New Year Breaks In Scotland

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Leslie - Verified booking

  So much potential.

  As you head up the drive & the house comes into view it is indeed an impressive sight. Even on entering Apartment 2, it is easy to imagine the house in it's glory days with the high ceilings, wooden floors & large fireplaces. However you don't need to be there long before the cracks begin to show (quite literally in some cases). Begining in the kitchen, the drawers in the freezer were moldy around the edges & one drawer was missing. The windows were dirty on the inside, the paint on the window sill was peeling & even where it wasn't, the finish was very poor. There were four out of five bulbs not working in one of the fittings, the lighting in the work area was terrible & although there were striplights under the cupboards they didn't work. Despite the huge amount of cupboards in the kitchen, it was poorly equipped with utensils & most of the cupboards were empty & some of the crockery & cutlery needed washing prior to use. There was also a cardboard box in the corner containing rubbish & there was rubbish still in the bin. This may have been from previous tennants but should have been checked. Whilst an AGA looks very nice & is in keeping with the style of property perhaps a Range cooker may be more suited to modern life whilst still looking the part. Quick one pan meals are not really suited to an AGA that has only boil & simmer hot plates with no control. Also a useable table/ worktop close to the AGA/ cooker would be helpful (maybe a small, wheeled Butcher's block or similar) rather than having to keep walking about 6 metres between cooker & prep area. You could use the dining table I guess but it is a bit low for prepping. The AGA also made it very hot as it is on all the time & most of the windows were painted shut. The bedrooms (formerly the Library) were large & bright but again there were bulbs not working in one of them & there were only eight wooden coat hangers plus one cheap plastic one between both rooms. The bathroom although large, had just a basic cheap bath with electric shower over. Again the decoration was poor & there was the inside of a toilet roll under the radiator in the corner. The porch leading to the front door had only a battery motion sensored light on the floor which made it very difficult to see the keyhole if entering or leaving in the dark. If you first arrived in the dark it would be extremely difficult to see the numbers on the keysafe. It is obvious (& normal) that the building has gone through a number of changes (even to the extent of having plastic double glazed windows installed in places -who, how, why??) in it's life but whether the current owners or previous ones have "converted" it to it's present condition, it needs a lot more time, effort & care (& money) spent on it to really do the house justice. I believe that the main part of the house is converted into a larger two floor apartment. This was occupied by a group of Americans while I was there & I was told that they had been before & it was very nice so maybe there are plans for improvements elsewhere although I won't hold my breath. The faults I noticed are not recent. Despite all that negativity I would consider staying there again but would want to know that significant improvements had been made.

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• Confirmed Guest - Verified booking

  I have been wondering whether or not to leave this review, but on reflection, have decided this could ruin someone's holiday if they were to book here. Check in was straight forward and the gentleman who keeps the key is nice and helpful. The house, however, wasn't clean. I was informed I was the first person to stay here this year, and I hope the owner makes changes before too many more come to stay. The house is in desperate need of some updating. There is too much furniture in the house and this makes it cluttered, a lot of the furniture is old and dirty. The bed sheets were old and stained also. The carpets deteriorated. The worst issue though, was the mouse droppings all over the house and general cleanliness. Mostly in the kitchen, I didn't feel like I could safely cook a meal without having to clean absolutely everything. I contacted the caretaker, and he was very helpful. He brought the traps and bait I had asked for and I set them. Nothing was caught which told me that perhaps the house just wasn't cleaned properly since the winter. I asked him to arrange for the cleaners to come, which he did, and they came the next day. When I returned to the property, the same mouse droppings were still there, some spots he mentioned specifically to the cleaner were the droppings on the kitchen floor. It hadn't been cleaned very well at all, even though a note was left by them. In the end, I gave up and emptied the hoover and gave the whole house a going over myself. I washed the minimal stuff I needed to, so I could have some cereal for breakfast and a coffee but looking at the worktops and the rest of the kitchen, I decided it was easier not to cook. I ate out every night and had take away. There is a loud noise and banging outside the bedroom window from some structure on the roof of the Co-op next door. This has been previously mentioned apparently and was supposed to have been dealt with but if its windy, it can be very noisy throughout the night. I have photos and videos of the mouse droppings, but I won't add them. I have sent some to the caretaker. I left the house earlier than I was booked to stay until as my plans had changed and to be honest, I didn’t want to stay any longer than I had to. I hope they used that extra time with it vacant to make some improvements to the cleanliness of the house. In hindsight, I should have asked for a refund and looked into hotels in the area, but it was a busy time of year with the Easter holidays and accommodation was difficult to find at the time.

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• Paul - Verified booking

  Lovely refurbished place, the description was accurate and we thought the location was good for ourselves.

  A few minor things, none of which affected our holiday in any significant way, but the owner may want to have knowledge of; The internal doors opening on to the carpet require the bottom of these doors adjusting as it was a struggle to push to open and close. As we had dogs with us, we needed to keep door shut, so restricting the area for our dogs to the hard floor areas. We received a call about the heating, we checked it out and it was very hot, although the thermostat registered 15* degrees, we lowered it to 13 degrees and turned the individual radiator thermostats to their lowest, this made a difference. However, the radiator in the landing, which was invaded and had no access does not have an individual thermostat and if it did, it wouldn’t have made any difference as we couldn’t reach it. This raditator continued to produce some heat. The walled controller having been lowered to maximum of 13 degrees did however help. A few more kitchen funerals would help if we had not been eating out all the time would be necessary for a long stay. The amount of stairs were not a problem for us, but the depth of tread which makes them steep was a problem for an older visitor who came to see us. We couldn’t get the STV app to work on the main TV, we didn’t use the others. Please don’t think this is a complete criticism as your place suited us and we were happy to have used the place. Good luck for the future. Paul

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• Serge - Verified booking

  The environment is splendid and the stay memorable.

  Nevertheless, a few shadows obscure this idyllic setting. · It is a great pity that the cookware is minimalist, does not allow you to fully exploit the AGA cooker. · No vacuum cleaner or necessary to wash the floors to maintain a minimum during our stay · And for holidaymakers from the south with a young child (used to milder temperatures at the end of the day) and having no possibility to heat the rooms a little! But it remains a good memory French version: L'environnement est splendide et le séjour mémorable. Néanmoins, Quelques ombres viennent obscurcir ce cadre idyllique. Il est très dommage que la dotation de batterie de cuisine soit minimaliste, ne permet pas d'exploiter pleinement la cuisinière AGA. Pas d’aspirateur ou nécessaire pour laver les sols pour entretenir un minimum durant notre séjour Et pour des vacanciers du sud avec un enfant en bas âge (habitués à des températures plus clémentes en fin de journée) et n’avoir aucune possibilité de chauffer un peu les chambres ! Mais cela reste un bon souvenir

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• William Edward - Verified booking

  Some lovely touches such as flowers and fruit and cake but not bread or milk which seemed odd re the care package.

  Only shampoo in the bathroom and no conditioner or shower gel or handsoap which seemed odd compared to the first Sykes property we stayed in. Also, no kitchen roll re the expansive amount of surface and counter tops this beautiful kitchen provides. Property could be noisy depending on other guest behaviour. Also it could be cold if you weren't used to lighting fires! Aga gorgeous. Rooms gorgeous Views amazing! Good directions to the location and drive a little bumpy if you were attending in a low suspension vehicle. Generally an elegant, off grid experience with amazing space and beautiful local wildlife such as Red Squirrels and friendly neighbourhood cats! In the second bedroom the light fitting did rattle when guests walked overhead and some bulbs needed replacing in the kitchen

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