Dog Friendly Cottages In Scotland

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Jacqueline - Verified booking

  Branklyn Cottage is a lovely National Trust property based in Branklyn Gardens.

  The cottage is well maintained and was lovely and clean, with a welcome tray waiting for us on arrival, consisting of scones, jam, tea, coffee, shortbread biscuits and even some hot chocolate; there were even some dog biscuits, bowls and towels for our dog. There is plenty of storage in the bedrooms and plenty of clothes hangers also. The kitchen is quite small but provided everything needed; cutlery, pots, pans, plates, bowls, baking trays etc. There was an under-counter fridge/freezer, dishwasher, oven, hob, microwave and toaster. The gardens are excellently maintained and were in their early stages of blossoming. Every time I went for a walk through the garden I noticed something different! There is also a tea room serving a collection of drinks, cakes and scones; all of which were sampled and enjoyed! Special mention for the cheese scones which were made on the premises every day and were delicious. There is,parking for bikes and one space just at the entrance to the gardens for a small car although the car park for Branklyn Gardens is just a few minutes walk. Now for just a few small negatives; we were mainly ‘self-catering’ for our 2 week stay and had arranged for our shopping to be delivered, (not realising that there is a large Morrisons literally 10 minutes drive away) but when it arrived there wasn’t much space in the kitchen to store dry products. Staff arrive very early on a morning and their storage space/ plant growing area is right outside the cottage main door, so don’t expect to be able to ‘sleep in’ after 8/9am, and there is a small garden border just outside the main downstairs window. This didn’t cause any real problem for us but the dog didn’t like people being so close to the window! The staff were exceptional, very friendly and always stopped for a chat; you could tell that they were all interested and happy with what they were doing but also interested to hear our views etc. There was nothing that was too much trouble for them. I would certainly recommend Branklyn Gardens and Cottage. A lovely place to stay in gorgeous surroundings, with brilliant staff and volunteers.

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• Heather - Verified booking

  Our stay at Branklyn Cottage over Easter was magical and one we will never forget.

  The property is located in the grounds of a botanical garden steeped in history, with an on-site gift shop and tea-room. The property itself is quaint and traditional with a very cottagey feel; it’s compact downstairs with a spacious master bedroom and cute twin room which was ideal for the children. We didn’t bring our dog on this occasion, but it would be ideal for a couple and their dog. The property is in a great location, within walking distance to the centre of Perth and within a short drive of lots of attractions for the children. The most memorable thing about our stay was the wonderful National Trust for Scotland staff and volunteers who were so kind to the children. They were on site daily, but we didn’t feel this was intrusive in any way – you can engage with them as much or as little as you like. The children were keen to get involved so the lovely staff allowed them to help with their volunteering tasks in the gift shop, café and around the gardens, with little jobs that made their day! Out of hours when the visitors have left the grounds, it was like having access to a secret garden and the children loved exploring the grounds first thing in the morning and playing hide and seek in the evening. Spending time at Branklyn Cottage allowed us to connect as a family and go back to the basic pleasures; it’s ignited a love of gardening and respect for nature in us all. We felt it was a real privilege staying at such a historically significant property and we will definitely make a bee line for more National Trust for Scotland properties on our next adventure in Scotland

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• Paul - Verified booking

  Cottage was ideal for our needs, although small it was comfortable for a weeks holiday 2 adults, 2 teenagers and a dog.

  The kitchen had everything we needed, a little snug but was sufficient for the week, digital tv and internet to keep 2 teenagers happy. My wife loves gardening so I will take her word for it that the gardens were beautiful, all the staff and volunteers on site were extremely friendly and happy to chat and share information about the garden and the area. Perth centre is within a 15 minutes walk along the river for shopping bars and restaurants and perth itself is a great central location, within an hours radius you can be in edinburgh, the cairngorms, the trossachs and amazing empty beaches and for golf fanatics, courses abound. Lastly our 4 legged friends will love to go wild in the open spaces, I made the daily morning walk up the wooded paths of kinnouil hill which is literally on the doorstep and provides spectacular views of perth and the river tay and the dog went wild in natures playground. our weather was mixed but it didnt matter in between shopping, walking eating, drinking, swimming, foot golf, crazy golf, water adventures and beaches in dundee, segway at falkirk wheel, zip wires and a crazy dog we all enjoyed our time in perth and our comfortable little cottage, we even enjoyed sitting in the window watching the visitors to the gardens! cakes in coffee shop arent bad either.

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• Janette - Verified booking

  We really enjoyed our visit to Rarsaidh holiday cottage, the location was spectacular, just amazing.

  just a few points to note, I would consider essentials like, salt, pepper, cooking oil and kitchen roll to be at hand. This property is 10 miles from the closest shop which is not always open, ie closes for lunch daily and closes on sundays, and thereafter the closest coop is a 40 mile round trip. thankfully we took all these "essentials" but other travellers may not be so well prepared. other items deemed "desirable" like milk, coffee, tea and extra bin liners may also be considered. the local pub in wintertime is only open thursday to sunday and only the bar area, so there was no where to eat out at all. not a worry for us, but worth noting for you to take absolutely everything you need. we had a bit of a problem with the heating which took us a couple of days to figure out but we got there in the end. unfortunately the gas fire stopped working after 2 days in and we called out the estate manager to help. he was super helpful and came out immediately to hoover the soot out of the fire and it was solved quickly, he was really helpful in every way. otherwise our stay was excellent, we appreciated the rural nature of the property and if travellers bear that in mind when choosing to book it, they too will have a lovely stay.

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• Mary - Verified booking

  The location is brilliant and we chose to be in Branklyn in autumn for the colour - we were not disappointed!

  The garden is the prime attraction and Perth and the surrounding area have much to offer. The beds and seating are very comfortable and the shower etc was fine. It was very cosy and the hosts from the National Trust could not have been more helpful, particularly in sorting initial problems with the tv. it is possible to walk into town though dark wet nights made that less attractive during our stay. Shopping would be virtually impossible without a car. We had not appreciated just how small the living area was and how little room there was to sit down to eat. So we ate breakfast standing. For a cottage nominally for four people, it would have been cramped if there had been four of us. Fortunately we had already decided to eat out all the time but had to use the oven one evening and found the oven very slow and barely effective in heating a simple pizza. The wood burning stove was a great asset on some very wet windy evenings, but the starter pack consisted of one log and some matches. Also supplied was one roll of thin toilet paper, which felt meagre considering the price of rental for a week. I would and will return for the garden, but maybe not for the cottage itself.

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