Coppernines Lake District Cottages FAQs
The easiest and cheapest way to book a cottage is online. The availability is live and up-to-date at all times. We will process your booking and send you a confirmation email within 24hrs. The booking fee online is £20.00. Alternatively you can make a booking over the telephone within office hours. The telephone booking fee is £30.00.
Not a problem – we can send you a brochure to look at all our cottages. You can then contact us to make a booking over the telephone.
Yes, you can. Provisional bookings can be made on a discretionary basis over the telephone. There is no fee and you are under no obligation to confirm the booking. We can hold provisional bookings for 24 hours after which the payment is required to confirm your stay. We are not able to accept provisional bookings for bookings due to take place within 6 weeks of the date of the provisional booking. We reserve the right to cancel provisional bookings if no payment has been received and no contact was made. We are unable to accept provisional bookings for bookings due to commence in less than 10 weeks time.
For all online bookings you can pay by credit/debit card in the booking process. For telephone bookings we can take a credit/debit card payment over the telephone. Please note: we do not accept payments by telephone for bookings less than 14 calendar days away.
We can accept cheque payments for advance bookings only (more than 14 calendar days in advance). Bank transfer is available by arrangement.
All bookings within 10 weeks (70 calendar days) require a full payment. Bookings that are more than 10 weeks away require a deposit payment of 1/3 of the total holiday cost. The balance payment is due 10 weeks (70 calendar days) before arrival.
We do for some of our properties, this will be indicated in the booking process. We also charge a security deposit of £20 per person for stag/hen parties regardless of the property booked. The security deposit will be used (fully or part of) to cover the cost of any damage or breakages to/at the property and in the event of any additional cleaning required.
If no damage is found in the property following your stay, the security deposit will be released within 7 calendar days. We reserve the right to hold the security deposit for longer if there is a dispute over damage, or if we are awaiting bills/proof of damage.
We offer late availability discounts on most of our properties – please check our website for details of latest offers. From time to time we run promotions on our social media sites – keep an eye! Our loyal customers are rewarded with a 5% discount on repeat stays at the same property (at owners discretion).
Our bookings come with the option of adding Booking Protect. This is a third party, refund protection for your booking. The cost of protecting your booking with Booking Protect will be calculated during the booking process. You can chose to include/not include Booking Protect at point of booking. Booking Protect can be added to your booking at any point until your full balance is due/paid after which time you can no longer protect your booking with Booking Protect. Please be aware that Booking Protect covers cash, credit or debit card payments only. Unfortunately Booking Protect cannot cover payments made with credit notes or gift vouchers.
We will send you the arrival information with the confirmation of your booking. It will be a pdf file for email confirmations. We recommend you print it for your journey. You can also request a printed copy at the time of booking.
Standard arrival time to our cottages is 5pm. A limited number of cottages offer a 4pm check in. Check in time for your cottage will be indicated on your booking confirmation. If you arrive earlier than your indicated check in time, please contact us and we will be able to advise if the cottage is ready for you. We will also contact you on the day of your arrival as soon as your cottage is ready to allow you to check in and begin your holiday as early as possible. You can arrive as late as you wish as most properties have keys left for you in the key safe boxes. Please make sure you have the key safe code printed or saved on your mobile device!
You can arrive later than your arrival day.
We would appreciate that the property is vacated by 9.30am on the morning of your departure to allow our housekeeping team enough time to prepare the cottage for new guests.
You can leave the property earlier than your departure day.
We offer short breaks in most of our cottages all year round. Some properties only accept full week bookings during school holidays and other busy times of the year. We only accept full week bookings over Christmas and New Year, with short breaks made available closer to the festive weeks.
Weekend stay – Friday to Monday (3 nights)
Midweek stay – Monday to Friday (4 nights)
Shorter breaks are available, but the short break price will be the same as those above.
Flexible arrival/departure dates may be available in low season or last minute – please contact us.
We understand that things don’t always go to plan and you may need to move your holiday. We offer a 2 day cooling off period where you can change, amend or cancel your booking and receive a full refund on your accommodation. Your booking fee will be retained however. After the cooling off period we may be able to change the date of your holiday or move your booking to a different property. There is a £25.00 administration fee to cover our costs.
Please note: all moves are at management discretion depending on individual circumstances.
If the new holiday is more expensive we would ask you to cover the price difference in addition to our administration charge. If the new holiday is cheaper than the one originally booked, we are unfortunately not able to offer any refund.
We understand that things don’t always go to plan and you may need to cancel your holiday. There is a 2 day cooling off period where you can change, amend or cancel your booking and receive a full refund on your accommodation. Your booking fee will be retained however.
If you cancel your booking after the cooling off period we will retain all the money paid to date (full amount or deposit). The deposit (or 1/3 of the total cost where the full amount has been paid) is non-refundable.
We will do our best to re-let the property and refund the balance (or 2/3 of the total cost where the full amount has been paid) back to you, minus the £25.00 administration fee. If the property was re-let at a discounted rate, the amount of the discount will be deducted as well.
If you have taken out Booking Protect contact them directly regarding your claim.
If you have separate travel insurance and want to make a claim, we will provide you with a cancellation confirmation.
Most of our properties are pet friendly. It is indicated on the individual listings if the property accepts pets or not. Pet friendly properties can accept between 1 and 4 pets. This differs from property to property, so please check the property description before booking. There is a charge of £5 per pet per night for your pets to stay in our cottages.
Pets should not be left unattended in any of our properties. If your pet is comfortable in a secure cage, this is permitted. We request pets are not allowed on soft furnishings and they are also not permitted into the bedrooms. You are welcome to bring your own blanket/bed for your pet if they are used to sleeping in the bedroom and may get distressed otherwise. You are expected to clean up after your pet in all outside areas of the property.
The cottage will be cleaned for your arrival and on your departure. For stays of 14 nights or longer we can offer a complimentary mid-stay clean with a change of bed linen. Please contact us to request this.
The price includes all the utilities (where applicable): water, electricity, gas, heating, wifi. Complimentary bag of firewood is provided in most of our cottages. Bed linen is always provided and beds will be made up for your arrival. All our properties have towels included with the exception of The Presbytery where guests should bring along their own towels. Baby equipment (high chairs and travel cots) are available to hire in most of our cottages. There is a small charge of £5/item for the duration of your stay.
All cottages are fully equipped with cooking utensils, crockery, cutlery and basic kitchen items to make your stay comfortable. There is normally an iron, an ironing board and a hair dryer in each cottage. On your arrival you will find an initial supply of toilet rolls, dishwasher tablets, washing up liquid, dishcloth/sponge, tea towels and an oven glove. Most cottages have some additional cleaning products, bin liners, spare light bulbs and other domestic household items provided. There are no food items provided other than those as a complimentary gesture from the individual cottage owners.
We will do our best to assist you with arranging a surprise. By prior arrangement you can send an order to our office and we will deliver it to the property. Alternatively we can arrange flowers/champagne to the amount you request us to.
Unfortunately this is strictly not permitted due to insurance and safety reasons. Only up to a maximum advertised number of guests can stay in the property at any one time. Any extra guests cannot stay in tents and/or caravans outside the property.
We do our best to get your holiday to a good start, but if you experience any issues please contact our office (or the cottage owner where available). Our emergency line is available 24/7, all phone calls out of office hours are automatically diverted to a duty manager. We will aim to rectify any problems or sort out any shortages asap. All issues should be reported to us at the earliest opportunity during your stay so that we are given a chance to resolve the matter.
Unfortunately we are not able to guarantee any services that are beyond our control (broadband connection, electricity, water etc) but will do our best to assist and update on the situation.
We ask all customers to satisfy themselves with the look, style and location of the property before booking. If you have very specific requirements, please contact our office and we will be able to advise of the suitability of each property.
If, for any reason, the property you booked does not meet your expectations we will aim to relocate you to another similar size/quality property (subject to availability) or offer you a full refund. The full refund can only be issued if you do not stay at the property at all.
All of our cottages are strictly no smoking. If we find evidence of smoke inside the property we will charge you for specialist cleaning service.
The charging of electric vehicles from our cottages is strictly prohibited, unless by prior arrangement from The Coppermines & Lakes Cottages, or where a specific EV charging point has been provided for use by guests. Electric vehicle charging requires protected circuits in cottages and may draw a much higher current from the cottage which could cause damage or fire and may invalidate cottage insurance. This is a serious fire safety issue. Please contact us for details of local charging points.
Accidents happen, but please let us know asap. We may need to get a replacement item for the next guests so the earlier we know the better. We and owners would appreciate your contribution if a small item (like a glass or a plate) is broken. For larger and more expensive items we will pass the replacement or remedy costs on to you (or deduct from security deposit where applicable).
You do not need to clean the cottage after your stay as all cottages are fully serviced immediately on the departure day and prepared for future guests. We do ask you leave the cottage reasonably clean and tidy.
Our housekeeping team will remove any items that don’t belong to the property at the time of servicing the property. Valuable items are brought to our office for safe keeping, other items are kept in lost property. Please contact us if you think you left something behind and we will do our best to locate and return it to you. We will expect you to cover the postage and packaging costs which we will let you know of before we post the item. Alternatively you can collect the item from our office.
Please note: due to the large amount of items left behind any unclaimed lost property is disposed of after 1-2 months.
Customer feedback is very important to us and the property owners. It helps us to continuously improve our service and the quality of accommodation we offer. Most cottages have feedback questionnaires or visitors’ books left for you to leave feedback on the property and your stay. We also email you an interactive feedback form for you to use if this is more convenient, or simply send us a regular email.
All feedback is read and any suggestions of improvement are considered by the property owners.