New Year Breaks In Scotland

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Rachel - Verified booking

  Won’t be staying here again Initially all seemed well.

  Contact from the owner was helpful and very detailed. However, once we got here things started to go downhill. Once we finally got in the front door which was swollen from the weather, the house had a weird smell (we live on a farm so weird smells are normal), but it was unexpected and annoying as it seemed the source was the house itself. We soldiered on and thought we’d make a nice meal. Sadly there isn’t a single sharp knife in the whole place with most of them even refusing to cut cheese without coaxing which is annoying for a family who don’t live off microwave food. Plus some of the pan lid handles came off as we used them rendering the experience dangerous as we attempted to get boiled food out of an almost sealed unit. Not to be deterred we moved to the living area, sadly it soon became clear that you could eat a meal on rotation (2 at a time) by setting up your own table and chairs as the outdoor seating wasn’t available. You also could not watch tv and eat. Never mind, we aren’t big tv fans so we settled in for an evening of reading and games. Unfortunately the lighting in the living area is so poor that we couldn’t sit and read without causing ourselves a headache. Then darkness settled in and so did the cold. It quickly became evident that the master bedroom which is “cosy” was in fact Baltic cold overnight as the external door leads off it with no insulation and the bedroom has single glazing (as does the living area, wash room and other entrance/hallway which makes the whole place freezing). You also only get supplied with one thin duvet each meaning you cannot layer up other than with your own clothes which is what we resorted to. Helpfully the heating is on a timer, but it remains a mystery how to get it to stay on longer than the hour morning and a few in the early evening that it’s been set to and the log burner enthusiastically heats the living room only and that’s if you sit on it. As we are made of tough stuff we tried to stick it out and rebranded the holiday an adventure. Upon waking from a cold night we ventured back into the kitchen to find that the tap water was cloudy again, we had assumed it was cloudy due to lack of use, but this seemed to indicate otherwise. We are fairly hardy types, but we agreed it was best to boil the water to drink it making yet more faff. After day three in the freezing and not user-friendly house we popped a few walking stained items in the washing machine only to have soiled water gush out once the cycle was finished and cover us and the floor. As no towels (as per the advert) or indeed any cleaning cloths are provided we were left soaking up the water and cleaning the area with our own items yet had no way to wash or dry them afterwards. Back in the kitchen, the dishwasher has no washing tablets supplied which was fine for us as we had bought washing up liquid with us, but would likely be annoying for guests who don’t as they’ll then need to venture back out to do a 12 mile round trip in order to do any washing up. Final nail in the coffin was finding no way to dry our apparently unwashed items as there is no airer which seems slightly short sighted in Scotland in winter. Maybe a BBQ and outdoor dinner would have healed a few wounds, but sadly the equipment advertised was invisible or maybe had been borrowed by the local Laird. So on what would have been day 4 we packed bags at 6am and went home as I couldn’t keep my child warm, cooking was a farce, we couldn’t wash or dry anything and I wasn’t convinced the drinking water was actually drinkable, amongst the other issues with the place. We’d spent £400 plus fuel to get there which for us is a significant amount of money and we consider it badly spent. We have complained, but have been told that we should have allowed the owners to rectify the issues. Not sure how they’d have fitted double glazing during our stay or washed and dryer our clothes, but apparently this means no refund. Also the owners state they cannot be contacted until after 6pm and the property has no mobile signal so it seems a bit tricky to actually make contact whilst there. You do get a free bottle of wine and some locally made biscuits which are a lovely gesture, but they fall short of being able to fix what should have been a relaxing break and instead felt like an episode of Faulty Towers mixed with Holidays From Hell. We did a deep clean before departing in a very British effort to keep the peace, but it’s safe to say that we won’t be back.

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• Carolyn - Verified booking

  We arrived at Cairnhill Cottage on the Friday in May.

  We were without central heating AND hot water from the Tuesday. Only enough logs to make a fire one night. Hand to boil the kettle to wash. Reported but they could not fix it. So by the time we left the following Friday, it still wasn’t repaired. The cottage was still without heating and hot water. The cleaners turned up, we explained the situation and they would either not clean or do so without hot water!! The greedy owner STILL. proceeded with the booking the week after us, knowing that the property wasn’t fully compliant. And guess what, it wasn’t working all week because the owner accidentally messaged us the following week apologising that they were without heating and hot water. And even worse LIED stating “don’t know what has happened as it’s never happened before!” Really, as it did the week before. After the holiday, we messaged Sykes for help. Explained the situation. Explained that one of the elderly members of the party who suffers from COPD had taken very poorly after the stay and both kids had a serious cold. They refused any help and hid behind GDPR. Tried to engage with the lady who was the point of contact (but allegedly not the owner) upon our return. Abrupt; un-cooperative and then blocked my number. Claimed the owners pay Sykes to deal with such issues. Sykes claim it’s the owner’s responsibility. Don’t normally leave such scathing reviews and had Sykes and/or the owner engaged then I may not have. However this is customer service at its very worst. Book at your peril.

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• Martin - Verified booking

  Lovely cottage surrounded by woodland.

  The location of the cottage was perfect. Very tranquil & peaceful. The garden was well tended & looked really pretty at night with the colourful solar lights. We didn’t see any red squirrels & unfortunately no deer entered our garden but that could be because we had a dog. We saw red deer in the next field though which was nice. Despite the current energy crisis the cottage was warm & we thank the owner for that as a cottage we stayed in earlier this year in March was freezing cold & locked to 14 degrees. The only negatives I would give to this cottage was that the mattress in the double bedroom exacerbated my disc problem & the cars, trucks & vans driving on the single track road next to the cottage speeded & I mean speeded. No thought given whatsoever to the wild animals living there, dog walkers, pedestrians or other road users. It even limited our walks along the road as we felt it too risky. Would highly recommend 20mph signs on the road or even better 10mph. Fortunately, it isn’t a busy road so it didn’t ruin our holiday. All in all we would highly recommend this property.

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• Julie - Verified booking

  Beautiful house.

  As I'm from an interior back ground there was a few things. Missing from bedrooms more storage tv in rooms a console unit with mirror and chair in the main bedroom upstairs for doing your hair and makeup. Sorting out the curtains mainly upstairs they need lined .shortened and make in to eyelets. Nasty mark in top bedroom carpet looked like a pooh stain needs attention. Back garden has holes were our big dog kept escaping we had to up chairs around to make it safe. Couldn't find ironing board. Could do with a bigger fridge and freezer. Parking outside the house was like winning the lottery .mainly people going to the ship for food would park in front of the house and think nothing of it. Was very impressed with the good bedding and mattresses and towels.and shower products used. Sofas were nice apart from horrible nylon covers over them. For the price there is a few things that need to be done to be 5 star rating.

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• Helen - Verified booking

  Just had a wonderful week at rose cottage.

  The weather was extremely kind to us considering it was the end of September. The cottage is clean and comfortable and the owner was on hand if we had any problems. The summer house in the garden is a cosy haven to sit and watch the wildlife. We were lucky to see deer in the field next to the property and red squirrels in the woods adjacent to the cottage. There was also plenty of bird life including jays, tree creepers, goldcrests and all the other more common garden birds. Lochnaw is a short walk from the cottage and well worth a visit, you might even be lucky enough to spot a kingfisher. Bruce our dog loved the huge garden and the peaceful walks through the woods and around the loch. We did keep him tethered on a long lead in the garden as it's not completely secure. This was our first visit to the cottage and it certainly won't be our last.

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