Creag Bhalg

We had a wonderful stay at Creag Bhalg, the house is full of character, spacious yet cosy and stayed warm even through the snow showers.

Watching the views from the windows or sitting by the fire gave us such a sense of peace. We did not want to leave. The location is ideal, secluded on the estate, with hikes and bike rides from the doorstep. Rachael, our host, answered all our questions promptly and the house was prepared beautifully. We would love to come back.

Fantastic property in beautiful surroundings.

Very rural, just a few cottages surrounding the area with superb scenery for hiking and wildlife. Host was excellent and available for any issues or questions

Our time at Creag Bhalg has been absolutely wonderful, we came as a group over the new years period and have felt right at home straight away.

The house is situated in the most stunning surrounds with plenty of walking routes to tackle whatever your level of commitment, on the doorstep of the Glenshee ski range. The house catered for all our needs ranging from remote working to catering for a baby. Rachael our host was incredibly attentive throughout our stay, topping up our log basket, sharing tips for the local area, giving a lift back from the village and even helping us out when an unexpected dump of snow changed our plans. We will absolutely be back for another stay at Creag Bhalg as we have fallen in love with the house, the area and the level of care provided by the team. When you visit, watch out for the local area as you are as likely to bump into A list celebrities on their holidays, red squirrels on the car, grouse feeding in the garden or fully grown stag on the road.

We have just returned from a week staying in Creag Bhalg.

The property was spotless and incredibly well maintained in a traditional Scottish lodge style with fantastic comfortable furniture and soft furnishings - a totally beautiful house to stay in. We have stayed in many properties around Scotland and Creag Bhalg is now on our firm favourite list. The views are amazing and location fab. If you want a property in the Cairngorms where you park your car for the week, whip out your bikes and boots to explore, come home to all the comforts then this house is perfect.

The property was largely well equipped and appointed.

Areas of potential improvement include fixing, replacing, or removing, the water leak detectors that cause the water supply to be repeatedly cut off, which even (very inconveniently) happened whilst using the water. In the meantime, there ought to be far better, clearer, instructions of exactly how and where to fix the water issues. Someone ought to ensure the gutters are cleared so that water does not cascade along the front and back verandas while it’s raining. There is no seating on the veranda, which has been mentioned in prior reviews. The living room sofa lends little to the property, it is extremely tired and not very comfortable, which has also been raised in prior reviews. If there is a TV satellite dish, changing the misleading Sky TV box for a Freeview satellite receiver (like a Humax) would be a cheap improvement and would save visitors time and effort trying to get it to work when it never will. When we asked about it, we did not receive a prompt response, and were eventually told we could use the Smart TV part of the TV set, but it was not connected to the WIFI and would not connect. Having telephoned the owner which was not answered, this was all done by text when a telephone conversation would have been more appropriate and professional. Fix the power supply to the TV so the screen can be pulled all the way out and angled so it can be seen across the whole sitting room, and consider an updated TV with a larger screen that can be better seen (and heard) across such a large room. The very large baths could do with non slip mats in them. One of the lavatories had not been cleaned at all properly, and was filthy under the seat. There was litter left behind the living room sofa (which may still be there). The table mats had caked dried food on them. Some of the lavatory seats need some attention as they were misaligned. There were a number of blown or faulty light bulbs around the property. These cannot easily be changed by visitors. The gardens and areas around the outside of the property appeared rather neglected. The information pack appears to not even be for the property, making reference to staircases, and it is out of date, as it includes contact information for someone who was not at all pleased that we tried to contact them when we received no response from the owner about an issue. There could also be a visitor book so that people may share useful information on the area, or tips how to resolve issues at the property. This is standard for self catering accommodation. It should be noted that when we booked we believed it to be a National Trust for Scotland property, and we were rather surprised to find it is not, and likely due to this there does not appear to be a professional property manager overseeing all these entirely avoidable issues. On the positive side, the super king size bed that we used was extremely comfortable, and the house was comfortably warm. The complimentary bread and honey were delicious, and the supplied provisions were very thoughtful. Overall, we felt it a very special place indeed, and we’d like to visit again at some time.

I will love to come back next year and highly reccomend this property my dear ones