Unfortunately, we had a bad start here, the paperwork we received from the booking company said to contact the owner before arrival to ensure keys would be available. We spent three days trying to contact the owner before setting off (morning, lunch and evening) with no result! We contacted the booking company a number of times to get alternative numbers which they were reluctant to give, and they didn’t work either. We tried to cancel the holiday as we had a long way to travel and didn’t want to arrive and no keys available. This created a stressful unknown start to the holiday that we hadn’t banked on, hoping for a stress-free break.
We found the lodge easily and the view and setting are immediately amazing, and it is this reason that improves the score from what would otherwise be a 1 out of 5. From the lodge you can see mountains in the distance including Ben Nevis, the canal almost wraps round the house with the occasional boat passing and the view forwards is simply wonderful. The view that is less evident from the brochure although is listed in other reviews is that to one side of the lodge is a scrap yard for trucks, and to the other a number of mobile homes. That being said with the curtains closed on one side of the property its only when you go out that you notice these distractions and realise it’s not the solitary place that some of the photos suggest.
The track to the lodge has very large speed bumps and potholes, our car did bottom out on these and we noticed other residents of the area having similar problems, a vehicle with larger ground clearance sound be ok.
On arrival although the tap water is brown and from a spring which we didn’t mind, its not until you read through the file in the property that it states the water must be boiled. Had we known this prior to arrival we could have brought water with us for the first night as the younger members of our party didn’t want tea, coffee or hot drinks. The remaining days we managed to put a plan together but the first night I would recommend you arrive with bottled water.
After the initial wow of the property which could be simply stunning, looking round you notice that outside looks like a building yard with bags of cement, large builders’ bags of gravel, railway sleepers laid about to make a fence. The property is completely unloved, sofas stacked up on chip board, the fence in front of the property rotting and falling down, water coming into the kitchen, two main blinds missing from the lounge/ dining area, a blind missing from bedroom 3, the blind in the main bedroom installed away from the wall so it is not effective, broken shower door, water doesn’t drain away from the shower. No point trying to inform the owner as we had no luck, and many of these things have been reviewed in the past and are still issues now.
The property was generally clean but there were a few bags of rubbish outside the property left from the last guests, the wood burner was full of ash, although once we had emptied it and cleaned up it was nice to see it lit and adding ambience to the room after a long journey.
All in all, it wasn’t the experience we had expected, but a real shame as a little bit of effort could make this place simply amazing!
All bookings are direct with the owner 