Lake

Reviews of Blythcliffe

3.5 out of 5
Blythcliffe
37 Rue Balguerie, Akaroa

Reviews

9.4

Exceptional

Rating 10 - Excellent. 17 out of 20 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 2 out of 20 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 0 out of 20 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 0 out of 20 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 1 out of 20 reviews" "

9.4/10

Cleanliness

9.8/10

Staff & service

8.8/10

Amenities

8.8/10

Property conditions & facilities

9.2/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Chris

Stayed 1 night in Feb 2023

8/10 Good

DAVID

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great accommodation, great hosts, and great breakfasts. As one of the oldest former residences of a bygone era, this property is a perfect choice when visiting the historic French settlement of Akaroa.

10/10 Excellent

Carol

Stayed 1 night in Nov 2022

10/10 Excellent

Lexie

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Wonderful hosts- went the extra mile.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2022
Response from Lesley on 5 Aug 2022
Thank you Lexie for your kind review - am hoping you had a pleasant trip home, cheers!

10/10 Excellent

Paula

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
A beautiful old villa set in a gorgeous garden. Breakfast was delicious, and the hosts very friendly. I wish I could have stayed longer. The only downside was the very low shower pressure.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2022
Response from Lesley on 30 Apr 2022
Cheers for your kind review Paula - our EQ repairs will take care of that shower pressure!

8/10 Good

Peter

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Lots of space in the stables, lovely large and comfortable bed, nice breakfast, large garden and courtyard
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2022

10/10 Excellent

Graeme

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This is a fantastic unique place to stay Gorgeous House, wonderful warm hosts and best poached eggs ever!!
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2022

10/10 Excellent

Nick

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
We both loved this home, amazing to think it is the oldest lived in home in NZ at 164 years old, it is truely the perfect stopping point if you are visiting Akaroa. It’s peaceful, historical, lovingly and authentically restored. It is in the centre of everything, walkable to many attractions and eateries. The gardens are lovely and the rooms perfectly dressed. The hosts are amazing, well worth the stay just to meet them. You won’t be disappointed with the breakfast, again it was perfect. We both give this accomodation a 10 out of 10 and will return. Akaroa is beautiful and charming and so is this home.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2022

10/10 Excellent

Mark

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Akaroa Homestead
Very welcoming- the Stables was a awesome space - breakfast was very good - relaxing environment & gardens were very nice
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2021
Response from Lesley on 7 Nov 2021
Thanks Mark fir your kind review, it was lovely to have you stay, come again!

10/10 Excellent

Paul

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Lovely environment, great people!
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2021
Response from Lesley on 7 Nov 2021
Thank you for choosing Blythcliffe- it was lovely to have you stay:)

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The property is a lovely old home, very comfortable lovely gardens. The owners are super people and very welcoming. we thoroughly enjoyed our stay
Stayed 4 nights in Feb 2021
Response from Lesley and John on 9 Mar 2021
Thank you so much for staying at Blythcliffe, we very much enjoy showing her off to our guests!

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great hosts and amazing historic property. The breakfast was so good. We will definitely be going back.
Stayed 5 nights in Feb 2021
Response from Lesley and John on 9 Mar 2021
We do love our breakfasts! Thank you so much for staying with us and fit your kind review :)

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Perfection in a place where that is a high bar. Close to the hurly burly when you want that and it is an oasis of calm, luxuriant beauty, stuffed with history, charm and artistic flair. Your hosts are welcoming, warm, intelligent and super talented with a back story which is fascinating, who doesn't want to be around folk who were set and costume designers for Lord of the Rings etc? The Building is beautiful and historic, the gardens are magnificent, lush and wonderful and they even have doves! The breakfasts are also plentiful and brilliant with home made prize winning jam and marmalade along with everything else a big hotel would offer. We will definitely be back.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2021
Response from Lesley and John on 9 Mar 2021
Dearest Anonymous, thank you so much for your lovely encouraging words! We definitely aim to give our guests a special holiday experience in our wonderful old historic home:)

10/10 Excellent

Bruce, Wellington, NZ

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Excellent hosts, superb breakfasts, and an amazing venue. We loved our time here.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2021
Response from Lesley and John on 9 Mar 2021
Cheers Bruce! Thank you for coming and for your kind review:)

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Wonderful welcome to 2021
The stay was incredibly lovely with amazing, attentive hosts. Wonderful history and beautiful grounds. Delicious breakfast. We will happily come back to stay again!
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2020
Response from Lesley on 7 Jan 2021
Awesome! Thank you so much for your lovely review - we're really happy that you enjoyed your stay at our lovely Blythcliffe:)

10/10 Excellent

Duncan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Excellent stay
We really enjoyed the stay both the accommodation and the excellent hosts. Just an awesome place to relax and enjoy the gardens food etc.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2020
Response from Lesley on 7 Jan 2021
Awesome! Thank you so much for your lovely review - we're really happy that you enjoyed your stay at our lovely Blythcliffe:)

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The property condition is "old"; after all, the house was built in mid 1800! Still, the rooms offer coziness and charm; the gardens are lovely, owners are friendly, and the breakfast is spectacularly wonderful.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from LBH on 8 Dec 2019
Thanking you kindly for your review - our wonderful old Blythcliffe offers character in spades! Thank you for coming and safe travels :)

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
An historical house which has been sensitively and elegantly furnished by the owners John and Lesley who welcome you to their own home and gorgeous garden. Very relaxed and laid back.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2019
Response from LBH on 5 Dec 2019
Thank you so much for your kind review - it’s very important for John and I to know that guests feel welcome and at home in our lovely old Blythcliffe!

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Travelled with family and small children
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The bed and bathroom are clean, other places are very dirty and dusty. Vintage doesn’t mean dirty, there are lots of spider silks around the little garden and walkway outside the staple suite, the room has no air conditioning, which mean you have to open some windows for ventilation, but all windows are actually glass doors, if you open windows mean you open the doors while sleeping without locking, next to our room is a backdoor entrance to and from the street, but it was not locked! Which means at night, if you want to have ventilation and open some “windows” of your room, people from street can enter your room freely without a lock, we were not dare to sleep at night!
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019
Response from LBH on 10 Jan 2020
Oh dear! We have never received such a poor review in several years of operation. Just to answer your points of unhappiness- All of our rooms are kept very clean. Not dirty. There are definitely spiders in our country garden and pathways and the odd web does escape us, thank you for drawing our attention to this, we have given them a thorough going over. It is true that we do not have air conditioning at Blythcliffe. it is however possible to open a set of double windows that is not a door in The Stables. The door into our courtyard from the quiet village street is not kept locked, this is also true. Akaroa isn’t a huge metropolitan city such as you are used to. It is a small New Zealand rural village with 600 permanent residents. We are all thankfully very safe in our beds and sleep very soundly without fear of attack. We are all very safe at Blythcliffe. We do understand that you may not be used to some of the main differences between country and large city life which may make you more nervous than usual. May we humbly suggest that in future, please bring your concerns to management while you are still at the property- then we can do something to help you. We very much hope that you found something to like during your stay at Blythcliffe, with kindest regards, Lesley and John