Wagtail Cottage

A wonderful cottage in a lovely setting, with beautiful sunrises and sunsets and great walks for the dogs. Just bear in mind that the village winds down at the end of summer. The shops close, and the chip shop was shut too, but that wasn’t a deal breaker for us.

We had a wonderful break at Wagtail Cottage with our two dogs. It’s a lovely dog-friendly place, and we’ll be returning. The cottage was spotless, with thoughtful decor and finishing touches. The kitchen had everything we needed, and the bathroom looked recently renovated and was excellent. We slept soundly in a very comfortable bed. We visited in February when it was very cold, but the heating was so good we had to turn it down. I’ve read the recent reviews and honestly couldn’t find any of the issues mentioned. I really think that reviewer must have stayed in a different cottage.

Lovely decor, good facilities and a great view.

We stayed in August 2021, and the cottage was in an utterly despicable state, unsafe and unhygienic. We paid £1200 for the week and expected far better. It was the worst standard of cleanliness and quality we’ve ever encountered, and we could have stayed in a 5* hotel for less. Inside the main cottage, every wooden floor was filthy. Within 20 minutes our four-year-old son’s feet were black with dirt, and we have photos. There were balls of fur under the settee, dirty and dusty skirting boards, and an extension lead in the main bedroom that was covered in dirt and hadn’t been PAT tested. I wiped one wooden slat with a floor wipe to show how dirty it was. The conservatory door was broken and filthy inside and out. There were also serious maintenance problems. The kitchen floor slats were loose, with some sticking up as a trip hazard. The bathroom base was duct-taped along the sill. The step into the conservatory was coming away, and our child fell there and grazed his knees. The garden was tatty, full of weeds and dead leaves, with old cigarette butts all over the BBQ. The garden furniture was broken. A hosepipe, wheelbarrow and ladders had been left on the patio, and unsecured metal debris was behind the summer house. Both presented risks to occupants and children. Sharp rusty chicken wire ran the whole length of the rear fence, and the side fence was made of industrial metal barricades propped up by angled planks of wood and not secured. The summer house was filthy too. There were cobwebs all over the door, dead insects on the floor, and a dead mouse in a glass candle holder on the tabletop. Its door handle was broken or missing, paneling was coming away from the wall, and the dartboard was hanging off. Old pipework stuck out of the wall, an electrical socket had been filled with polly filler, and holes had been filled with bubble wrap. We spent the whole first day cleaning the cottage and garden. We started on the summer house, but after cleaning the doors, we decided not to use it because of its condition. The dirt was bad enough, but the obvious hazards to us and our four-year-old were unacceptable. We reported the accommodation to the Scottish Tourism Board and Dumfries & Galloway Tourism centres to highlight our miserable experience at Wagtail cottage and the poor standards we believe the owner/Sykes Cottages reflect. There seemed to be no quality checks to make sure the advertised accommodation was acceptable, given the health and safety problems we found. The location is stunning. We didn’t leave when we arrived only because our excited four-year-old was looking forward to a beach holiday, so we had to make do with what we could. As parents, we had to be extra vigilant after our son was injured falling over the defective conservatory step. That should never happen in a holiday cottage charging 5* prices. We were utterly disgusted by our stay at Wagtail Cottage and won’t recommend it. Neither the owner nor Sykes cottages took responsibility. They shrugged it off, which was utterly deplorable behavior from both.