Villas In Dumfries And Galloway

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Nick - Verified booking

  We had a nice stay here overall but we did leave a day early.

  . The owner left our children Easter eggs and decorated the room with bunting as it was Easter.. Which was really kind. The house is decorated and equipped to a very high standard with everything you need. The area is nice with plenty of pubs but you need to be aware of the opening times for food. Whilst we was there not much was open on the days that we went out. We couldn’t go out much because of the weather being so bad. The Indian takeaway is very very expensive and isn’t nice food, the Chinese takeaway is cheap and isn’t nice food, but that’s our own preference. If you fancy a takeaway make sure you know the opening and closing times as we wanted a pizza around 9pm and the pizza/kebab shop had already closed. The chippy was nice and the pubs also serve nice home cooked meals. The sweet shop is also worth a visit. As someone else stated in their review there is nowhere to sit whilst using a mirror, no plugs near a mirror either. The road outside is very busy which wouldn’t bother some people but this disrupted sleep every night for us. We don’t own a dog and we did see that the holiday home accepted well behaved dogs. Unfortunately we could smell dogs especially in the living area from the cushions and rug. I’m sure this wouldn’t bother everyone but for us as we don’t own a dog the smell just lingered but this will happen when dogs are allowed in the property. Also dog hairs were on the downstairs bed were someone has let their dog sleep in the bed which we personally think shouldn’t be allowed as people who don’t own dogs don’t want to sleep in a bed with dog hairs. The upstairs bathroom was really hot like a sauna and we couldn’t figure out how to turn off the two radiators so we kept the door closed all the time due to the heat being unbearable. The hot tub was lovely, our children enjoyed going in every day and it’s a good size! We did however have maintenance messaging us early morning regarding the hot tub to come and clean it etc… We have stayed at many holiday homes and this work is usually done without disturbing the guests. Then on another occasion they wanted to come round and put up a curtain pole which we think should have been sorted before or after us leaving the property. We decided to pack our things Thursday night and leave a day early as we felt uncomfortable and unsettled.

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• Amber - Verified booking

  Had a lovely week's stay in the cottage.

  The house is decorated to a high standard, it is larger than it appears in the photos and the winding staircase gives it so much character. Thank you for the shortbread on arrival they went down a treat. The sofa in the living room was so comfortable, it was difficult to get up after. The hot tub is very large, and could easily fit up to six people in it. The town of Moffat, while small has lots to do, it has plenty of cafes and pubs. There is an outlet shop 5 minutes away from the cottage with a lovely cafe, but be warned you can buy some stuff cheaper in other shops in the town. The toffee shop is also worth a visit to try some Irn Bru fudge. Some things to note about the cottage, it is located on a main road, so could be quite noisy with HGV's passing in the night. Parking is located on the street, but we never had an issue parking outside the cottage. A dressing table would be useful in the house as there was nowhere to do my hair and makeup and a hairdryer would also be useful. A guest book would be appreciated as I enjoy reading other people's recommendations of places to visit. In the information booklet it says you can connect your phone to the TV speakers in the room, however, when we attempted this the TV froze. When we contacted the owner asking how to resolve this, we were told not to connect our phone to the TV, so this needs amending in the information book as it is misleading. After leaving the property we were contacted by Sykes to say we would need to pay an extra fee for additional cleaning to the hot tub. This was surprising as we were present as the hot tub was refilled, and there didn't seem to be an issue. After 5 days we received another message from Sykes to say the matter had been closed with no information provided. This caused unnecessary stress and put a negative end to an otherwise enjoyable holiday.

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• Rhona McMichael - Verified booking

  Despite being very freshly painted outside, inside is a different matter. The cottage is damp, wallpaper coming off wall and ceiling in double bedroom, carpets threadbare, the 3-seater settee broken, the place was dirty and I had to start cleaning the kitchen before I could use it. The windows don’t look to have been cleaned for months inside or out & the amount of flies going about gives the game away. I left the cottage 2 days after I arrived with bites all up the back of my legs, the last straw. I advised Discover Scotland I was going to get stronger antihistamines and wouldn’t be returning but wanted to complain about the state of the place and was asked to send a detailed email & photos of my bitten legs to which I did weeks ago and they have been giving me one excuse after another since, the site managed was off last week & they needed to talk to them before they could progress my complaint, well we are now Wednesday the following week and again I’ve heard from no-one. I wouldn’t recommend shelduck cottage OR Discover Scotland, they were happy to take my money but have done nothing to help get me any of it back, £575 wasted on a filthy place that they say they check regularly? That furniture hasn’t been cleaned in years & there’s no padding left in the table seat cushions & they haven’t been painted in years either, absolutely disgusting, I left without taking photos of the property as by the time I’d been bitten I’d had enough & just wanted to get more antihistamines & go home. Entry was 4pm Sat and I left just after 9 on the Monday not having one walk as the Sunday rained heavily, the cottage was the only place I could have got the bites and Discover Scotland have avoided me since, terrible customer service, and now I also note all the recent reviews don’t have names, just ‘trusted customer’. I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone

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• Confirmed Guest - Verified booking

  There were many positives about staying in Bruce apartment. It was clean and comfortable (especially the bed). The welcome pack containing home made bread, eggs, scones, homemade jam and other goodies was great. The facilities were good although a few more dishes in the kitchen would be useful, eg teapot, cafetiere and a larger number of items of cutlery/crockery so that it wasn't necessary to put on a half filled dishwasher after every meal so that there was enough cutlery/crockery for next meal. There had been storms which blew down trees the weekend before we arrived causing damage and there was no internet. As I had planned to work from "home" one of the days the estate manager kindly provided access to another property with internet access, which was much appreciated. However, not having internet access generally was a limitation, particularly for the younger members of the group. The other issue that became obvious over time was that a number of the radiators were not heating up so the apartment wasn't cosy, and as our stay fell over Christmas period there were limited options for resolving this. We did like the apartment and would still consider a propert at Penninghame but our stay would have been more comfortable had the heating been working adequately and internet had been working.

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• Roger Cruden - Verified booking

  The cottage is in ideal spot for Nature enthusiasts and outdoor lovers. Lovely reserve to walk around plus bonus of beach. Garden is secure and our two wee dogs enjoyed running around. Watched a barn owl fly past most evenings so great bonus. House is comfortable but has a few issues that don't make much difference over a week but in reality do need sorting out. Hot water does come eventually if you leave tap running but takes eternity. Lack of tumble dryer is inconvenient as we had our share of rain and yes, it has a washer dryer but these invariably are useless. The shower had broken rail holder (top and bottom) and the headset is poor and the holder is also broken and the water flow is very poor which I suspect is because of the head as it is a Mira Sport shower that are normally a good shower. I noticed in a review that a previous guest had left (in the folder) that they said the windows need cleaning as visibility was poor but I tried that and the problem is within the double glazing so in reality the windows need replacing and finally the door latch is stiff and difficult to operate

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