Castle Douglas Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Confirmed Guest - Verified booking

  We enjoyed our week in Barscobe House. It has a lovely prospect looking over the countryside, set in a well kept estate, and a large secluded garden with a mowed lawn. There are walks starting from the house e.g. the Holy Linn waterfall, and up into the hills. It was reunion for three generations of a family, coming together from Edinburgh, Yorkshire, London and Maine USA. It was helpful having the caretaker and housekeeper staying on the estate to help with queries. We also used a local agent, who had good local knowledge. The kitchen is very well equipped: it is difficult to know what one is going to find in a holiday let, but this property has the sense of a much loved family house, well designed for catering. There were many baking trays, cake, bun and loaf tins, a blender, food processor, hand mixer, ice maker… A real old fashioned larder, 2 fridges (one with a freezer section) and a chest freezer. Ample cutlery and crockery etc. Good recycling arrangements (glass to the nearby village, or local supermarkets). Two washing machines, a tumble dryer, an old style wooden ceiling pulley for clothes (in a separate scullery). Two dishwashers. Some of the chairs and furnishing are wabi-sabi, but we found this made it comfy, and matches the house. Beds comfortable, nice cotton bedding, plumbing good, very toasty hot press to dry/air clothes. We already knew that Castle Douglas is a foodie town, and it didn’t disappoint: three butchers (we used Grierson’s, excellent), bakers, a greengrocer, and we ended the week ordering a very good fish supper from Moore’s (with a rigid insulated box and a foil-lined bag, they stayed hot enough on the 25 minute drive). The nearby village of Balmaclellan has a friendly community shop for messages like fresh milk. There are mobile fish van shops in the region too. We were lucky with the weather, but the house has a snooker table (pool too? Not my strong suit!) and lots of indoor space should the weather break - we did consider playing “Sardines”, but actually spent a lot of time exploring local attractions for outdoorsy types (some of my family has an affinity for cold water, and swam enthusiastically in Loch Ken), with the coast not too far away. We were sad (in a way) not to need the fires, that’d be cosy indeed. The “dark sky” area meant that on clear nights we could see the Perseid “falling stars”. The wifi dropped out occasionally but this wasn’t a problem for us. The caretaker was on hand on the one occasion the router needed rebooting. We understand that infrastructure improvements are coming soon. It is an interesting old building (early 20th century) that must be challenging to keep from disrepair. The windows alone are a daunting task. The hefty security deposit is unusual in these days, but I see why it is imposed, and it was repaid within the week. The entry time of 5 pm is the latest we’ve ever been offered (due to cleaning schedule, I think), but we built that into our arrival time. We had one electric car in our party: the provision at the house is currently via a standard indoor socket using one’s own trickle feed cable: rather slow, and the surcharge seemed arbitrary (not metered, rather high) - but we did opt to use it as the fast chargers in Castle Douglas were in use/out of order: the infrastructure will presumably eventually catch up (and I don’t just mean at this property). Highly recommended.

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• Confirmed Guest - Verified booking

  Lovely large house, great location, close to shops, park etc. The house was very well equipped and stocked all our essentials ie toilet rolls, washing up liquid, even tin foil, cling film and sandwich bags. There were 10 of us split over a 2 week stay at Braidwood, 5 children & 5 adults. The house had plenty of large rooms to accommodate us all. The children really enjoyed the garden and the park out the back gate. We all walked round the park by the loch, the kids enjoyed playing on the playground. Made our way back with a walk up Queens Street. I enjoyed sitting in the garden at night & early morning, while everyone was in bed, having a cup of tea and a cigarette, it was so peaceful and the different birds certainly kept me entertained, the robin especially came to greet me every morning. 2022 was my 25th year of staying in Scotland for my annual summer holiday, my late mother's people were all Dalbeattie folk born & bred. I lost my mum 8 years ago, also losing my eldest brother 4 weeks after mum's passing. They are laid to rest in and around their favourite places, Sandyhills, Rockcliffe etc. They are all together at Sweetheart Abbey alongside my aunt (mum's sister) and her son (my cousin) My Summer holiday are sort of like a pilgrimage to visit my loved ones resting place and a promise I made too my mum on her last visit to Sweetheart Abbey, that every year I would visit with flowers. I also visit the Haugh of Urr were some of mum's family are laid to rest. I hope that one day I will get to stay at Braidwood again, I'm opting for a much quieter holiday next year without all the grand kids. As always booking through Discover Scotland my holiday is always 100% satisfactory. Great Property in a Great Location...Thank You for an amazing holiday on behalf of myself and family members who stayed with us. See You All Next Year

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• Owen - Verified booking

  What a wonderful place to stay!

  A very well equipped, comfortable cottage, with a lovely view of hills and a large pond. Everything you could ever need for a holiday base. The hot tub is a fabulous bonus, we were star gazing in that most evenings. The pool table was fun too, we had not played pool for years. There are many good books to read, sky TV, all you want if the weather is bad and you wanted to cozy up indoors. The lodge is very stylish and warm, but you also have the benefit of a wood burning stove for those chillier evenings. It is a very short drive to the shops in Castle Douglas.Threave castle and gardens is nearby. You take a boat ride to the castle, which is unique. Another great castle to visit is Caerlaverock castle, it has an unusual design. There are lovely woodland walks in Dalbeattie forest to Kippford Bay, which is a nice place to visit. There's a great pub restaurant (The Anchor Hotel) which serves fantastic food. A must do is feeding the wild goats and red deer, we took several kilos of carrots and they were gone within minutes. Hahaa Logan's fish pond is a unique place to visit, and Logan's Botanical Gardens is amazing! The Wood of Cree is another beautiful place to visit, with lots of waterfalls. Walks around Glen Trool, Kirroughtree, Clatteringshaws Loch are wonderful. Of course you can walk up the Merrick, if you are fit enough. A drive down Raiders road is good if you want a nice forest drive. Stinchar falls is another nice walk to a waterfall. There are many waterfalls to discover in the Galloway, if that is your thing. Eskrigg nature reserve is a great place for bird watching and looking out for red squirrel. There's so much to do in the Galloway, a week simply isn't long enough. We will definitely stay at Hardhills Cottage when we next return to the Galloway, I doubt you could wish for a more lovely place to stay. Thank you.

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• Stephen - Verified booking

  Extremely well equipped, lovely cottage in a quiet edge of village setting.

  Southern Upland Way passes right by the door. Nice touch on arrival; milk, teabags and biscuits provided and much appreciated. Rear garden gravelled throughout with table and chairs to enjoy the view. Bedroom is a little narrow as described and care is needed. Kitchen has everything for a comfortable stay. Placement of the toilet roll holder made us smile, located on the wall behind the toilet. For convenience, suggest moving it to the wall opposite, next to the radiator. We didn't use the wood burning stove in the lounge, but can see others may appreciate it. Cold times of the year however, may require adjustment of the electric heating timings. Overall a very pleasant stay and would not hesitate to recommend the cottage. Plenty of interest in the area to keep visitors entertained. Thanks for the stay from Anne, Stephen and the dogs.

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• Roger - Verified booking

  Handy location for my activities at Forest Lodge where I needed to come and got at random times and have food preparation facilities.

  Didn't have chance to use the log burner due to being out most of the time so not worth lighting the fire, but noticed that although there were a reasonable number of logs there was no spare kindling for a second fire if I had used it. Thankfully the storage heaters just about kept enough warmth in he cottage to allow me to be reasonable comfortable in the cold weather. Only real issue was that the bedroom was rather cramped and I found it impossible to walk down the side of the bed especially with arthritic knees and being a large person. I ended up having to move the bed to one side to increase the space on the other side so that I could squeeze into and out of the bed. In general the cottage was good for my purposes and I am probably looking to book it again for next year - just sad to notice a sizeable price rise for next year.

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