Large Dog Friendly Cottages in Dumfries And Galloway

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Confirmed Guest - Verified booking

  We enjoyed our week in Barscobe House. It has a lovely prospect looking over the countryside, set in a well kept estate, and a large secluded garden with a mowed lawn. There are walks starting from the house e.g. the Holy Linn waterfall, and up into the hills. It was reunion for three generations of a family, coming together from Edinburgh, Yorkshire, London and Maine USA. It was helpful having the caretaker and housekeeper staying on the estate to help with queries. We also used a local agent, who had good local knowledge. The kitchen is very well equipped: it is difficult to know what one is going to find in a holiday let, but this property has the sense of a much loved family house, well designed for catering. There were many baking trays, cake, bun and loaf tins, a blender, food processor, hand mixer, ice maker… A real old fashioned larder, 2 fridges (one with a freezer section) and a chest freezer. Ample cutlery and crockery etc. Good recycling arrangements (glass to the nearby village, or local supermarkets). Two washing machines, a tumble dryer, an old style wooden ceiling pulley for clothes (in a separate scullery). Two dishwashers. Some of the chairs and furnishing are wabi-sabi, but we found this made it comfy, and matches the house. Beds comfortable, nice cotton bedding, plumbing good, very toasty hot press to dry/air clothes. We already knew that Castle Douglas is a foodie town, and it didn’t disappoint: three butchers (we used Grierson’s, excellent), bakers, a greengrocer, and we ended the week ordering a very good fish supper from Moore’s (with a rigid insulated box and a foil-lined bag, they stayed hot enough on the 25 minute drive). The nearby village of Balmaclellan has a friendly community shop for messages like fresh milk. There are mobile fish van shops in the region too. We were lucky with the weather, but the house has a snooker table (pool too? Not my strong suit!) and lots of indoor space should the weather break - we did consider playing “Sardines”, but actually spent a lot of time exploring local attractions for outdoorsy types (some of my family has an affinity for cold water, and swam enthusiastically in Loch Ken), with the coast not too far away. We were sad (in a way) not to need the fires, that’d be cosy indeed. The “dark sky” area meant that on clear nights we could see the Perseid “falling stars”. The wifi dropped out occasionally but this wasn’t a problem for us. The caretaker was on hand on the one occasion the router needed rebooting. We understand that infrastructure improvements are coming soon. It is an interesting old building (early 20th century) that must be challenging to keep from disrepair. The windows alone are a daunting task. The hefty security deposit is unusual in these days, but I see why it is imposed, and it was repaid within the week. The entry time of 5 pm is the latest we’ve ever been offered (due to cleaning schedule, I think), but we built that into our arrival time. We had one electric car in our party: the provision at the house is currently via a standard indoor socket using one’s own trickle feed cable: rather slow, and the surcharge seemed arbitrary (not metered, rather high) - but we did opt to use it as the fast chargers in Castle Douglas were in use/out of order: the infrastructure will presumably eventually catch up (and I don’t just mean at this property). Highly recommended.

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• Alison - Verified booking

  Phoenix cottage is in a great location, with great views over the river, and close to two pubs serving food. We would recommend the food and service at The Anchor, which was only 5 minutes walk away, and it was dog friendly too. We loved the upstairs open plan kitchen/dining/sitting area, with the large balcony off the lounge; great for those sundowners when its warm enough to sit out, (we were there the last week in September), and morning coffee looking out over the water. The kitchen was well equipped and well thought out. On the ground floor there are three double bedrooms, one with twin beds, and two bathrooms with good showers. We found the beds extremely soft, which some might prefer, but we're used to much firmer mattresses. There's also a small sitting area by the utility room where we used to put our walking boots on and generally gather our stuff together ready for a day out. There are three entrance/exits. Our little dog loved the garden, he had plenty of space to run around, and was quite safe. The only negative about the Phoenix cottage was that there was an unpleasant smell in the second double bedroom, (not the master bedroom). I used Febreze liberally every day to try and get rid of it, but really don't know what caused it. Apart from the bad smell downstairs, everything else was good; clean, comfortable, (if you like a very soft bed) and spacious.

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• Confirmed Guest - Verified booking

  A lovely place, superbly equipped, with more books than you could read in a year. Supermarket in Castle Douglas open till late 7 days a week, compensating for the few gaps in the supplies. E.g. more spices than you would ever think of, but no oil; excellent dishwasher and washing machine, but no tablets; no bin liners. Excellent restaurant Mr Pooks in Castle Douglas - you should be able to afford it at least once. Note that the beds downstairs are a bit to a lot hard, maybe ask for a softer mattress? You should not need to leave, but if you do, note that Kirkcudbright is lovely with a variety of choice for food, but with Wigtown you go for the books and the lasagne and chips. If you can work out what the actual recycling arrangements are (they give 3 versions) you're a better person than I am. The Wifi is good but does not penetrate to the downstairs double bedroom - there are amplifiers plugged in but no idea how to use them.

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• Andrew Walker - Verified booking

  Phoenix cottage was everything and more. Having visited these parts for over 50 years I know that it is situated in the perfect spot in a beautiful area. The cottage living quarters are upstairs with a lovely safe balcony giving you constant fantastic views with some spectacular sun sets. We have stayed in other cottages and this is Scotland so you are not guaranteed sunshine, but on the bad days the indoor living space gives you plenty to occupy your relaxing time. This cottage has all your home comforts. It is clean fresh and has good car parking. As per a previous review we had no issues at all with any noise or building work. We all had a very relaxed and wonderful stay can’t wait to return. From the booking to leaving everything was made simple.. Thank you Phoenix Cottage.

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• Derek Robertson - Verified booking

  The cottage was perfect for our family needs. An excellent design with open plan upstairs leading to veranda with superb ever changing coastal views. The bedrooms below kept nice and cool in a heatwave. We did contact the owners about the decking which was in need of upgrading and was assured this was to be attended to. Otherwise the contents were well supplied with all one could want. The grass needed cutting and so the fine garden was underused by us. However the close proximity to walks, the beaches, ice cream shop and cafe plus good pub food near hand more than compensated. Kippford and surrounding areas are so lovely and we would recommend a holiday there to anyone who hasn’t been. For us it was a perfect week with the added bonus of perfect weather. Happy days

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