Located in the heart of Corsewall Estate, seven miles from Stranraer, surrounded by historic woodland and overlooking a traditional 19th century walled kitchen garden, the recently restored 4*Stables cottage is an ideal base for exploring Wigtownshire and rest of Dumfries & Galloway.
Stables Cottage, located on the first floor, has a spacious, modern open plan sitting room with kitchen and dining area with a traditional log burning stove as a focus for relaxing and comfy sofas and arm chairs.
The cottage has a double bedroom with a traditional style cast iron king size bed over looking the old walled garden. There is a twin bedroom with ivory traditional style cast iron beds. The bathroom has a bath with an overhead chrome shower.
Stables Cottage is equipped with a Smart TV, DVD player; Roberts Revival Bluetooth radio, WiFi, a bean to cup coffee machine, a selection of board games, books and classic films. We now have a laptop friendly workspace, in the form of stylish work desk, chair and lamp in Stables Cottage and Superfast Broadband too.
The cottage has its own private garden, with garden furniture and a barbecue. There is also a climbing frame with swings, zipwire and a large trampoline with a safety enclosure in the Estate gardens for children to use.
Corsewall Estate has three pretty beaches on Loch Ryan - Boat Bank, Lady Bay and Port Beg - that Stables Cottage guests can explore. A pretty walk down one of the drives will take you to Boat Bank, which is the nearest one to the cottage. Both Boat Bank and Lady Bay are wonderful spots if you like collecting shells or pebbles - oyster shells and mussels to cowries and scallop shells never fail to disappoint. Bird watching down on the shores of Loch Ryan or in the woods is second to none.
Port Beg is a pretty bay, pebbly down to the waterline and then sandy in the sea - ideal for paddling and swimming. There are lots of rock pools - so a bucket and a net is a must for the kids! There's a grassy area for picnics and barbies and the views out to sea, with Ailsa Craig in the foreground and the Isle of Arran in the distance, are simply magical.
The gardens and lawns provide a secure environment for children and it is a wonderful location for them to enjoy the great outdoors and play good old fashioned games from hide and seek and football to kick the can. The lawns are great for running about, and there are lots of little banks, which are ideal for rolling down. A stream runs through the estate, so with two stone bridges and an endless supply of sticks, Pooh sticks is always a fun game for children to enjoy.
And families are welcome to set up camp in the woods beside the lawns - we provide the tent, roll mats, wood and campfire location - guests just need to bring their sleeping bags! And if it all gets too much for some younger members of the camping party, they can always retreat back to home comforts indoors.
Over the past year we’ve been busy in our little corner of South West Scotland creating a host of magnificent woodland paths and coastal walks around Corsewall Estate for guests to enjoy during their stay. There are lots different options for shortening the walks or lengthening them. Many guests comment that they love the new paths as they don’t need to drive anywhere to walk – it’s just a case of stepping outside and the walks are right on their doorstep.
In late January and February, the woods feature charming drifts of snowdrops followed by daffodils and in April and May the hue turns to purple with acres of bluebells. There is colour in the gardens almost all the way through the year starting with camellia from January to March, followed by a riot of colour in April and May as the rhododendrons and azaleas come into flower. The autumn sees the hydrangeas providing colour all the way through to November.
There is oodles of wildlife to spot – from roe deer and hares to barn owls, woodpeckers and most importantly, this area is one of the last bastions of the red squirrel. The cottage comes complete with its own red squirrel feeder – where you can watch any number of cheeky red squirrels feeding ferociously all day. Our record spotted at the feeders is currently six.
The Blue Peter pub in the village of Kirkcolm is 3/4s of a mile away. Under new ownership, the pub has good pub grub and also does great take away fish and chips - a 'must eat' while on holiday by the coast!
We have a second cottage, Garden Cottage, about 50 metres from Stables Cottage, which sleeps 6 - so groups of up to 10 can easily be accommodated in both locations.