Ardmun House - waterfront villa that sleeps 6 guests in 4 bedrooms

For the last 6 years we have spent some of our summer vacation in the Cowall Penninsula and I always spend some time looking for the best place to stay. Ardmun House was a great find - the location is an ideal base for visiting so many different places and the house has everything that you need - a real home from home. The property is fully fenced and was therefore safe to let the grandson and dogs enjoy the outside space as we enjoyed the view of the water and beautiful scenery. Superb property.

Ardmun house was so homely and in fantastic surroundings, the family loved it. The Benmore Botanical gardens was so stunning, and only ten mins away.

I have stayed in the surrounding Dunoon area for many years, Ardmun House was the most disappointing property we have stayed in . On arrival after a very long drive with children and a dog, we found the parking arrangements were not as expected. Having passed the house during the summer, I noticed there appeared to be only on-road parking and emailed the letting agent. I still have the reply which states there is parking at the rear of the property. The problem is the lane is very narrow, I have a small car but due to neighbours putting a shelter across the middle section of the road it was impossible to drive down. There is a further problem as there is a boat in Ardmun's back garden so near the gate its impossible to park or reverse. This mean't there was only on road parking. The road is very busy, with buses throughout the day and although the speed limit is 30mph a great many cars ignore this driving much faster. Unpacking the car was a nightmare in the rain. The house is reached by three lots of fairly steep, very slippery in the rain, steps, There is no hand rail for the top steps. We found there was also no light at night, the lighting only comes on once the middle section is reached. I tripped up twice, have a massive bruise on my arm because of this. Its not unreasonable to what to go out at night but the choice is the dark, handrailless steps or the dark lane at the back of the house. The washing machine and dryer are in a defunct garage (its not accessable by car) at the back of the house, the outside light was not working, so at night its pitch black. On arrival my youngest son tripped carrying his duvet up the steps, I struggled to find the garage keys and then to open the door (it has 4 key holes but only 2 work). Inside I found both washer and dryer so dirty, I had to clean them before I could use them. Inside the house, I found there was no toilet paper at all, all the pans had been put on the ceiling rack dirty, the dish washer was dirty, the bedding in the small double bedroom had black curly (probably dog) hairs on it, dirty towels and bath mat in the bathroom and a hole in the main bedroom ceiling where a light had been removed. I spent Saturday evening cleaning and washing bedding, hardly a great start to a long awaited holiday. I had actually originally booked for Easter but due to covid19 had to rebook for October half term. That meant the fully payment had been paid since the end of March. I called the owner, who told me her usual cleaner was on holiday, however, I do not feel the amount of dust everywhere reflects the cleaner being away for a week.My middle son, who has asthma, decided to go home on the Sunday with his older brother. I drove them to Glasgow to get the train home. I left a message with the cottage letting company on Sunday and called again on the Wednesday morning, because, the discription of the house was not correct. In the discription when I booked and it was still the same when I checked yesterday (1st Nov 21) it states, there is a walk in shower in the upstairs bathroom, this is not true. There is a shower (its not walk in) in the downstairs small cloakroom which has a single outward opening door in the corner of the sittingroom. In the main bedroom there is a king size bed not as expected as a four poster bed is shown in the photo's. There is no television either. The wardrobe has been damaged by a previous guest a while ago so it is now just a wooden frame.The room is very different to the photo's on the letting website, it was very disappointing. In the pink sittingroom there was a mattress behind the sofa and a large chain affair behind a chair. We did not use this room at all because it had a very musty smell. The kitchen is very well equipped and had a very good range but this was spoiled by the dirty pans, open food left in the top cupboard, the dirty dishwasher and microwave. I have never had to clean so many different appliances in a holiday cottage ever. I feel very upset and disappointed. Two of the bedrooms are very small, which was made clear, however, one had a bed with broken drawers and there was a great deal of dust everywhere. The stairs are really dangerous, they are made from some sort of concrete or stone and very slippery. At the top there are half and uneven steps to the bathroom and to the corridor to the bedrooms. I constantly worried about my children slipping. The small double was as very nice room, apart from the hairs on the duvet and pillows. The conservatory doubles as the dining room, the ceiling in this room has a half completed repair. The view from this room is amazing. Beautiful view of Holy Loch. Ardmun House could be beautiful if the issues were sorted out and it had a deep clean to remove all the dust. Its a real shame. We left on early on the Friday night and were happy to leave. We packed the car at 4pm in the daylight and drove the car to the beach to walk the dog loaded up to avoid having to pack by the road in the dark. The weather was very wet all week, but we felt the house was so unwelcoming we went out as much as possible, even driving two hours to Oban in the rain. Kilmun has a beautiful, historic church, and its only about 8 miles from Dunoon. We visited Bute, Inveraray, Oban, and several great shingle beaches. The area is great for walking, sailing and cycling. Our dog loved the beaches. We have already booked a different cottage (one we have stayed in several times before) in the Summer, and hope to visit Kilmun but not Ardmun House again. I took photographs of all the issues listed and am currently considering contacting the tourist board about the safety aspects. While I appreciate things might change, I feel major differences such as not having a four poster bed needed to be advised, along with the parking issue.

Wow what can I say we were all blown away with the location upon arrival. The house is just so beautiful we spent a very comfortable stay here, what a gem of a find! have to say although there is two lounges we spent all our time in the conservatory as what a view!! also waking up to the view in the morning from the bedrooms, very comfortable beds in each room. The house itself has everything you need for a perfect stay, Loved the fact there was an iron and board as saved me from doing the big iron before holidays! we loved sitting out in an evening around the chiminea fire under the stars. Boys were very pleased they brought their fishing rods as 2 minutes up along from the house they all fished off the pier in Strone and plenty a catch, we also recommend that you take your bikes with you or hire whilst you are there as we biked for miles and still left a lot of undiscovered roads. Sad to leave however we are very happy now we have just rebooked for next year.

The house is in a perfect location with wonderful views. It's really comfortable, well equipped and warm. We have had a lovely stay here and would definitely stay here again if we were visiting the area.