Reviews of our holiday home
The property was warm and cosy with its oil-fired heating, plus a real log burning stove for extra ambiance
Très joli appartement, calme, bien équipé. Accueil chaleureux de nos hôtes. Très bien situé, avec beaucoup de randonnées à faire, de lieux à visiter. Nous recommandons vivement.
Very nice apartment, quiet, well equipped. Warm welcome from our hosts. Very well located, with a lot of hiking to do, places to visit. We highly recommend.
Brilliant place with everything you'd need. Such a quiet and peaceful village. Would definitely love to stay again! Steve and Yvonne's cosy cottage is a real 'home away from home'. Clean, well decorated and nice touches make it an ideal place to return to after a day out exploring the local sites. Steve and Yvonne are great hosts - warm welcome on arrival and ensure you have everything you need for a great stay. Highly recommended!
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in this cottage. It was in an excellent location, was spotless and had everything we needed. We were on top of Ballater which had amazing restaurants. Would highly recommend the Lochnagar curry house and the Clachlan Grill! We were also a short drive from Balmoral castle and beautiful walks down the River Dee. Steve and Yvonne were great hosts and communicated quickly if we needed anything!
We stayed here in large part because we needed a place that was within easy striking distance of both Aboyne and Tarland, which it is. We did not realise when booking how really lovely the immediate surroundings are! There are a couple of beautiful lochs that you can easily walk to and around; and the 'Vat' (a massive 'pothole' left by glacial melt waters 10,000 years ago), a beautiful Celtic/Pictish cross 1,200 years old, by the lakeside, and so on. (Nearby Tarland is likewise good for walking.) The cottage itself is spacious, immaculately kept, quiet, and comfortable in every way. No complaints whatever. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay.
Terrific place to stay close to the Cairngorms and Balmoral with a beautiful lake to walk around right next door!
We had three nights in Yvonne’s cottage. It was faultless. Location excellent: 15 minutes from Ballater and 10 minutes from Loch Kinord nature reserve. Glorious walking country. Beautiful, spacious, tastefully renovated traditional cottage, done to a really high specification. Every possible thoughtful touch to make for a comfortable stay. We had amazing weather so we were out and about most of the time but this is the sort of cosy home where we would have been quite content to light a fire and relax on a wet afternoon. Yvonne was the perfect host: helpful and caring but very discreet. Our comfort was important to her. Highly recommendable.
We stayed in the cottage for a short break to enable us to visit my aunt and cousins, whilst being able to visit Banchory, Ballater, Braemar and the castle grounds at Balmoral. All within easy driving distance. Yvonne lives just across the road and was able to meet us upon arrival and show us round. We parked at the back garden designated parking area and tended to use the back door thereafter. The cottage was warm and clean, comfortable and well appointed and the rainfall shower in the bathroom was excellent, both in terms of pressure and hot water. The cottage had a Hive heating system, which was on timed and could be made even cosier if the wood burning stove was lit. Logs and kindling being provided. The kitchen was again well appointed and had everything you'd need for a stay of a week or more. Beds were comfortable, linen was good quality and the towels fluffy.
Considering the cottage in the small hamlet of Dinnet was just off the Banchory to Ballater road, there was no noise at all and nice and quiet overnight. Yvonne's husband, Steve is a joiner and this showed in the quality and finish of the doors, stair handrail, lounge shelves etc. The tv was of a good size too and wi-fi reception fine. Nice walks from the front door, through the back of a little playpark and to two lochs, which would be very pleasant to walk round and enjoy the views and wildlife. Were we to spend time in the area again visiting my aunt, we would be very happy to stay at the cottage and would certainly recommend it to others. I should say that I am very fussy as to where I stay and usually do a lot of research homework before booking a property. The cottage and our warm welcome did not disappoint. Thank you to our hosts, Yvonne and Steve.