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Briar Bank

Briar Bank

4.4
out of 5
Ratings from 9 reviews
89% of guests
recommend
Cleanliness
4.1
Comfort
4.7
Condition
4.6
Location
4.4
Value
4.0
Customer
Service
4.8

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Briar Bank is situated in the heart of Shanklin, you are never too far from the sandy beach, shops or Shanklin Old Village.
This charming detached house can accommodate 8 guests, with 3 bedrooms, 1 family bathroom with downstairs WC along with a private garden area.

Lovely big house

Review submitted on Mon, 08 Aug 2022
4.0
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
4.0
Comfort
4.0
Condition
4.0
Location
4.0
Value
3.0
Customer
Service
5.0
2nd year we’ve stayed here. Positives: 3 spacious bedrooms, 2 big living rooms, garden, parking space & the company are always very friendly to deal with. Great for a family of 4 & apart from a hairy 10 yard walk without a footpath, the location is convenient for both the beach & town/shops. Downsides: some of the plumbing for the sinks require a service, some of the neighbours aren’t very friendly and we kept finding dog poo on the gravel where the cars are parked, which is neither nice nor fun when you have small children & makes parking quite an experience! The shower is a bit rickety and it was hard to adjust the water temperature so you could end up frozen or scolded! Would also be nice to know what day the bins are collected because we just couldn’t find out via the local council website. Otherwise another lovely stay.



Good all rounder

Review submitted on Thu, 16 Jun 2022
4.3
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
4.0
Comfort
4.0
Condition
5.0
Location
4.0
Value
4.0
Customer
Service
5.0
We were pleased with our choice as Briar bank is a centrally located property and furnished / decorated to a high standard.



Nice house not good parking

Review submitted on Sun, 24 Apr 2022
3.7
out of 5
Guest doesn't recommend this property
Cleanliness
3.0
Comfort
4.0
Condition
4.0
Location
4.0
Value
4.0
Customer
Service
3.0
Lovely house but it is supposed to sleep 6 and it has a tiny dining table that barely seats 4. Two lounges! Why? One of them would make a perfect dining room.
Parking was a nightmare. We have an average size car and had to do an 8 point turn to get in the parking space. Would of been a little bit easier if the parking didn’t have a post half way across it. The access is also very very narrow and the wall has various colours of paint on it from previous incidents, wouldn’t of booked it if I’d of been given information about the parking and poor access.
On arrival there was a dirty towel in the hallway and rubbish under the coffee table.



Breath of fresh air

Review submitted on Sun, 19 Sep 2021
5.0
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
5.0
Comfort
5.0
Condition
5.0
Location
5.0
Value
5.0
Customer
Service
5.0
Lovely decorated home, stylish and comfortable. Hotel standard bed linen was lovely. Excellent crockery etc. Easy walking distance to all that Shanklin has to offer.

The downside: the Victorian doors knobs are always falling off, it has been mentioned many times in the visitors book in the house so not sure why this hasn’t been rectified

If you provide beds for 8 but only a dining table for 4 only 4 people can sit down to dinner together

The property is on a very busy main road with traffic all night which disturbed our sleep

There are 2 double bedrooms but only 1 bedroom has a dressing table so if you are in the 2nd double there’s no chair, no dressing table, it’s sparsely furnished. The children’s bunk room has no storage at all, nowhere to hang stuff !

This property would go from great to excellent if these things were addressed






Nice house but unclean

Review submitted on Sun, 15 Aug 2021
3.7
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
2.0
Comfort
5.0
Condition
3.0
Location
4.0
Value
3.0
Customer
Service
5.0
The property itself is lovely and was perfect for us. Aside from the slightly hair-raising walk with children to the nearest footpath on the town’s busiest through road, it’s a big well-presented house. Despite being near a pub too, things were fairly quiet. Beds were comfortable and the main bathroom was very large.
However, despite the later check-in time for increased cleaning, we had some issues with some of the cleaning. Multiple items of plates and mugs were stacked in the cupboards with large/obvious food stains. The rugs in the two living rooms were smothered in human hair and clearly hadn’t been recently vacuumed.
Overall a nice house but, for the price charged, we expected higher standards.



The Island Holiday Company replied more than 1 year ago
Thank you for your review we are really sorry to hear that you had a cleaning issue when you arrived. We take all cleaning issues seriously and had you of contact us when you arrived we could have sent our housekeeper in to rectify the issues straightaway. We are pleased that you had a lovely stay and we look forward to welcoming you back in the future.

Lovely modern decor in Edwardian villa in Shanklin

Review submitted on Mon, 12 Jul 2021
4.8
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
5.0
Comfort
5.0
Condition
5.0
Location
5.0
Value
4.0
Customer
Service
5.0
We had a lovely stay at Briar Bank having previously stayed on the outskirts of Shanklin many moons ago when our children were little. We are family of 6: 2 adults (parents), 2 adult children (23 and 21) and their partners and on the whole we were able to enjoy the space reasonably well. We asked for the 2nd reception room with sofa bed to be set up as our 3rd bedroom as the bunk beds weren't suitable for our son and his girlfriend. This was done without any problems and accommodated them very comfortably.

The kitchen was well equiped for cooking with plenty of plates, mugs and glasses though we had to use 2 pans to cook spaghetti one night as there wasn't a pan large enough for pasta for 6. My main reservation prior to booking had been that the kitchen only has a small round table with 4 chairs, with 3 bar stools at the peninsula unit. There is a large garden table outside which we were hoping would be the location of our home cooked meals, however, the weather was very mixed and the evenings were cold so this did pose a problem. We did squeeze the 6 of us around the kitchen table a couple of times, using the spare folded chair in the utility and a garden chair but it was quite cramped and not as sociable as we had hoped for dining.
The main living room was lovely and spacious with comfy sofas and room for all our party to relax and play games in the evening.
A point to note is that the two main bedrooms upstairs and the main living room face onto North Road and the pavement opposite is elevated, so people walking on the other side have a prime view into your personal space. The bedrooms could probably do with some opaque screening or semi sheer curtains to provide additional privacy but we managed. The bed in the master bedroom was very comfortable and I slept especially well, though the pillows are a bit on the flimsy side. I always travel with a Tempur pillow so it wasn't a problem for me but had I not brought it, these would not have provided much support.

The decor is in beautiful condition and everything was very clean with good provision of cleaning materials so we could keep it that way. We also very much appreciated the dishwasher tabs and laundry pods which were thoughtful additions. It would have been useful to have some instructions for the washer and dryer; I couldn't get the dryer to stay on initially as it would switch off a after a minute and as the bulb was out directly above the machines it wasn't easy to see the displays. In the end my OH discovered the dryer was a condenser one which we haven't used before and the drawer which captures the water needed emptying. Perhaps the cleaning team can add this to their checklist? We also had some issues with the lovely ceramic door knobs around the house which kept dropping off, particularly the main bathroom one which I'm amazed didn't crack on the tiled floor and the 2nd reception door knob one. The bottom dishwasher loading tray doesn't run smoothly and appears to come off its rails when pulled out for unloading, especially when all 6 dinner plates were in use. Unfortunately this caused one of the wine glasses to jolt out and break on the floor which was concerning so I ended up handwashing the glasses. These are just little niggles but I point them out because the house is otherwise lovely and we had an enjoyable stay.
Final point, the parking was good and we had no problem getting our Vauxhall Zafira and Corsa up the back passage. The key pin entry system worked really well too.



Delightful

Review submitted on Wed, 23 Jun 2021
4.7
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
4.0
Comfort
5.0
Condition
5.0
Location
5.0
Value
4.0
Customer
Service
5.0
Lovely property with nice furnishings and clean and tidy. Great location. Good size rooms for a large family.
Garden could do with some attention as grass needs cutting and could do with some tlc to bring in line with the interior.
Door handles a real problem, heavy ceramic that just keep falling off most doors could take time to get into lounge. A real hazard with a crawling baby.



A great family escape by the sea

Review submitted on Thu, 03 Jun 2021
4.7
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
5.0
Comfort
5.0
Condition
5.0
Location
4.0
Value
4.0
Customer
Service
5.0
We really enjoyed our time on the Isle of Wight staying at Briars Bank. It was perfectly located and a great location to walk to the beach or drive further afield. We were two families of four staying together after a long time apart during lockdown and the property offered enough space, great facilities and was extremely clean and well kept, therefore making it a great choice for our get away. Our only recommendation would be to take black out blinds for the bedrooms as the curtains were very thin, and perhaps some ear plugs as the property is located on a busy road so the traffic can be heard on occasions. We would also recommend taking more towels as although supplied, we found we could have done with a few more. Having said that, we will definitely be booking our return trip as these are just small things that some people might be able to cope without.



Fantastic and Highly Recommended

Review submitted on Mon, 26 Apr 2021
5.0
out of 5
Guest recommends this property
Cleanliness
5.0
Comfort
5.0
Condition
5.0
Location
5.0
Value
5.0
Customer
Service
5.0
To anyone who is looking to book a family home that is spacious, comfortable, beautiful in decor and a great location...this is the one.
Every precaution re COVID-19 was adhered to so we felt safe.
Emma and the team looked after us from start to finish and cannot stress how happy we were.
Thank you for everything