Scottish Borders Holiday Cottages

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Jill - Verified booking

  The cottage is set amongst beautiful surroundings on the National Cycle Route.

  ..a narrow road with passing places. All rooms are nicely decorated and cleaning is thorough. The beds are wonderful! Unfortunately there are health and safety issues which were discussed with the owners. The hazards first became apparent when we had been in the property less than 90 minutes. In the ground floor bedroom there is a deep step found when opening the door to hang clothes on the rail..this step was not apparent as there were no warning notices to suggest that it could be an issue. As the room could be used by someone already having mobility issues a false floor would be a useful addition to bring the level of the flooring up. As one of my party fell and knocked her shoulder and arm on the shelving opposite the door we had to administer first aid. The cut on her arm was quite deep and this might have needed stitches...there were no emergency numbers evident in the cottage in fact no advice of any sort and no guest book. The owner suggested the Borders Hospital but we did not have any directions on how to get there. No sooner had we spoken to the owner concerning the deep step when we had to contact him again regarding the wood burning stove. This was a second hazard and became worse than the first when the carbon monoxide alarm was set off due to the increased amount of smoke that was seeping from the door on the stove. The outcome was we were unable to use the stove at all as a chimney sweep could not come until the day we were due to leave. The seal on the stove door was hardly visible and the cottage continue to smell of smoke until the day we left despite windows being left open as much as we could. Anyone suffering from asthma would have been unable to stay for the week due to the atmosphere and I feel as so many cottages now state that wood burning stoves are one of the features to be enjoyed there must be stricter controls and inspections to ensure their safety. Hopefully the woodburning stove can be used again when maintenance work has been carried out and the level of the cupboard floor raised so there are no further accidents.

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• Jacqueline - Verified booking

  We had a wonderful week at Kirknowe.

  From the moment we arrived we felt right at home. The seating is comfortable, as was the bed although we only used the downstairs bedroom. It may have been a bit dusty in places but you can’t expect to stay in a big house on the top of a hill surrounded with only animals for neighbours to be spotless. We spent hours watching the lambs playing about in the field outside the gate, the horses were always happy to see you and especially if they got a stroke and the cows would often come to the far side of the garden to peer over the wall to see what was going on. There was a swallow’s nest above what was once the front door and watching the young ones come and go was amazing because we could see them out of the window but they couldn’t see in. Add to that the barn owl that swooped silently at night and add to that we were there when the aurora borealis put in an appearance our stay was almost perfect. There are a few internal steps from kitchen to bathroom and bedrooms and the carpet in the hallway needs refitting as there’s a bit of a ruck in it and the vinyl flooring in the bathroom where the shower is could do with sorting out. That being said we can’t wait to go back!

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• Neil - Verified booking

  A first rate stay in a beautiful cottage by the River Tweed.

  If anything it is undersold. The grounds of the Country Estate are wonderful and. Five minute walk through the grounds and you are on the river bank. The cottage has three en-suite showers/ baths and are of good double size proportions. An excellent kitchen which is well equipped, although the addition of a steamer would be useful. Very comfortable lounge and conservatory. The Lane by the house is of no bother. Very good parking for three cars behind the house and by closing the wooden gate makes it secure for dogs and children. Plenty of wild life in the juxtaposed woodlands. The owners offered us the use of two electric bikes. All the people we had contact with were friendly, smiley and genuinely nice folk. The owls at night added to the ambience. Lots of places to visit and we had a day in Edinburgh going by train from Tweedsdale. Lots of towns and villages to visit. The river Tweed was captivating and walks along its banks with the lambs and bird life was truly captivating. We holiday in Scotland at least three times a year. This was a superb experience and we all agreed, our party of five, that we will revisit again. The week was quite superb

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• Wendy - Verified booking

  We loved our stay at Kirknowe.

  Its is much better than shown on the website and is a very large property. The scones and beautiful tulips were a very lovely welcome as was the milk in the fridge. The beds are super comfy and the lounge - well what can I say its majestic. My favourite place of all was the window seat in the kitchen where I seem to have spent most of my time..... wonderful view and so very snuggly. Wood was there when we arrived, unfortunately the lighter was out of gas but we bought some matches so all good (we have left them for the next guest). Wood is available at a very good price and we partook of this twice. House was lovely and warm as was the hot water when we figured out how to turn it up (might be worth having an info sheet in the welcome pack). All in all a wonderful relaxing and chilled week and we cannot wait to return! Highly recommend!

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• Ken - Verified booking

  We enjoyed our stay at East Lodge very much.

  The owners told us that the area is usually very much better but storm Arwen had caused lots of damage, but this was our first visit and it was still beautiful. The cottage itself is wonderful with plenty of room and everything you could need with the added bonus that you could call the very helpful owner for anything you might require. Being mid December it was very cold for the first couple of nights but the log burner took care of that ! The cottage is secluded but a short drive along a single track road will bring you to Walkerburn with another few minutes to Innerleithen with it's shops, cafe's and takeaways should you need them. At the cottage you are free to walk the grounds with just a short distance to the river Tweed, if you enjoy fishing, this is the place for you!! A lovely cottage in a lovely area, highly recommended :-)

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