All in all a great week after a shaky start! I complained and, to Sykes Cottages credit, within 24 hours the issues had been resolved.
When we arrived I really felt like going home again. The table was sticky, there were bits on the floor. Some of the kitchen cupboards were unclean, resulting in me putting all the crockery through the dishwasher.
The balcony, balcony table, the apartment windows and balcony balustrade glass were filthy - the amazing view was obscured through not just the weather on the glass but smears, where, possibly, others had tried wipe the glass in the past.
I complained and, to Sykes Cottages credit, within 24 hours the cleaners had been back, cleaned the floor, balcony, outside table and apartment windows. (I had cleaned the table and crockery by this point)
Though the balcony balustrade glass was not cleaned, we finally felt able to relax and enjoy the amazing view which is a key reason why we chose this apartment.
The swimming pool was only available on 3 days of out stay - another key reason for choosing the apartment and, therefore, quite disappointing.
We did throughly enjoy our stay, it is a beautiful apartment, just unfortunate that we needed to complain to see the accommodation brought up to standard.
The local area that was rejuvenated for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Events is fantastic. A beautiful marina and walkway. The Boat that Rocks is a good place to eat.
The apartment is walking distance to the beach where we spent much of our time paddle-boarding (we brought our own equipment but the national Sailing Academy is on Portland and courses / equipment hire are possible from here - sailing, wind surfing, kayaking, paddle boarding, kite surfing)
From our apartment we could watch ships arriving and departing port, sailing boats in the bay and the helicopters coming in to land and take off at the Heli National Training and Development Centre - which we throughly enjoyed. There is evidence of the demise of the area due to the Navy moving away: the derelict building next door, and run down pubs towards the port.
There are lots of info boards about the history of Portland, through the ages, during Naval occupation and regarding the Olympics which are interesting to read. A D Day Museum, and Tanks and Torpedos on display on the kerbside - fascinating.
We highly recommend the Frontline Cafe run by Firefighters - Portland Bill and the High Angle Gun Battery
We had a great week!