Isle of Bute Self Catering cottage, Kean's Cottage, Rothesay, sleeps 12

It Was Great, It Should Have Been Excellent
This is an utterly beautiful house in an equally beautiful setting. Superficially there are not enough nice things to say about it. There is a "but" however. It has 5 stars from the Scottish Tourist Board, and the corresponding price (self-catering in Scotland for the price of all-inclusive on a Greek island), so it's going to be held to a higher standard of scrutiny than other properties. Criticisms: it's the little things that bothered me. Not enough to ruin the holiday by any means, but a 5 star property should look after the minutiae better or they're not a 5 star property. - Flaky paint in the bathrooms and on the doors - the place is booked out continuously so little maintenance jobs like this are obviously getting ignored. - Some of the doors don't line up so cannot close properly (including bathroom doors which is a problem). - There's a cracking £1,400 integrated coffee machine - it doesn't work. - The microwave switched on into "demo mode" and needed an online hunt to find out how to actually use it. - The hot water is dangerously hot. I know a certain temperature needs to be maintained to avoid legionella and the likes, but that's asking to scald a child (or indeed an adult) - especially when not all the taps are mixers. - Some lights were not working. - One of the benches outside fell apart when sat on. - More basic consumables would be a better touch, especially for a 5-star property. No-one wants to buy a month's supply of bin bags, dishwasher tabs, etc. to stay somewhere for a week or a weekend. On top of that I'd think that a place of this standard should have a proper outdoors seating area, not just a couple of park benches and picnic tables. Maybe also a barbecue area. I would definitely recommend this place though. We were lucky with the weather and the kids spent more time in the loch than out of it! Flies were a pain, but it's the west of Scotland, so you'd expect nothing less. Even the dog had a great time.
Wacky-B-
2021-07-05

Breathtaking, inside and out.
Breathtaking location, beautiful extensive grounds, loch view, safe for dogs, totally and utterly peaceful. The property was equally stunning, great attention to detail, amazing rooms, well kitted out kitchen, beautiful good quality fabrics and furniture. The property and location made this a wonderful holiday. I can't recommend it enough, damn good value for money.
JuAl0407
2018-10-18