Christmas Cottages in Ireland

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Kevin - Verified booking

  The property itself was very spacious, but very dusty & lots of cobwebs all around.

  The table mats need to be replaced they are very worn & tatty. There was an issue with ants in the utility area. The outside lights were not working & it was so very dark at nights outside & as a result of this my elderly mother had a fall & banged her arm, it could have been worse. Christine the caretaker was very helpful when I rang her about this, she got onto the owner straight away, he then sent an electrician out the next morning. He condemned the lights but managed to get a light working in the one outside the front door. He rang the owner who agreed to fix only one out the back. The lights are not much use until you get inside & turn them on. The street lights outside were all not working at all, all filled with moss inside them etc etc, so the whole place outside was pitch black, again a very dangerous place in the dark. This needs to be addressed for everyone not just number 13. It would be nice when travelling to the house & arriving late at night to have had at least a small welcome box with milk & bread in it, like in previous years. We have stayed in many of these holiday homes over the years & I can see so many cuts backs apart from the cost of them. Even the electric is so very pricey. The inside decor needs attention, where paint has come off the cream walls, they have been patched up with white paint in blobs. For the cost of the rental I would of expected perfection

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• Margaret - Verified booking

  Lovely house with superb view.

  Very clean and excellently equipped. Probably the best equipped house I've stayed in. Very close to local pubs, shop and ferry. Some nice walks from the house and the beaches are lovely - would be great for swimming in warmer weather. Overwhelmingly positive feelings about the house and very glad I booked it but there were a couple of negatives. The house does get cold when the weather is not so warm and doesn't seem to retain its heat too well even though the walls are very thick. The gas heating is good but could be expensive if left on for long periods (there are plenty of warnings about this in the information folder in the house). We turned off most of the radiators and heated only 3 rooms in the evening and on a couple of chilly mornings so we weren't shocked by the cost of gas and electricity at the end of the holiday. There was no information about where we could park though a word with the caretaker sorted this out - it would have been good to have this information before we got there or even in the information folder in the house. There was also no information about where the bins were situated so we just used the ones beside the adjacent houses. Fish and chips from the take away were a bit pricey considering the chips were from a packet and were not hand cut (a bit disappointing).

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• Malcolm - Verified booking

  Whispering Willows is ideally placed for exploring both Northern Donegal and across Lough Foyle into Northern Ireland.

  Unfortunately for us the Foyle Ferry was not operating which does put on additional time reaching attractions such as the Giant's Causeway. There are some fantastic places to visit closer at hand all of which were very well detailed in the guest book. The cottage is very well equipped with an abundance of coffee/tea and other essentials. Fiona the owner, although we did not meet was very easily contacted and readily available to offer help/advice. The weather whilst we were there was not the best with rain and strong winds, the wind especially seemed to draw the heat out of the cottage such that the back boiler in the fire did not seem to heat the radiators. There is however a secondary oil fired system which does require the insertion of 1 euro coins, the 2 euro facility does not work. When this was loaded the cottage heated up very quickly. A normal metered system with readings and payment/unit may be easier for people. 1 euros seemed to be hard to get for some reason. Heating apart ( which Fiona was made aware of), the cottage was fantastic and we would most certainly try to re-visit in the summer to make the most of the fantastic beaches close at hand.

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• Robert - Verified booking

  The property is not to a standard to give a comfortable winter break, the temperature in the living area was only 16c .

  If the oil fired central heating on its high setting used 1 litre per hour, oil is charged at €1 per litre which is 27+% over its actuall cost . All the heat was sucked up the open fire chimney. We used 60kg of coal , 5 baskets of peat and 1 bag of logs. Total cost of heating €81 for 6 days to attain at temperature of 18c at the end of the 6th day. This issue was exasperated by a draft around the double bedroom window, no seal around the loft space doors in the upper bedroom and no flap valve on the toilet extractor fan . All heat was lost if you opened the front door because there was no porch. A hot tap was not fitted on the left hand side , good job none of us is blind ( Europe Standard) . A sink was loose on wall , and the hot water tank had no insulation at all. I also think the bed quilts were not winter tog , their was not one sharp piece of cutlery. Dust in the corners and cobwebs all over. Bed room lay out was very poor, I'm sorry there is no finesse or care visible on this property.

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• John - Verified booking

  We had a lovely stay in the cottage the location was ideal for what we wanted to do.

  . The cottage throughout was spotless, extremely comfortable (kids adored the corner sofa). Everything worked perfectly but what made it special was the little touches that you have that make it better than a hotel stay. The umbrellas and torches at the door ready for use, the books dvds and games available, the jams, tea coffee etc that are in the kitchen. Your welcome book is very well laid out and planned it’s clear a lot of time and effort went into it. They are small things but they mean a lot. Since coming back work colleagues etc have been asking about the cottage and I have been recommending that if anyone is considering heading up to your part of the country they should definitely consider the whispering willows as a place to stay and will continue to do so, if we are ever having an extended holiday in Donegal again it would certainly be very close to the top of our list. Thank you for the use of your cottage we had a lovely time

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