you look long and hard at the property there are quite a few things that either need maintenance, repair or replacement.

We spent a week at Shelduck Lodge in June and had a really wonderful stay. Throughout the booking process we had great communication with Charles at Staycation, who responded quickly and helpfully to queries. Upon arrival at the property we were met by Kevin, who was very friendly and helpful. He provided us with restaurant recommendations (one of which turned out to be our favourite place to eat on the whole trip), and was available by phone for further queries. The property itself was a lot more spacious than we had anticipated, with a large dining table inside, plenty of storage in the bedrooms and a huge master bedroom. The terrace, which was our main draw on booking this particular property was great, directly on the water with fab views. Sitting out there in the evening was one of the main highlights of the trip. It is worth noting that during the day there is constant noise from the speedboats from the watersports company. This didn't bother us and our 2 year old loved watching the boats, but we weren't really aware of this when booking and it meant you weren't allowed to swim in the lake while the boats were in operation (8 am - 8pm I think). We did have a paddle however at the side of the property which was refreshing! The property was presented very nicely, clean and tidy, and the welcome pack of essentials in the kitchen was a really nice touch. The decor felt homely rather than luxury, but with two small children this was fine. We requested a cot, highchair and stairgate and these were all installed on our arrival. The kitchen was really well stocked with crockery and glasses and it had all the equipment you would need for a holiday stay. We did have a slight issue with the fridge not feeling very cold. There were also a lot of bugs that enjoyed coming into the property from the lake, spiders, dragonflies etc, fun for the kids but maybe not for everyone! The location was great as a base for exploring the area and we had some wonderful trips to different parts of the Cotswolds. We would definitely come back, perhaps when the kids are old enough to take part in some of the great watersports on offer.

The property was quite tired in appearance could definitely do with a lick of paint. It was advertised to sleep 6 which would have been too small if I’d had 4 teenagers. It was just big enough for 2 adults and 2 teenagers. It was nice that milk and bread and butter was left for us however it did state on the website that a nice bottle of wine would be provided but unfortunately it wasn’t. There was no welcome pack or instructions for the appliances. I don’t know if this was due to COVID. It was stated there was a gas BBQ when we tried to use it there was no gas! The fence around the decking at the back did not go as far as the decking thank goodness I didn’t have young children. The location was lovely right the on the lake and beside the Lakeside Café. However I suspect in summer it would be very noisy. When I initially tried to get hold of the owner to discuss getting the key he did not answer my text. I went through the agent, Charles who was very helpful. As no one was in the week before we could arrive early on the check in day which was good. We did have a lovely week.

Thoroughly enjoyed our stay and appreciated the welcome pack on arrival. Very clean and although we had a problem with no hot water the response was good. It was so hot we didn't mind a cold shower or two! Would definitely book again!