Dog Friendly Villas In Moray

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Dave - Verified booking

  We had to cut our 2 week holiday short by some 5 days due to the pain caused to both my wife and myself by the bed.

  When we arrived, we found the bed mattress to be so firm it was like lying on a concrete block! In all our years of using Sykes as a company which we relied on to provide us with a good holiday, we have never had anything like this before. No matter how hard you pressed, there was very little give on the mattress, and we were unable to rest comfortably without either of us being in pain as if we had slept on the floor. in fact, I have slept on floors in tents while camping right through to comfortable ‘posh’ hotel beds with no discomfort such as this caused. Due to the amount the holiday had cost us, along with the distance travelled to get there, we had pinned our hopes on this being an excellent break, so we endeavoured to stay as long as possible. Imagine my horror of finding my wife in tears on the Tuesday morning and being unable to move due to the pain, and with her being scared to try and sleep there any more, I decided it would be better to bring her home. When we first arrived, there was a terrible musty damp smell throughout and along with the musty smell, that others have also commented on in their reviews, in the kitchen we also found a mouse carcass along with a cardboard Rodent Trap/Bait Box for Mouse Poison Control by the boiler. I appreciate the wildlife problems that can happen and understand the problems therein, but to leave a carcass in the kitchen where food is prepared is certainly not in health and safety considerations or something your guests should experience. As you know, mouse droppings etc are enough for councils to close down establishments where food is prepared. The trap in the kitchen was very dirty and covered in grime as if it had been there for a very long time. This total experience has really soured our impression of the Sykes holiday experience we have enjoyed for many years. Sykes say that they have not had any complaints so if you have had any poor experience at this lodge I would advise you to complain so that things may improve for other visitors.

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• Nicholas - Verified booking

  Quaint little cottage that heated up nicely after a chilly start!

  Beds are super comfortable, in fact more comfortable than the one at home!! The shower over p-shaped bath was fantastic…really good pressure and bathroom and separate loo were clean. Wood burner was great and heated the living room beautifully. The aga in the kitchen boosted that more and was also great. The central heating was spot on. The conservatory was like an ice block the whole week, but, we were there in Mid January but I can imagine we’d have sat in there most of the time if it was warmer. Garden is secure and we had no issues with our two dogs who are very inquisitive. Kitchen was well equipped and clean, although as I mentioned to the owners, the knives were/are very blunt but they have said they will get that sorted. The separate room off the kitchen with a washing machine and tumble dryer was great, although check your load after a few minutes as the water pressure can ‘error’ the machine as it has not got enough water, turn it off and turn it on again and then it’s fine. We took a bedside lamp from each bedroom and took them downstairs, one to the lounge and one to the dining room as the main lights were too bright for us, this then gave the perfect lighting for us. Downsides for us was the road was pretty busy with trucks (for the distillery) and cars generally, not to the point of arghhh but much busier than expected. The drive is tight for bigger vehicles, we found the ‘easiest’ way to get up was reversing but that was tricky at points due to traffic. If you take your dogs or you’re a smoker please ensure you walk the grounds before you leave to pick up your dog mess…we picked up loads of old poops that were obviously not our boys and so many cigarette butts outside the conservatory. Sad that there are some that have no respect! Would we stay here again, probably not, but that is choice not because of anything to do with the cottage.

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• Jenny - Verified booking

  We had a nice stay at larch grove.

  The house was lovely and warm which was good after a very long journey ( we come from Dorset). We had everything we needed and we got our white Christmas which was the whole point of the trip. Now to the down sides, the house is advertised as dog friendly which meant you could take your fur babies. It’s not until you pay in full you get information on your holiday. Your dogs can join you BUT they are not allowed on the furniture, they can not go upstairs and if you want to go out without your dogs they have to be left outside in the dog kennel. We have a pug and a chug who are used to having cuddles in the evenings, they also sleep with us in our room. It caused them to be stressed so one of us had to sleep downstairs with them, had we got the information straight away we wouldn’t have booked the cottage.The bathroom is lovely but the bath is not the easiest to get into, the sides are high and with it being a key shaped bath it’s hard to manoeuvre as there is a massive shower screen which I actually smacked into the basin a few whilst trying to get in and out. I also have some cracking bruises as I’m only 5ft 1 because I found it difficult to get in/out because of the high sides and the shower screen. My last gripe was that it’s easy to miss, we actually drove up and down the road 3 times before we found the cottage, it was easily missed in the dark and it is very tight drive way. You could easily turn a car round in the parking spot but anything bigger you end up doing an Austin powers (if u know the films u will know what I mean) turn. Luckily my husband is a very good driver cause if I had to do it there probably wouldn’t be a fence there any longer.

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• James - Verified booking

  There was no broadband on our arrival.

  I tried reporting the issue on the numbers given for Brodie castle and the duty manager but both went to voicemail. This was around 4pm. The Sunday morning there was a knock on the door and a groundskeeper said but had been contacted and would look at the fault. We heard nothing until Tuesday morning when we got a call to arrange a convenient time for someone to enter the cottage. I explained that we had had to travel home for my wife’s mum’s funeral on th Tuesday and wouldn’t be back until Wednesday evening so with only two days of our holiday left we didn’t want to be tied waiting for repairs. So no broadband all week. Also there were no kitchen towels provided or oven gloves. And no instructions for the heating, the sheets of paper left with information for the cottage said instructions were in a folder in the kitchen but there was no folder. In addition the garden was dug up, whilst we were made aware of this a couple of days before we arrived it was disappointing that we couldn’t sit outside as it’s a key aspect of what we enjoy. Overall it was a very disappointing experience (particularly since we originally booked south lodge).

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• Fiona - Verified booking

  The cottage was lovely and warm and cozy, we didn't feel the need to light the woodburner even though it was - 2 some nights.

  The gardens were really nice and had lots of birds visiting the feeders including great spotted woodpeckers and pheasants. The kitchen had everything you would need and it was nice to have a half and half fridge freezer. The bathroom was lovely and the shower powerful and hot, but you need to hold the shower head down first to get the pressure up but then it was fine... My only disappointment with the bathroom was the keyhole bath as being a slightly larger lady I could only just fit in the bath at the narrow end.... The bed in the king-size room definitely needs a new mattress as when you lie on it you meet in the middle and when one of us turned over we nearly bounced the other one out of the bed so after one night we had to move to the double bed which was comfortable but a bit snug... The only other gripe I have is that when you book somewhere that says its dog friendly and then when you get there find rules stating that they can't go on the furniture or upstairs which for some people might be an issue if their dogs have separation anxiety... On the whole it was a pleasant stay and was a good base to explore the cairngorms.

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