School Holidays 2017 Cottages In Scottish Borders

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Nina - Verified booking

  Wow, what a fabulous, spacious property.

  The kitchen was very welcoming, and I enjoyed cooking in there. The beds upstairs were extremely comfortable. There are two single beds downstairs which I’d overlooked, I had thought these were upstairs, one is comfortable the other not so. I feel that putting a king /double bed downstairs would work better and either adding a single to a double bedroom or exchanging them would be more beneficial as our youngest child did not want to sleep downstairs by themselves. Unfortunately, the property wasn’t as clean as I would of liked. I had to clean as there were tea stains on the living room floor and lots of dog hair from the previous guests ( we were dog free) and after I swept up it would have been nice to be able to clean over the floor without leaving it all wet, as a mop and bucket would have(and the one available was not in good order) so a speed mop would be very helpful to clean the wooden floors. I also had to wash the blankets that were on the sofas. I think other guests have used these for their dogs as these were covered in dog hair, not nice to sit on! Weirdly some of the tea towels were covered in dog hair but that is obviously not the property owners fault! I would recommend Briggsy’s butcher for fabulous tasty delights and Jedburgh deli for your cooking needs. We had a trip to Kelso and the local garden centre, there is an amazing fruit and veg shop selling unusual fruits and tasty breads. Definitely worth a visit! All in all a great week away.

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• Karen - Verified booking

  When we arrived the keysafe wouldn't open.

  We called Sykes who weren't able to help as they could only tell us the code - which we already had. Fortunately a neighbour knew where the cleaner lived. In the end I managed to get the safe open with my car key, just as the owner called to make sure we were ok. Castlebrae is generally an attractive, comfortable and well maintained cottage, but our booking in December was marred by the kitchen and dining area being far too cold to sit in. The fully-glazed dining area (which has a very pleasant aspect over an attractive garden) has one radiator, which works, but is not at all adequate to heat the space in cold weather. We had to eat off our knees in the sitting room. This was extremely disappointing as I'd asked Sykes before booking if the cottage was fully warm as we intended to stay in a lot. I'm sure the cold in the dining room wouldn't be a problem in better weather, although we note that other guests have also made the same comment, so there was awareness of the problem. The location of the cottage was incorrect on Sykes website, although I understand this has been addressed. We would recommend Castlebrae for warmer months but until the heating issue has been addressed definitely not for winter months. At the very least there needs to be an extra plug in heater. The cleaner was super helpful and the cottage was spotlessly clean.

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• Kevin - Verified booking

  We have visited Netherraw for three years running however, sadly this will be the last time.

  As a positive if you want isolation and great night skies and walks on your doorstep, Netherraw is perfect. There is hardly any noise, so you can hear the wildlife all around you. The upstairs bedrooms now have hangers for your clothes and ample drawer space. Sadly, the negatives we found were numerous. The shower basin easily flooded and water spilled over on to the floor. The only way to avoid this was to turn the shower on get wet, turn the shower off, lather up and then rinse off. Which isn't what you expect to do. This was raised last year when we came, but nothing has been done, in fact it is worse. The extractor fan isn't strong enough to cope with the steam in the shower room, so we had to leave the door open for it to escape. Not ideal but thankfully there was only the two of us. The toilet seat in the shower room, the laminate is cracked underneath and looks like it would soon start to peel off. The hot tube was part of the attraction of going to Netherraw, especially after long walks. On the second day we removed the hot tubs cover only to find that the headrests were damaged through wear and tear, their coverings were cracked and in some places none existent exposing the foam/cushioning underneath - so we decided not to use it. The overall feeling for us was that through usage the cottage just needs a bit of TLC.

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• Hazel - Verified booking

  This home was lovely overall.

  Great base for exploring the area. It's situated almost at the top of a steep hill so provides great views and very close to Jedburgh Castle Jail. Parking is on the street but not a problem. Enclosed garden was perfect for our dog although very overgrown. The very efficient gardener arrived during our stay and made such a big difference, it was beautiful. We had trouble getting the oven to work as we are used to gas so it would have been useful to have instructions to hand rather than downloading them, but we managed. Heating instructions would be handy nearer the boiler as we struggled until we came across them in the info folder. The house was very clean throughout but the lack of maintenance to the woodwork made it somewhat tired looking and it would make a massive difference and really lift the appearance and feel of the place. It's clearly been a loved home and would make a fab place for us to return to and we wouldn't hesitate.

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• Philip - Verified booking

  We come to Jedburgh regular to visit family, this time was a little sooner than planned due to a bereavement.

  The cottage is lovely and well equipped (could do with clothes Airer as nowhere to dry clothes other than on radiators), beds made lovely and helped having bread, milk and biscuits on arrival. The big down side is the cleanliness, like I say the beds made great but it was like that’s where it stopped. There was mess on floors, dirty tissues in bottom of bin, filthy sponge beside a dirty sink, dog paw prints on patio doors and spillage marks down kitchen cupboards. Upstairs bathroom doesn’t lock as it’s broken and the tiles in front porch got very slippy coming in with our snow boots. Maybe I’m picky as I own my own cleaning company but the stand of cleanliness was for sure below par and all the guests said the same as we had to freshen up as we got there. We would stay again due to great layout and where it is etc for family but I would come more prepared to do a freshen up it up before we stayed again.

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