Kinnaird House

We had a lovely week at the property.

It was well equipped with everything we needed for the week

Very basic property but very spacious,the heating in the property wasn't adequate as some radiators didn't work, we did contact the owner who said there was a electric heater there but none available at the property, however the local community very kindly offer some electric heaters and electric blanket which did make a difference,once we were warm we tried to cook new years day dinner which the oven was not suitable for 12 guests, we did contact the owner who kindly purchase a slow cooker from one of the shops in the High Street, we did find with the property if you had the washing machine on then put a toaster or any electrical equipment it would trip the fuse box,we did have comfortable beds and clean bedding, The property could do with some new furniture, chairs in the dining room we're broken and some stuck together with glue.

I would recommend some think curtains in rooms as this would of helped keeping the place warm as there were only blinds up. I would recommend the town they are lovely people and are very willing to help there is a great pub who also helped us out. Many thanks to them all.

Brilliant host and accommodation.

Ticks all the boxes, comfy beds, nice towels, warm, hot water and lovely new bathrooms & showers, lots of space, nice living room with large streaming TV, well equipped kitchen… and then there’s the location - Speyside is Beautiful, Grantown-on-Spey itself is so lovely, the local wooded walks are a minute’s walk away; don’t get hung up on the Cairngorms & Aviemore - they’re still only 15-20 min drive away, by staying here you get so much more - you also get the Moray coastline and beaches within 45-50 min drive. So many options! Really is a perfect base for your Scottish adventure!

A spacious property in a good location for the Speyside area.

The decor is of an age and there's signs of patching and changing in the wallpaper and floors. The beds were comfortable and all slept well despite being next to a pub. Which was only loud late on Friday and Saturday. The smell of sausage rolls in the morning permiating from the bakery below is one way to wake up hungry! We did have an issue with hot water not working but the contact soon sorted , though I'm not sure it was a permanent fix. Some of the dining room chairs are getting to a point of collapse as well. So well located for eateries, and the small supermarket meant even if we forgot anything it was soon remedied. We would come back.

Convenient place for family and big enough for kids to have fun.

Recommend washing dishes machine in the house.

Loved the place.

Everything we needed. Bottom oven was not working. And a spindle needs replacing, in case anyone takes a toddler, it can climb through and potentially fall between the stairs. But overall a fantastic place and one day hopefully return. Will be recommend to friends and family

Overall property meets expectations, few things can be improved for example, door locks and handles.

I couldn't find how to reduce temperature for water. It was too hot water but boiler didn't have any temperature controller (it could be me being thick).

This was our favorite property while traveling on vacation!

The key access was so easy! The sleeping and bathroom facilities were great for the number of people we had. The kids loved the couches and TV area. There was ample space for us to cook and eat meals together. There was close parking for our vehicles. An added bonus for us was the clothes drier, which we rarely see in Europe. Grantown was lovely, and the local stores had everything that we needed or wanted. We hope to visit again in the future and hopefully stay for a longer period of time. Thank you!

Very comfortable stay.

However,the owners need to address issues raised in previous reviews reguarding maintenance such as door lock.

Large apartment with lots of room centrally located for the National Park, Inverness and the coast.

Plenty of shops and restaurants close by and even a pub virtually downstairs! Had a great stay, comfortable with everything you need. Could probably do with the decor being touched up but a minor issue. Will stay again.

The property worked well for us and we would describe it as very comfortable.

We were a group across three generations. The weather was often wet but the house and its situation meant that we still all had a very good time. Not being super smart or 'posh' contributed to the comfort, especially given the presence of a toddler and a dog. We thought the place was fantastic and good value. What follows are very minor things. We'd rather have had a dishwasher than a clothes dryer and would prefer to hang clothes up anyway than use more energy drying them. So a pulley or folding rack would be good. One member of the party who worries a lot about germs was made anxious by marks on a clean towels even although it had clearly been laundered.The absence of a large bowls for mixing was noted by our cake making member but we used the milk pan and we served our salads in pirex oven dishes.

For such a big group, a dishwashers and a coffeemachine would be nice.

The home was clean and enjoyable.

Directions to the property made it easy to find. The key box worked well, but the door locks themselves are old and a bit hard to open. The top lock takes a special touch to get it unlocked and we were afraid of breaking the key. I tried to call the phone number as listed on my email from Sykes but was told by the person answering the phone they no longer managed the property for Sykes. So without a good phone number to call we continued to fiddle with the top lock until one person got it to open. Later on the top lock was again a problem with one in our group when they tried to get in but couldn't get the lock to open so they had to wait for another party member that knew the trick to getting it open to return before getting in the home. I would suggest a new top lock. Other than the door lock we enjoyed our stay and were excited to find someplace that could accommodate our large group. We would stay here again.

Just completed a lovely family (10) birthday weekend in this let in Grantown.

The house was a great size, especially the large dining room and lounge. Bedrooms were also a good size and the beds really comfy. Bit of a strange entrance to the house and we arrived in the rain which didn't help. Good selection of dishes etc in the kitchen but the cooker was really small and the hob a bit slow. Could really do with a dishwasher and a kitchen revamp. One or two little repairs like the bathroom lock would also improve what could be a fantastic family or large group getaway.

Holiday was amazing ,very big house,clean,but very cold in the house!

We had a brilliant stay at Kinnaird house, great location for exploring the Cairngorms and the Higlands, and we loved it as our base of operations!

Well stocked, really comfortable beds, super spacious, and brilliant price for what you get as well! Highly recommend the Cairngorm Butchers downstairs, the meat was amazing quality and we used them multiple times. The only slight issue we had, which I believe has been mentioned before, was the water pressure in the upstairs bathroom, but we got round this by communicating when we were having showers. We all didn't want to leave and will definitely be back to stay in the future!

The cleaners had not attended the property before our arrival and we were met with piles of used towels and bed linen.

We were not able to contact the owner or the cleaning company, and in the end opted to go and buy cleaning products and clean the property, change all the beds, etc. ourselves. It really spoiled our holiday. Sykes staff were easily contactable and pleasant, but I had to relate the problem three times to changing staff members as they sought to resolve the issue. In the end we accepted a 20% refund of the sum we had paid. Quite apart from the issue with the cleaners, I wouldn’t recommend Kinnaird House. The noise from the fridges in the butchers downstairs means that the back bedroom on the lower floor isn’t really useable. And if anyone turns on a tap while you are showering, the water cuts out. The location on the high street is good, but it felt more like a bunkhouse than a holiday home.

Unfortunately as a group of 6, we all felt the same that the our experience at Kinnaird House fell a long way short of what we expected for the price we paid.

Firstly, however I would like to thank the incredibly accommodating Victoria for cleaning the property early to enable us to drop off our bags before walking. She was great at replying to our enquiry promptly and reassuring us that we could leave our Bags early to enable us to start our walk. Also for cleaning the flat the best they could. The issues we had with Kinnaird House were the following - Access- there were no instructions that the property was accessed at the side through a small courtyard. Clear signage would make this easier. It was not clear which keypad was for the flat and a few had to be trialled. The key for the flat was difficult to use and needs to be fixed or replaced. It took us a while to manage to unlock the door. Decor - dull and uninviting, clearly needs updating. Some of the doors were so badly damaged they have been repairs with black tape. Some carpeting is stained and looks unclean. Looking out of the kitchen window the gutters are cascading with weeds and the whole house has a feeling of being neglected. We felt the dining room looked like a funeral directors as it was so dull, bland and uninviting. The blinds in one of the downstairs bedrooms did not keep the early morning light out, so resulted in wakening with the sun. Showers - one of the main issues were the poor showers. The upstairs shower kept running out of water mid wash with soap or shampoo! The sink also ran out of water mid tooth brushing. The downstairs electric shower switched from scolding hot to freezing cold in 5 second intervals so could not be used. I contacted the owner directly about this due to health & safety concern. Comfort - the sofa was old but ok and the beds were fine as was the bedding which was clean. In summary as a group of walkers we stayed in 7 different accommodations throughout our long distance walk and Kinnaird house was by far the most expensive but also the most disappointing stay. It cost us over £84/ person per night. As a comparison we stayed in the Norland B&B, Lossiemouth for £50 each, beautiful decor, fantastic sea views, all rooms en-suite with good showers and a full Scottish & continental breakfast in the morning. I hope this feedback is useful for encouraging the owner to make the required improvements or to reduce the cost and change the description to reflect the accommodation on offer. It annoys me that tourists visiting may think that this is the level of accommodation we provide in Scotland. In our view the accommodation felt more of a bunk house, which is ok if that is what you are expecting and the price reflects that. We would not recommend Kinnaird House to any friends or family unless there were significant improvements.

Property was in an excellent location in the centre of Grantown on Spey with local shops (co-op with excellent selection of products - including vegan!

) Grantown on Spey is a lovely area with lots to offer from local wooded walks to painting pottery. The house was spacious enough to not feel on top of each other, however stairs to the different floors may cause difficulty if someone had mobility difficulties. No outside area to sit out on a morning (which we were aware of) however grassed area in main square and woods are close enough to enjoy. The house smelt exceptionally clean on arrival, with fresh towels and bedding, however when looked at a little closer some tidying behind beds may need taking into consideration. Some house-keeping issues - although we had booked for 12 (luckily we did not have everyone turn up) only 11 dining chairs and not enough cups.The water system caused us some difficulties when taking a shower and using water elsewhere. The first floor bedroom at the rear of the building needs a heavy sleeper as a noisy fan extractor from the shop below comes on early in the morning! These were things which our family could manage and overall we felt we had good value for money.

An ideal house for an extended family.

All beds, duvets and pillows very comfortable. A large Co-op just across the road and really good carry out meal places and pubs. So many lovely walks above and below Grantown. Landmark Forest Theme Park and Highland Folk Museum worth a visit lasting a whole day. (Grandparents can stay at home!) Grantown Museum very good too - lots of costumes for the kids to try on. Paint pottery at the start of your week so that it can be glazed and fired ready to take home as a souvenir. Aviemore and the Strathspey Steam train both within easy reach though we didn’t need either and have been to both already. It was a great holiday week.

Beautiful surroundings

It was a pleasant stay and suited the amount of people in our family group 11.

Just a couple of downsides. One of the sofas in the lounge was uncomfortable due to a broken part . There was a lack of cutlery for the amount of people in the group. The refuse bins were overflowing on our day of arrival meaning that we had to store our waste in the house until departure and carry our general waste and glass to Aviemore when we left.( the recycling bin was emptied on the morning of our departure so at least we could put the recycling in the bin) It would seem to be advisable to have more bins available for the size of let. Otherwise we really enjoyed our stay and the area .