Maison de vacances pour max. 4 personnes
Tarskavaig, île de Skye, Royaume-Uni

« We stayed a week there in June 2017. The location and the roads to it are fantastic and quite remote even though the pictures are misleading: the view is not at all the one of the picture, blocked on one side by a close hill and on the other by vegetation. Also, the house is very close to another (part of the same croft).

We are experienced and tolerant travellers far away from luxury hotels or group tours, but for this rental there were too many points which spoiled our stay:
- Strong, almost disgusting smell of cold smoke (old fireplace probably letting smoke in) and old and/or humid furniture and carpets. We removed all the carpets (the wooden floor is very beautiful), did not do any fire, opened windows for long times, burnt perfumed candles (fortunately left by former renters … or the owner?), but each time we returned into the house, we faced this unpleasant smell. We even did not want to put our closes in the sleeping room cabinet because of its smell.
- Cleanliness was just OK, not perfect. Edges on the soil were not cleaned since long, spots on old couch (we preferred covering it) and carpets, sponge and mop not rinced (disgusting), salad bowl not perfectly clean, some greasy kitchen tiles and the kitchen ventilation grid was so black greasy that we did not dare using it. However, all bed linen and towels were perfectly clean at least.
- Many items to be repaired or too old : the couch, too old and uncomfortable (we sinked more than 30 cm deep when sitting down), similar for the bed in the sleeping room (old spiral matress – we had our backs aching the first days), chair in kitchen broken, tap in bathroom dripping a lot (we don't like wasting water – difficult to find the right position to stop it), shower in a very narrow bathtub to be reviewed (difficult to stand without losing balance ; shower fixed in the middle, but curtain in the corner), clothes drying rack broken, peeler broken, pans to be renewed.
- A topic in itself : the shelf with left-overs from former renters and the spices rack. Many food items expired since long and many of the spices on the rack were greasy - one of the spices expired in 2010!
- This one is maybe more difficult for the owner, but the central heating system with the « Rayburn » (old stove which also was made to cook) should be revised. The description was so complex, the engine so old, apparently impossible to regulate the temperature in the different rooms and our fear so big their could be additional smoke leaks/smell that we decided not to try it and heat only with the provided electrical mobile heaters.
- Other points making the cottage not very welcoming : no table outside, old stuff/rubbish along the house, the cupboard without doors and old stuff in it you see when you open the house is really ugly, minimalistic welcome message with a lead pencil on a note pad, maybe not renewed since long), no flowers or small gift
Really a pity because with some willingness and a minimum investment this cottage could be fabulous. Without I would not go back (but we are sure to go back to Scotland :-) ). We had another one week stay just before, not much more expensive (sure, not on Skye … in the Stirling area) which was fantastic. » « We stayed a week there in June 2017. The location and the roads to it are fantastic and quite remote even though the pictures are misleading: the view is not at all the one of the picture, blocked on one side by a close hill and on the other by vegetation. Also, the house is very close to another (part of the same croft).

We are experienced and tolerant travellers far away from luxury hotels or group tours, but for this rental there were too many points which spoiled our stay:
- Strong, almost disgusting smell of cold smoke (old fireplace probably letting smoke in) and old and/or humid furniture and carpets. We removed all the carpets (the wooden floor is very beautiful), did not do any fire, opened windows for long times, burnt perfumed candles (fortunately left by former renters … or the owner?), but each time we returned into the house, we faced this unpleasant smell. We even did not want to put our closes in the sleeping room cabinet because of its smell.
- Cleanliness was just OK, not perfect. Edges on the soil were not cleaned since long, spots on old couch (we preferred covering it) and carpets, sponge and mop not rinced (disgusting), salad bowl not perfectly clean, some greasy kitchen tiles and the kitchen ventilation grid was so black greasy that we did not dare using it. However, all bed linen and towels were perfectly clean at least.
- Many items to be repaired or too old : the couch, too old and uncomfortable (we sinked more than 30 cm deep when sitting down), similar for the bed in the sleeping room (old spiral matress – we had our backs aching the first days), chair in kitchen broken, tap in bathroom dripping a lot (we don't like wasting water – difficult to find the right position to stop it), shower in a very narrow bathtub to be reviewed (difficult to stand without losing balance ; shower fixed in the middle, but curtain in the corner), clothes drying rack broken, peeler broken, pans to be renewed.
- A topic in itself : the shelf with left-overs from former renters and the spices rack. Many food items expired since long and many of the spices on the rack were greasy - one of the spices expired in 2010!
- This one is maybe more difficult for the owner, but the central heating system with the « Rayburn » (old stove which also was made to cook) should be revised. The description was so complex, the engine so old, apparently impossible to regulate the temperature in the different rooms and our fear so big their could be additional smoke leaks/smell that we decided not to try it and heat only with the provided electrical mobile heaters.
- Other points making the cottage not very welcoming : no table outside, old stuff/rubbish along the house, the cupboard without doors and old stuff in it you see when you open the house is really ugly, minimalistic welcome message with a lead pencil on a note pad, maybe not renewed since long), no flowers or small gift
Really a pity because with some willingness and a minimum investment this cottage could be fabulous. Without I would not go back (but we are sure to go back to Scotland :-) ). We had another one week stay just before, not much more expensive (sure, not on Skye … in the Stirling area) which was fantastic. » Commentaire de atraveo: Nous avons transmis le commentaire au prestataire pour un contrôle qualité.