“From the Baylis and Harding soap in the bathroom to the complimentary slippers in the bedroom, this property oozed 5 star appeal.”
It has everything, hair drier, sun loungers, shampoo, conditioner, umbrella, towels, Games, washing machine, dish washer, clothes drier. You literally have to take nothing. It was so clean when we turned up. Exceptionally clean in fact.
It is a great size, we had 6 adults and we had plenty of space. Enough space so you aren't living on top of each other for a week.
The kitchen is top quality with enough pots and pans to feed everyone. The bedrooms are 2 king-size beds and 1 double bed. Again these are superb with loads of space.
The location is like a slice of heaven. So quiet with no light pollution and just the sound of the wildlife, which there is plenty of. We saw, kites, hawks, water vowels and several wild birds. The grass goes right down to the lake and there is loads of space to sunbath or just chill out. The hot tub is superb and easily seats 6 people. Its set to 37 degrees and is perfect. It overlooks the lake and is great at night time with a nice glass of red wine.
Ross-on-Wye is a 7 minute drive away and has plenty of little trinket shops and supermarkets for food and shopping. The Butterfly Zoo with mini golf is excellent. For food, go to the Beef eater on the round-a-about, its about 3 mins in the car and excellent.
We had plans to venture to Hereford and other places but we had 35 degrees so went out in the morning to buy ice lollies, then came back in the afternoon to sun bathe, fish and relax. It was too hot for anything else.
Now we come to the fishing. When looking for these places you either get a good lodge and average fishing or great fishing and an average lodge.
Not here, Phocle lakes has both. 5 star accommodation and 5 star fishing. The fishing wasn't hard, but we did have to work for it in the extreme temperatures. We had 107 carp in a week and that was fishing in the afternoons and into the evening, around 9:30pm as it went dark. The fish aren't huge. My daughters boyfriend is just starting carp fishing so we weighed all 107 fish. We only had 3 doubles, 2 at 10lb and 1 at 13lb. The rest were around 6lb to 9lb, so an average size would be 8.5 lb. Great fish and in immaculate condition. They always look bigger until you weight them and my daughters boyfriend was convinced they were doubles until we weighed them. Simple tactics caught them. Inline lead with a braided hook link and 14mm Strawberry wafter, or a Spinner Rig with a 14mm Dairy cream pop-up (from Angling direct). In truth, I think any boilie or pellet would catch them. Just be aware, these fight like the devil. Its fantastic sport.
If I had to literally scratch around for one thing I'd say the lodge needs one more sun lounger. I know it was an exceptionally hot week, but with 6 adults, 3 loungers wasn't enough.
If the owners read this I want to say thank you. You have created a slice of heaven for families and anglers alike. Its superb and I'm already looking for dates for next year.
