Ormidale House Estate
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£1341 / night
£9385 / week
About the home
Ormidale House was built as a seat of Clan Campbell in 1696. After ongoing minor changes through the centuries, in 1900 the house was substantially extended by the renowned Scottish architect Robert Lorimer to form the well-laid out, comfortable, bright, light, and spacious 13 bedroomed “laird’s house” that is available for weekend or weekly rent today.
It’s been pretty luxuriously equipped and nicely furnished, mostly with antiques. The new, comfy beds feature fabulous quality goose-down and feather duvets and gorgeous bed-linen, we’ve put some original Scottish art on the walls, bought half decent crystal for the table and generally tried to ensure that it’s as comfortable and well-equipped a place to stay as you’ll find in Scotland, without having any of the formality or grandeur of a castle or stately home. The house has a lovely, relaxing feel.
With a drawing room, TV room / snug, full-size Billiard Room, playroom, large kitchen with AGA and breakfast room downstairs - as well as the impressive dining hall seating 22 - Ormidale has sufficient accommodation to cater for any large house party. We have laid out the bedrooms to offer real flexibility; two rooms are set up as twins, three as king-size doubles, and one as a quadruple bunk room. The other seven bedrooms can be set up either as super-kingsize doubles, as twins, or even sometimes as triples. All bar two of the bedrooms have either an en suite bathroom or a basin. There are four further bathrooms, two separate loos, and a sauna. Altogether, the house has nine showers and ten wc's.
We now have an indoor heated swimming pool which is shared between the three houses on the estate. Each house gets their own hour of exclusive swimming time in the morning and in the afternoon – outside those six hours, it is a “free for all” in the pool.
The Mill House and The Old Barn, our stunning new steading conversions, opened in October 2008 and have been christened “the wow factory” by the early guests. They are just under 100 yards from the main house, with different aspects and their own gardens. Taken together, they can accommodate as many guests as the main house, and the large 80m2 open plan living area in the Mill House is the most spacious in any of the three houses. Many of the parties that have enjoyed the properties so far, took the Mill House and Old Barn together instead of Ormidale House itself. The Old Barn sleeps 14 guests in seven bedrooms, and the Mill House accommodates 22 in nine bedrooms.
The Garden Cottage sleeps from 2 to 9 additional guests, in the last of the developments, in the same courtyard as the Mill House and Old Barn.
| Size: | Sleeps up to 68, 29 bedrooms |
|---|---|
| Will consider: | Corporate lets Hen and stag parties Long lets Short breaks |
| Access: | Car advised |
| Family friendly? | Suitable for children of all ages Suitable for people with restricted mobility |
| Notes: | No pets allowed No smoking at this property There are a series of fantastic restaurants in the immediate area, including An Lochan, Inver Cottage, the Colintraive Hotel, and The Oyster Catcher all within 20 minutes; we can recommend them all from personal experience. But eating out is not a cheap experience, especially when transport and drinks costs are factored in, and there is obviously not much point in having a fabulous dining room and not using it. Each of the houses at Ormidale is available on a self-catering or fully-catered basis – or something in between. Most of the weekend parties we get are for big celebrations - and not everyone (even with a four oven Aga and an additional stove at their disposal) wants to take on the task of cooking for 30 of their nearest and dearest. We are delighted to have been able to recruit the fabulous Stuart Campbell and Alison Sykora as the contracted caterers at Ormidale. From a wedding breakfast for 150, through a formal four course dinner for 24, to a serve it yourself home-cooked fish pie, from a buffet, to a picnic, to a barbecue, they can offer up a menu to suit at a budget that works for you. They have catered some fabulous feasts at Ormidale, and the feed-back we have had from guests has been unanimous in its enthusiasm. When catering a dinner for you, as a one-off, the taste team will always leave you with some delicious fresh made bread and a vat or two of homemade soup for lunch the next day – along with your left overs. It’s a lovely touch, and effectively means that you’ve got two meals for the price of one! The default setting for the house is still self-catering but if you prefer, then Roger and Bea can work for you as live-in caterers during some or all of your stay. They can be accommodated either in one of the en suite bedrooms, in the wee Garden cottage we are renovating in early 2010, or in a local B&B. The financial arrangements are between yourselves and the caterers, and they will design a menu or series of menus for you that works to your budget. Ingredients costs obviously vary by season and do make it difficult for us to give you a price now for a meal in a few months time. Depending on the style you want to go for and on your budget - on whether you want silver service on the night, on how much of the caterers' time you need, and on what sort of ingredients you specify, you could be talking as little as £9.95 per head for a two course meal from their fresh-cooked serve it yourself “Home Taste” menu exclusive to Ormidale customers – or four or five times that per head if you have a serious langoustine or fois gras habit. On a live-in basis, you need to budget £175 per day per chef, dropping to £850 for the full week, plus the cost of ingredients. They’ll agree menu plans with you and then cook you breakfast, provide pack / picnic lunch ingredients and feed children and adults separately in the evening for that. If the big house is at full capacity and you don’t want any involvement in the prep or clearing up, then you need two members of staff. If you are talking about a party of under 20 guests, then it may be possible for a single chef to look after your party. The minimum spend with Stuart and Alison at Ormidale is £150. |
Facilities
| Luxuries: | Jacuzzi / Hot tub, Sauna, Log fire, Internet access, DVD player |
|---|---|
| Pool: | Shared indoor Pool |
| General: | Central heating, Air conditioning, TV, Video player, CD player, Telephone, Pool / Snooker table, Table tennis, Games room, Satellite TV, Wi-fi available |
| Standard: | Kettle, Toaster, Iron, Hair dryer |
| Utilities: | Clothes dryer, Dishwasher, Cooker, Microwave, Fridge, Freezer, Washing machine |
| Rooms: | 29 Bedrooms |
| Other: | Please check with the advertiser regarding linen and towels Highchair available |
| Outdoors: | Balcony / Terrace, Private garden, BBQ, Bicycles available, Shared tennis court on site, Trampoline |
| Access: | Parking space |
Conditions
If your preferred dates are free, we ask for a 25% deposit to secure the booking. Send a cheque made payable to "The OK Property Company" to Upper Corby Knowe, Rowantreehill Rd, Kilmacolm, PA13 4NW.
The balance of your payment is due two months before your holiday. We ask for a damage deposit of £500 two weeks before you arrive.
The Central Scotland / Strathclyde / Argyll and Bute region
Although just an hour and a half from Glasgow, Ormidale sits in some of the loveliest scenery in Scotland. The Kyles of Bute are renowned amongst both walkers and sailors as amongst the most stunning bits of coast in Scotland. Whatever the weather in Argyll – and we do enjoy a remarkably mild micro-climate - this is great country for site seeing, with every corner revealing a new variation on the theme of mountain, loch, valley, sky, woodland, sea, rock, beach. The Cowal peninsula is a fabulous base for an active holiday with marvellous wildlife, numerous gardens and other tourist attractions to visit, and all sporting activities catered for.
Ormidale has grounds of 23 acres, and sits about a mile above the head of Loch Riddon, enjoying complete privacy and lovely views down the glen to the river Ruel. The Island of Bute itself is as little as 15 minutes away from the house – accessed via a ferry from Colintraive – and was a “must visit” destination long before Stella McCartney got married there or former racing driver Johnnie Dumfries moved into Mount Stuart House as the new Marquess of Bute.
Inverary with its famous Jail and Castle, seat of Clan Campbell for the last few hundred years, is only 45 minutes away, as is Loch Lomond. Dunoon is another tourist destination in its own right, and just under half an hour away. You can get to Glen Coe in an hour and a half, to Stirling, Oban or Fort William in under two. Loch Ness and Edinburgh are easy enough day trips – reachable in less than 2 and a half hours.
The Glendaruel area
As well as general site-seeing and trips to the Island of Bute, Inverary and further afield, there are a host of other activities you can undertake around Glenaruel. It’s fabulous walking country and we’ve also provided twelve mountain bikes for those who want to explore on two wheels rather than four. There are some really excellent and quite varied routes direct from the house, involving all sorts of terrain and levels of strain!
Golf – there’s a lovely 9 hole pay and play course ten minutes away above Tighnabruaich. We’ve supplied five bags of golf clubs for the house and they probably won’t be too fussed about the usual rules re golf shoes provided you don’t arrive in jeans and carve the course up. The same applies to the almost equally spectacular nine hole course at Blairmore & Strone, half an hour away. Cowal Golf Club at Dunoon and Inellan are the 18 hole courses in the area that welcome visitors.
Fishing - too many options to go into here, but you can spend anything from £9 per day to over £1,000 for river fishing in the area. You can fish for trout in our own stream for nothing or in the Lochen at the head of the river. Mackerel on a line in a boat on the Kyles is a right of passage for hundreds of West of Scotland kids every year. They swim in shoals all around these waters – the mackerel, not the kids - and there’s no permit payable.
It’s a fabulous part of the world for water-sports of all sorts. Horse-riding, climbing, canoeing, caving, archery, quad biking, paint-balling, and clay pigeon shooting are also all available either on site or in the area. It’s not our thing, and the house ain’t full of antlers, but we can help you arrange a day’s grouse or pheasant shooting, or stalking in season, if some of your party want to do that.
There is a wee shop selling all the basics at the camp-site in the Glendaruel valley, about a mile’s walk away, beside the historic Kilmodan standing stones. You get a slightly bigger choice in the Spar at Tighnabruich five miles away, and all year round opening. Dunoon is 16 miles away and is a thriving market / harbour town with award-winning bakeries, cafes and butchers, as well as a big Co-Op and a big Somerfield supermarket.
Scotland isn’t really well served by pubs in general; this area is definitely an exception. The Glendaruel Hotel is a lovely wee pub, a two mile drive away – or about a mile and a quarter as the crow staggers – and serves good pub grub or better. The Colintraive Hotel and Tighnabruich Hotel are each a tad busier and a tad more ambitious in terms of menu. Chatters in Dunoon is highly recommended, and the Whistlefield and Coylet Inns on Loch Eck are also worth a visit. Our favourite restaurant in the entire universe is on Loch Fyne, overlooking the old Castle Lachlan. (The view from the Inver Cottage terrace is one of the Robbie Innes pictures on our drawing room wall.)
It’s less than half an hour away from the house. The Benmore Gardens tea room is not half bad, either, and the Otterferry Inn and Loch Fyne Oyster Bar have good reputations (on which, it might be said, they trade slightly…) All in all, though, there are few areas of Scotland where you can enjoy such a variety of excellent, reasonably priced menus.
How to get there
Click map icons for more information
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- Glasgow Airport, an hour and a half drive away
- Prestwick Airport, an hour and three quarters drive away
- Railway Station is Gourock, connecting to Dundon Ferry Port (25 minutes)
Activities near Glendaruel
Tennis in town
Horse Riding
Golf within 30 mins drive
Fishing
Walking holidays
Rural / countryside retreats
Good nightlife
City breaks
Cycling holidays
Reviews
 07 Sep 2012 |
27 of us stayed at the Mill House and Garden cottage and we all had a wonderful time. The house does not make any claims about it's bedrooms in the Mill House so we couldn't complain about... more |
14 Jun 2012 |
We stayed at The Old Mill as a large group across two cottages. We are seasoned holiday cottage goers and we usually book top end accomodation. We found Ormidale did not do what we expected it to... more Response: We find this review incredible, and unfair. We had a hugely demanding party of guests, here, some of who's expectations were way above those of most people coming on self-catering holidays. We... more |
22 May 2012 |
I recently stayed at Ormidale House with a party of 26 girls. We had a lovely time at the house and it was the perfect venue for us. The owner and the housekeepers were very friendly, helpful and... more |
Rental prices
| Rental prices originally quoted in: British £ | Convert to: |
| Prices for group size 68 | ||||||
| Period | From | To | Weekly | Nightly rate | Minimum stay | |
| Weekday | Weekend | |||||
| Peak season | 1 Jul 10 | 1 Sep 10 | £ 10585 | - | - | 1 Week |
| High season | 1 Sep 10 | 1 Oct 10 | £ 9385 | - | - | 1 Week |
| Mid season | 1 Oct 10 | 31 Oct 10 | £ 8085 | - | - | 1 Week |
| Low season | 6 Jan 11 | 1 Mar 11 | £ 6995 | £ 1595 | £ 1895 | Flexible |
| Mid season | 1 Mar 11 | 1 Jun 11 | £ 7995 | £ 1695 | £ 1995 | Flexible |
| Shoulder Season | 1 Jun 11 | 5 Jul 11 | £ 9995 | £ 1795 | £ 1995 | Flexible |
| Peak Season | 5 Jul 11 | 6 Sep 11 | £ 10995 | - | - | 1 Week |
| Shoulder season | 6 Sep 11 | 4 Oct 11 | £ 9995 | £ 1795 | £ 1995 | Flexible |
| Mid Season | 4 Oct 11 | 31 Oct 11 | £ 7995 | £ 1695 | £ 1995 | Flexible |
| Low Season | 20 Dec 11 | 1 Mar 12 | £ 6995 | £ 1595 | £ 1895 | Flexible |
| mid season | 1 Mar 12 | 1 Jun 12 | £ 8495 | £ 1695 | £ 2095 | Flexible |
| Shoulder Season | 1 Jun 12 | 3 Jul 12 | £ 9595 | £ 1795 | £ 2195 | Flexible |
| Peak Season | 3 Jul 12 | 4 Sep 12 | £ 10995 | - | - | 1 Week |
| Shoulder Season | 4 Sep 12 | 1 Oct 12 | £ 9595 | £ 1795 | £ 2195 | Flexible |
| Mid Season | 1 Oct 12 | 1 Nov 12 | £ 8995 | £ 1695 | £ 2095 | Flexible |
| Low Season | 1 Nov 12 | 21 Dec 12 | £ 7995 | £ 1595 | £ 1995 | Flexible |
| Christmas | 21 Dec 12 | 29 Dec 12 | £ 12995 | - | - | 1 Week |
| New Year | 29 Dec 12 | 5 Jan 13 | £ 14995 | - | - | 1 Week |
| Low Season | 5 Jan 13 | 28 Feb 13 | £ 7995 | £ 1695 | £ 1995 | 1 Night |
| High season | 1 Jul 13 | 1 Sep 13 | £ 9385 | - | - | 1 Week |
The property's weekend rates apply to: Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights
NB: Prices may be subject to change at the advertiser's discretion.
- School holiday and half term weeks are all Shoulder season rate.
- Short break prices for 2 or 3 nights including a weekend, or three or four nights midweek, are approximately 75% of full week prices.
Enquire nowAvailability
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Contact the owner
* Required fields Please check the following errors: | 2 years listed You are contacting John Davies
Languages spoken    The owner is based in the United Kingdom and has advertised with Holiday Lettings since 2010. This house has received 3 reviews from previous guests.  |
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Selected other homes from this advertiser
 The Mill House in Glendaruel, Scotland |  The Old Barn in Glendaruel, Scotland |  The Ormidale House in Glendaruel, Scotland |
