School Holidays 2017 Cottages In Perthshire

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Nicola - Verified booking

  Prior to our trip to Scotland, Roxane the host, phoned in advance to ask what we would like in our welcome pack and what activities we were interested in so she could e-mail details in advance.

  Having stayed in numerous holiday cottages over the years, this is the first time we’ve had a welcome call and thought it was a lovely gesture. Directions to the cottage aren’t clear on the Sykes website but we phoned Roxane and she guided us in. Verdi cottage is bijou, but very well appointed with quality furnishings. Freshly cut flowers, bathrobes and fluffy white towels, give it a luxurious feel. I am not a dog lover and when a cottage is advertised as ‘dog friendly’ I am normally wary, but I needn’t have been. Verdi is spotlessly clean with not even the slightest whiff of dog. The welcome pack was without doubt the best we have had in a holiday cottage. Full of fresh quality local produce and bottle of good quality wine . The bathrooms are lovely and are serviced by a huge boiler which meant we always had an abundance of high pressure hot water. The main bedroom is advertised as having a super-king bed, but it is in fact king-sized. While we were staying we asked for extra towels and a couple of items that were missing in the kitchen. They were provided without question. The cottage has access to a lovely side garden with a table, chairs and BBQ. There is also a separate laundry house with washer, dryer, detergent and an abundance of spares (cleaning fluid, bin liners, toilet rolls etc.) We also had access to a log store and Athol, the owner, offered us use of his golf clubs. All at no extra cost ! Roxane, Athol and their family live in the house across the courtyard and were on hand to recommend local activities and places to eat. We spent most of the week in and around Loch Tay at Kenmore, which is stunning and great for water sports and open water swimming. A tip for those visiting the area is not to assume that you can just walk in to a pub or restaurant and get a drink/ meal. Many places are suffering from post-Covid staff shortages and are closed for part of the week. The Inn on the Tay and the Grandtully Hotel are both very good, but booking several days ahead is essential if you want to eat anywhere half decent. The hosting most definitely made our stay at Verdi cottage, nothing was too much trouble and we felt like part of the family for the week we stayed. We were genuinely sad to leave and will definitely return.

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• Rebecca - Verified booking

  If you are looking for a peaceful, comfortable and spacious holiday cottage with stunning scenery and a great Inn close by then The Old Schoolhouse comes highly recommended.

  Our stay involved four adults and a very enthusiastic but well behaved dog.  The property has a well equipped, large kitchen diner, a gorgeous sun lounge, a big but cosy and comfortable lounge and modest sized downstairs shower room and utility area. The bedrooms are of a good size and it has a nice modern bathroom (a non slip bath mat might be a good thing to consider adding). There is a pretty garden (a stream runs down the side of it which will be mentioned again shortly), plenty of driveway and the exterior of the house looks very nice. Suggestions for improvements regarding being dog/child friendly: We appreciate that at different times of the year the stream in the garden will vary in size. It might be safer to fence this off to prevent inquisitive children/water obsessed dogs from getting in. We could never let our dog off the lead in the garden as he would have gone straight in the stream (which, due to all the rain around our stay, was quite fast flowing) and then he would have got muddy pawprints inside the house. We would hate to think of what could happen to an unsupervised child in that area of the garden. A fitted stairgate at the bottom and top of the stairs would be a huge benefit. We brought one from home with us but in The Old Schoolhouse the stairs are generously wide so it was very difficult to adapt our gate to fit the width. It is stipulated in the welcome folder that dogs are not allowed upstairs (which is the same as at our home) but if someone's dog is usually allowed upstairs then the current lack of stairgate would make it very challenging to stick to. All the carpets and furniture in the lounge and sunroom are lovely. Whenever any replacements are needed then it might be an idea to avoid getting cream again as keeping paws/children's hands clean enough to not leave any marks (especially if it is soggy weather) is quite challenging. Having said the above, we all enjoyed our holiday and the location is idyllic. The Inn on the Tay nearby was very dog friendly, welcoming and serves delicious food so was a great bonus to our stay.

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• David - Verified booking

  Nice cottage but a few issues: 1.

  Dog poo (not our own dog) on the lawn (by the bench at the top of the garden) upon arrival. Also when we arrived, the dishwasher still had items in and the tumble dryer was on. Not necessarily the owners fault, but not a good first impression! 2. No light bulbs in the lamp in the main bedroom. We sent a text message about this to one of the numbers supplied by the owner but received no reply. 3. This is a dog friendly cottage, however where is the dog meant to sleep? Our dog sleeps in the kitchen at home, but this was impossible at the cottage as there is no ‘barrier’ between kitchen and stairs / route to upstairs. As the dog was not permitted upstairs it would’ve been a good idea to provide a child / dog gate at the base of the stairs. This would obviously help with those staying with children too. The very small utility was not a good place for our dog to sleep at night and he (and we) were not happy at spending the week in there…..it was barely big enough for his bed, let alone his crate and water bowl! 4. Very tiny downstairs shower and un-usable basin. In reality this is a one bathroom cottage…..especially as you can’t access it at night as the door is blocked with dog bed! 5. The gardener turned up unannounced to mow the lawn on a day when we were all sat in the garden….it would’ve been good to get some sort of warning / note in the information booklet about what day and when the gardener was due to arrive. On the plus side, the location was very good, the cottage itself is of a good size and the garden is very nice to sit in. Good to have parking for two cars and nice to have the external power supply for my plug in hybrid car.

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• David - Verified booking

  Verde Cottage is a beautiful home from home.

  Fixtures and fittings were good quality and the welcome package was very much appreciated after a long journey. Host was very informative, friendly and we loved the dogs too. *Bed was comfy and lots of storage in the room. *Lounge seating was also very comfy and the TV package was better than anywhere else we'd stayed. Watching a movie or the latest sports, in the evening was a great way to unwind after a busy day. *Bathroom downstairs had a big bath which my husband loves. The only issue was the ceiling being a little mouldy (probably needs better ventilation over the shower) and the sink taps were very stiff. *Kitchen was well equipped and the mobile island made up for the lack of worktop space for dishing up etc.. *Outside space was better at the front. The rear entrance door lock was very stiff so we didn't use the outside space to the rear, which could be a lovely private space for outside dining or reading etc.. *Location was spot on and right near the river where you can paddle or watch people canoeing. A very short walk to the nearest shop and pub/restaurant. All we could hear was birds chirping and the river rushing. It's also a great place for star gazing. It's so dark at night we could see so many stars. I could've stayed out all night if I had a telescope. Exactly what we needed and couldn't have predicted the sunny hot weather which also helped. Dave & Wendy

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• Leanne - Verified booking

  Absolutely loved our stay at Larch Cottage .

  The cottage was so warm and cosy. We actually switched off all of the radiators as was warm enough without heating on. Loved the walk in shower and underfloor heating downstairs. 2 lovely big comfy sofas in living room, one each. The views from all of the windows are priceless, stunning colours on the trees in autumn. Open the velux and you can hear all of the birds and at night you can hear the hoot of owls all around . We took our little dog and she loved it, so many walks on the doorstep. Walked into Aberfeldy town, walked the riverside, along to Castle Menzies to name a few. Drove to Kenmore, along Loch Tummel and the scenery is spectacular & breathtaking, especially in Autumn. There are walks for all abilities, gentle to full on hiking into the hills and forests. We brought all of our own food as the cottage is well equipped for cooking, but there are supermarkets in Aberfeldy if needed. It was just such a tonic, the cottage, the scenery, I didn't want to go home.

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