Dumfries and Galloway 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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• Easta - Verified booking

  Finding a holiday property that could accommodate our expanding family had proven difficult until I spotted Marl House.

  The price was refreshing sensible and the amount of space inside and out was wonderful. The garden was as huge as it appears in the photos, then we found 3 further large lawns off to one side. We could have had football, cricket, croquet and badminton taking place in each lawned area at the same time! The house itself had large bedrooms, plenty of bathrooms, dining rooms, games and table tennis rooms as well as a sitting room. Lots of areas to quietly read a book or chat. The kitchen was huge with a massive utility room attached. In total there were 3 large fridge freezers, two washing machines and two tumble dryers, all of which were well used. We cooked and shared meals together each day and baked biscuits and a cheesecake. All the equipment you needed was in the kitchen and generously supplied. There was no local food delivery to the house from supermarkets and the nearest shops were small. We had brought first meals and staples with us and shopped at Newton Stewart on the journey to the house for fresh produce. We also had 2 successful Amazon deliveries to the house during the week. On Wednesday tea time the mobile fish and chip van visits Garlieston, 10 minutes up the coast. The bay there is sheltered and shallow, you can walk out quite far and the water is still knee deep, the children spent hours in the sea and played on the beach. Other highlights were feeding the red deer in Galloway National Park and visiting the Otter Pools on the Ranger road, also travelling to the most southern point in Scotland, the Mull of Galloway and going up the lighthouse. The adults also enjoyed the whisky distillery tour and the gin tasting.

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• Alistair - Verified booking

  Spent 4 days at little Ireland with my husband we both had a great time and felt the flat to be very comfortable and well laid out.

  The welcome tea. Coffee etc was really appreciated it allowed us to have a wee cuppa after a long journey so massive thanks. The only negative was we weren't aware the accommodation was next door to a bar and restaurant as that would never be our choice but we tried the restaurant papa rabs and the food was amazing.. the pub noise was limited and didn't bother us at all. The only other thing is the TV we could only get LG TV which was a tad frustrating maybe option for you to look into as others might like the TV on in the morning or evening when chilling before going out etc. But on the whole we had a fab time and really enjoyed the flat which was done to a high standard very comfortably done with everything you would need.. we even tried paddle boarding which was less than a 3 minute drive away. We liked the flat that much that we left a bottle of red for you to enjoy. Thanks again happy customers we hope to book again soon. Sharon and Alistair.

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• Sue - Verified booking

  We absolutely loved the house.

  There were a couple of quite minor things - internet was problematic in room next to table tennis room. The wifi boosters did not work for much of the week - may have been linked to the router in above room. Given there was no phone signal at the property it did make it difficult for some of our party who needed to do remote work whilst away. - hairdryers - could not find one in the whole house - not a big deal for our group but may be for other groups - mattresses - these were pretty soft - but we understand that mattresses are very much a personal thing and whilst firm mattresses suit us, that may not be everyone's choice. - the downstairs toilet and cupboard next to aga smelt very strongly of oil. - table tennis room - lock did not work (looked to be the wrong sized barrel for the door). We could secure the property with an internal door so was not a big deal.

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• John - Verified booking

  Marl House is a wonderful place to stay.

  We had a family gathering with Granny and Grandad, three sons and families together - all told eight adults and seven children ranging from 14 years to 4 months. The kitchen is superbly equipped plus two dish washers, two washing machines and two spin driers - brilliant for managing meals and all of the things that young families need. The gardens are excellent for family sports and the range of games in the house (for all ages) has something for everyone. There is plenty of room in the house for people to find their own spot - or to be together. Local beaches (and kayaks at the Isle of Whithorn boat club) give great scope for seaside activities. Harvest was under way while we were there. The area is quiet and rural. If you want a holiday haven for yourselves, comfortable, well equipped and full of opportunities for your own activities, Marl House is hard to beat.

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