Kiss Wood Cabins

Review

Where do I begin? I suppose it’s best to start at the beginning. When I first reached out to Kiss Wood Cabins, as I have done nearly 6000 other times when contacting someone that I have chosen to be in one of my books, Kisswood Cabins is a glamping site hidden away on the edge of the Peak District and the county of Cheshire, I have to say I was genuinely excited. The site seemed to embody everything I look for in a Top 100 Romantic Destination, stunning countryside views, well-designed pods, and the promise of a tranquil escape. Unfortunately, what followed was one of the worst experiences I’ve encountered in my 15 years of writing my travel guides, which led to one of the bizzarest of situations. Let me explain.

In early May 2024, I spoke with Sarah Cartledge, the owner of Kiss Wood Cabins, who I later learned operates the business, remotely from the South West of England. Her parents, Carolyn and Richard Lomas, merely just manage the site on her behalf, and I was reassured by Sarah that this arrangement wouldn’t be an issue. After a pleasant site visit on May 9th, which Sarah didn’t attend, due to her distance away from the property, Sarah’s parents shmoozed me with biscuits and coffee and as I was sat their outside one of the cabins with them, I was confident I had made the right choice. The cabins, especially the two with hot tubs, were impressive, and the scenic location was breathtaking. Over coffee with Sarah’s parents, we discussed my Top 100 Romantic Destinations in the British Isles book, my website, and my app. However, despite being impressed themselves, Sarah’s parents did inform me, that this was solely Sarah’s business and the decision with which to feature in my book solely lay at her door, not theirs. They told me to make contact with Sarah to arrange a possible video call.

A follow-up video call meeting with Sarah Cartledge on May 14th 2024 confirmed her enthusiasm still and after me running through everything with her, Sarah then agreed to being featured and understood that while I do not charge for endorsements, there is a small design fee for the book artwork, website, and app pages. She accepted this arrangement. I wrote my review based on my visit and why I had initially chosen her. However, once the artwork was sent for approval, everything then took the weirdest of turns.

My calls and emails were ignored, and instead of simply communicating any change of heart, I was totally left in the dark. When I finally reached out with a formal request for the payment of the design work and of course for the sign off on the said artwork, Sarah responded not with professionalism, but with hostility, denial, and outright dishonesty, even falsely claiming she had never agreed to the arrangement in the first place. Rather than handle the situation professionally, she chose to attack my credibility, twisting the narrative to paint herself as the victim. I’m just as confused as you are to understand what might of changed? Could her husband of gone mad at her for agreeing without his say so? Or did she just not have the funds to pay for it in the cold light of day, or is maybe the business not hers after all and maybe still her parents? One will never know, but one thing I am certain of, is that Sarah Cartledge agreed to me face to face on the video call, that she was more than happy with what I had proposed to her.

After months of chasing a resolution, I reluctantly took the matter to small claims court. Those of you whom run their own businesses will I’m sure agree, this is nothing personal, it’s just business, as we had provided a service and simply wanted paying for that said service. Yet, despite me feeling that I had a strong case, I ultimately withdrew my claim, not because Sarah Cartledge was in the right, but because I didn’t want to engage in a legal battle with the very types of businesses I’ve worked so hard to support all these years, I mean what kind of message would that send? My goal has always been to champion local tourism, not to fight those I’m trying to help. I have also, for the past 15 years, tried to convince you all that staycationing was a far better alternative to travelling abroad. I have however, since Covid reared its ugly head, found that some human beings have changed somewhat. We seem to all have less attention spans and have become very confrontational towards one another, one only has to turn on the news to see this is a fact!

But then, things took an even stranger turn. Despite me cancelling the claim, at a to cost me I my add, I then started receiving anonymous phone calls. Now it is true, that I cannot lay those anonymous phone calls at Mrs Cartledge’s door, but strangely enough the following day, a receive a gloating text from Sarah Cartledge herself, confirming to me, that this wasn’t just about money, it was all about ego, so I’ll let you all draw your own conclusions there. In this wording of her text, she took great delight in the fact that I had withdrawn my against her and even issued veiled threats against me and my business, all because she was asked to honour her own verbal agreement after all, which I find utterly despicable that she would chose to take this route.

Now then and for the record, these are the views of me and Top 100 Attractions, you can make your own judgement about this Glamping site, but in my own honest opinion, those considering Kiss Wood Cabins for a romantic getaway, I urge you to proceed with extreme caution. While this site itself in the face of it may be picturesque, true professionalism, integrity, and respect for guests and other human beings are just as important as the beautiful vista and it is in my professional opinion, those qualities are sorely lacking here. There are plenty of incredible glamping sites in Cheshire and the Peak District that genuinely value their customers and their reputation, I can name plenty, but Kiss Wood Cabins, unfortunately, is not one that I would be rushing to endorse ever again!

Joshua Stevenson - Top 100 Review