New Year Cottages in Scotland

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Nick - Verified booking

  We had a nice stay here overall but we did leave a day early.

  . The owner left our children Easter eggs and decorated the room with bunting as it was Easter.. Which was really kind. The house is decorated and equipped to a very high standard with everything you need. The area is nice with plenty of pubs but you need to be aware of the opening times for food. Whilst we was there not much was open on the days that we went out. We couldn’t go out much because of the weather being so bad. The Indian takeaway is very very expensive and isn’t nice food, the Chinese takeaway is cheap and isn’t nice food, but that’s our own preference. If you fancy a takeaway make sure you know the opening and closing times as we wanted a pizza around 9pm and the pizza/kebab shop had already closed. The chippy was nice and the pubs also serve nice home cooked meals. The sweet shop is also worth a visit. As someone else stated in their review there is nowhere to sit whilst using a mirror, no plugs near a mirror either. The road outside is very busy which wouldn’t bother some people but this disrupted sleep every night for us. We don’t own a dog and we did see that the holiday home accepted well behaved dogs. Unfortunately we could smell dogs especially in the living area from the cushions and rug. I’m sure this wouldn’t bother everyone but for us as we don’t own a dog the smell just lingered but this will happen when dogs are allowed in the property. Also dog hairs were on the downstairs bed were someone has let their dog sleep in the bed which we personally think shouldn’t be allowed as people who don’t own dogs don’t want to sleep in a bed with dog hairs. The upstairs bathroom was really hot like a sauna and we couldn’t figure out how to turn off the two radiators so we kept the door closed all the time due to the heat being unbearable. The hot tub was lovely, our children enjoyed going in every day and it’s a good size! We did however have maintenance messaging us early morning regarding the hot tub to come and clean it etc… We have stayed at many holiday homes and this work is usually done without disturbing the guests. Then on another occasion they wanted to come round and put up a curtain pole which we think should have been sorted before or after us leaving the property. We decided to pack our things Thursday night and leave a day early as we felt uncomfortable and unsettled.

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• Amber - Verified booking

  Had a lovely week's stay in the cottage.

  The house is decorated to a high standard, it is larger than it appears in the photos and the winding staircase gives it so much character. Thank you for the shortbread on arrival they went down a treat. The sofa in the living room was so comfortable, it was difficult to get up after. The hot tub is very large, and could easily fit up to six people in it. The town of Moffat, while small has lots to do, it has plenty of cafes and pubs. There is an outlet shop 5 minutes away from the cottage with a lovely cafe, but be warned you can buy some stuff cheaper in other shops in the town. The toffee shop is also worth a visit to try some Irn Bru fudge. Some things to note about the cottage, it is located on a main road, so could be quite noisy with HGV's passing in the night. Parking is located on the street, but we never had an issue parking outside the cottage. A dressing table would be useful in the house as there was nowhere to do my hair and makeup and a hairdryer would also be useful. A guest book would be appreciated as I enjoy reading other people's recommendations of places to visit. In the information booklet it says you can connect your phone to the TV speakers in the room, however, when we attempted this the TV froze. When we contacted the owner asking how to resolve this, we were told not to connect our phone to the TV, so this needs amending in the information book as it is misleading. After leaving the property we were contacted by Sykes to say we would need to pay an extra fee for additional cleaning to the hot tub. This was surprising as we were present as the hot tub was refilled, and there didn't seem to be an issue. After 5 days we received another message from Sykes to say the matter had been closed with no information provided. This caused unnecessary stress and put a negative end to an otherwise enjoyable holiday.

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• Margaret - Verified booking

  Ciaran cottage was generally comfortable, clean, nicely decorated & fairly well equipped.

  The path is steep, as has been mentioned, & for a couple in our late 60's, could be a bit slippy & sore on the knees. Another couple of things which were mentioned in your reviews:- there was a problem with the shower drain - we had to clean it out as it was really gunged up and the sofa & chair don't offer good support for older backs like ours but I'm sure they'll be fine for younger folks. The dyson vacuum was also packed full and looked like someone might have used it to clean out the shower drain - it had definately been used to suck up something wet and it was difficult to get the contents cleaned out. There were only instructions for using the heaters & nothing for how to use the oven, hob or dishwasher but when I phoned the owner, he was very helpful and told me how to work the dishwasher and said that he was working on instructions to leave in the cottage for guests. The listing says it's an induction hob but it's not - it's a ceramic hob and it takes a while to heat up. The water pressure (another thing previously mentioned) is really bad, so fill some jugs with cold water if you want to have cups of tea during the day without waiting ages to fill the kettle. There was no sieve or potato masher - which would have been useful. I don't like to give negative feedback but hopefully this is helpful and on the whole we liked the cottage (the bed was comfy) and the views are great. I'm sure a younger couple would be happy there. The area is lovely and it's well worth a visit to the Crannog Centre and to book a boat trip on the loch. The co-op in Aberfeldy is really good and the village shop in Kenmore is handy for topping up with things.

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• Susan - Verified booking

  This is a lovely place, really modern and nicely decorated.

  Everything was really clean and tidy and whilst it was compact it was light and airy due to the patio doors letting in loads of light. Everything you could want for a weeks stay was provided, along with milk. tea. coffee and a lovely packet of local shortbread. The owners were not there when we arrived and I eventually got instructions to use the key out of the "lockbox", the owners it transpired were away themselves and arrived home a few days later, they made us aware of their presence but left us alone and were not intrusive whatsoever. I had read a review that said someone didn't like being "on show" and I can see why that would be as this property is at the entrance to a caravan park and there were lots of people walking past due to taking their dogs a walk from the site and there are two big patio doors on the front of the property, however, we did get over this by parking our (large) car across the front of the property which meant that we still got the light but not the people staring, I consider this was an easy option so not something that would put us off staying here again. If I had one problem it was that the beds were rather flimsy, ok for someone who is slight and under average weight but unfortunately we are not and we were concerned enough about this that we "made alternative" arrangements for sleeping in the property. That said, I would not hesitate to return to the property in the future.

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• Jo - Verified booking

  Stayed here for a short break which was lovely and relaxing.

  Good location just outside Aberlour, which is walkable distance from the cottage. Description and photos needs updating the sofa has been changed from what is in the photos to two 2-seater sofas that were comfortable initially but towards the end of our 4 night stay were hurting my back. The beds were comfortable and we had a good nights sleep every night. Plenty of facilities in the cottage, although the description said games and all we could find was a pack of cards. Plenty of books and literature though plus the television to keep you entertained. Upon arrival the outside lights weren't working which made it very dark and difficult to find the key (also seemed to set off loads of dogs barking when I was looking for it). FIrst morning the shower drain was blcoekd and water flooded the wet room (thankfully it was a wet room) managed to clear as much as possible and then informed owners who cleared it and it was fine after that. Although property is right next to the owners we didn't seem them at all (except to mention the shower). Lovely peaceful location and we did enjoy our stay despite a few niggles. I would stay here again but oinly for a short break, by the fourth night I was ready to come home.

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