"Thank you Sheena & Alasdair, for wonderful stay in Gartnagrenach. Such a lovely house with exceptional attention to detail, cleanliness, surrounding, hospitality and generous provisions. This is, by far, the best cottage/house we have stayed in for such generosity. We came for the wildlife and with advice from you we succeeded in seeing beavers, deer, osprey, minke whales, porpoise, seals, red squirrels, mink, cuckoo and so many birds visiting the feeders. The weather has been a huge bonus and Charlie is adorable!"
K & J H May/June 2023
"Thank you for a lovely week. We were spoilt. The Farmhouse was perfect in every way. The atmosphere was relaxing and peaceful, just what we both needed."
J & S L May 2023
"Had a great week in this very comfortable house. Lots of cycles and walks to be done from the house, saw beavers each evening, (need to be at dusk!), ospreys and a sea eagle. Lots still to do so will definitely be back!"
N & A B April 2023
"We have had another wonderful holiday here, this time with grandparents. They enjoyed it as much as us. Thanks again for a wonderful holiday."
L, E & T, April 2023
"We had a lovely special time with family. Such a lovely place relax. Really enjoyed the lovely walks looking for wild animals. The scenery and the accommodation were really relaxing and very nice, the beds were so comfortable!"
T & S April 2023
"Probably the best holiday rental we’ve ever stayed in, and we have stayed in a lot in recent years! Genuinely dog friendly. Spotlessly clean, exceptionally well appointed quiet and peaceful. Seems remote, although not that far from Lochgilphead. Lovely, friendly hosts.
Perfect location for forest walks straight from Gartnagrenach, wildlife watching (if lucky,) Ideal centre for Knapdale area in general. Trips further afield such as Islay should be feasible, although we did not try this from Gartnagrenach. There is plenty to see and do within an hour’s drive. Recommend the area around Keills and Isle of Danna for beautiful scenery in an even more remote location"
A & K C, November 2022
" We had a lovely family get together here at this beautiful farmhouse. Thank you, Alasdair & Sheena, for your friendly welcome and sharing this house with us. Exceptionally clean and attention to detail is top class thinking of everything we could need during our stay. We have enjoyed the walks in this beautiful area, the beauty of the Autumn leaves outstanding! We would not hesitate to come back and stay at Gartnagrenach".
G & L and family, October 2022
" Thank you, Alasdair & Sheena, for a lovely holiday at Gartnagrenach. We have had a very wet week but enjoyed getting out everyday walking. There are so many great walks straight from the house and within a short drive. Your attention to detail, thinking of everything visitors could need is second to none and Gartnagrenach is the cleanest and most well equipped holiday cottage we have ever stayed in. We will definitely recommend you to family and friends".
N & J October 2022
" There is so much to explore in this area. Prehistoric forts, beautiful woodlands and the wildlife. The cottage is so comfortable, clean, cosy and peaceful. Thank you, Sheena and Alasdair, for being such great hosts and for providing such a wonderful base for a fantastic holiday."
JB September 2022
" Our first visit to this beautiful peaceful area. Sheena and Alasdair are the prefect hosts, thank you for all the helpful information. So much to do. Even just sitting watching the birds has been a real treat!
Cathy and Chris, September 2022
"We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The cottage is perfect. Have already recommended to some friends and family."
The Kerrisk family September 2022
" We have had a wonderful holiday at Gartnagrenach. Alasdair & Sheena have been such lovely hosts, the farmhouse has been so comfortable with everything we needed and more, everything has been thought of, the location is the perfect escape. The area is so peaceful and clean it has become our favourite part of Scotland! We managed to see beavers on the loch and who knew roe deer barked!
Rebecca and family August 2022
" Thank you so much for a wonderful stay. The house is just beautiful and so well taken care of, perfect for us. We really appreciated all of the little touches, games for the children were a huge hit and for taking the time to put together information about local walks, and beaches for us. We waited a long time to finally get here, it was well worth the wait, thank you so much."
Gemma and family August 2022
" Another fantastic holiday, thank you, thank you for all your help and making us feel so welcome. We look forward to seeing you next year.!
Jenni and family August 2022
"Sheena and Alasdair were amazing hosts and very informative of the local area. As we are wildlife enthusiasts we have been fortunate to see beavers, pine martens and ospreys. The farmhouse is very clean and comfortable and we could not have asked for anything more, amazing stay, thank you, and we will definitely be back. And recommending it to family and friends.
Ian and family July 2022
" Thank you for a lovely holiday. You have a lovely house that is very well equipped and we really appreciate your covid safe approach. We loved the local walks you recommended in the guide book and our highlight was seeing the beavers. We hope to be back."
Eric and family June 2022
"Absolutely fabulous stay. Cottage has everything you could possibly need plus wifi which worked fine for us"
M Heaume and Family June 2022
"The farmhouse was lovely and well equipped and we really appreciated the generous welcome pack provided by Sheena and Alasdair. They are great hosts! Our two Cocker Spaniels had a wonderful time and were made very welcome."
J Hawthorne, May 2022
"We have had a good holiday and busy week at your lovely cottage. We have enjoyed the wildlife and walks. Tabetha has found her happy place. Thank you for welcoming us and being wonderful hosts.
Lee and family April 2022
" Fabulous cottage, everything you need is provided. Very high hygiene standards throughout, comfortable and cosy. Beautiful part of the country, great walks spotting the wildlife, ospreys, beavers etc. Will certainly be back."
Coiln & Stella, April 2022
"What a gorgeous find, amazing, spacious, warm & cosy house with so many thoughtful touches (sandwich bags, dog bowls and bed, drying room, I could go on!). Added bonus of friendly helpful hosts too.
SB and family September 2021
"Excellent and spacious property, well positioned for exploring the area. Great for dogs with a large enclosed front garden. Thoroughly enjoyed our week there."
"Perfect escape from the world in a beautiful part of the world, great hosts and a spotless home Alistar and Sheena where great at communicating and really helpful with local info and helped us to spot the beavers. Thanks again"
K D & Family July 2021
"Excellent self-catering accommodation. Entire farmhouse, superbly provisioned, excellent location and hosts who couldn't have been more helpful."
GS, Summer 2021
"Thank you for a spectacular week at Gartnagrenach. We have had a wonderful time, Alasdair and Sheena are perfect hosts. They are welcoming and friendly and nothing is too much trouble. The cottage is immaculate, absolutely spotless and so well equipped, they have thought of everything and more. Gartnagrenach has exceeded our expectations, it has been a real treat."
RW and Family, Suffolk, July 2021
"IDYLLIC
Lovely cottage in a beautifully quiet and private location. Walking distance to beavers, otters, and with a nice hike of 4 miles you can be sitting at Crinan having a pint. Home is very comfy and well supplied with friendly hosts who keep the bird feeder full to encourage woodpeckers, red squirrels and pine martens into the garden. My favourite bit, sitting in the garden with a cup of tea listening to just the sounds of nature. Lovely time had, thank you Alasdair and Sheena."
KG July 2021
“You will not be disappointed if you stay at this cottage. It is amazingly clean and very well equipped, a proper home from home, but tidier! Loads of games for indoors and out on the lawn! It is in a wonderful location for spotting wildlife, walking, cycling kayaking/canoeing (There are out buildings for your kit) and loads more - historic Kilmartin Glen, castles, island hopping, beaches, great food, the list goes on! Your hosts are lovely, friendly people who just want you to have a great holiday, and you will!”
MB and Family, Staffs, June 2021
"The care and attention that Sheena and Alasdair have put into making guests' holidays at Gartnagrenach enjoyable is exceptional. Every detail has been considered and the whole house was spotlessly clean. The kitchen was very well equipped and a pleasure to cook in. The living areas were comfortable and there were games, FreeSat DVDs and even a games console. They were friendly and helpful and made our stay even more interesting, telling us about the area. The woods and forestry even immediately about were beautiful. We particularly liked all the wildlife around - we saw red deer, roe deer, red squirrels, lots of birds (including sea eagles on the boat trip as well as seals) and we saw two beavers twice on Loch Coille-Bharr (at dusk, which was 10-10.30 pm in May. The Jura whiskey and welcome pack was really kind. Honestly, we had such a fantastic week, despite a little bit of rain amidst a week of May sunshine."
P W and Family, May 2021
An immaculately clean cottage in the most beautiful of settings. Lots of lovely walks directly from the cottage but easy to access other areas. We loved Kilmory beach and Chapel which is very close and Inveraray to visit. Lochgilphead has everything you need and the takeaways are good. Sheena and Alisdair made us feel incredibly welcome and that we could ask for support any time if we needed it. We'd love to return.
Charlotte & Family, Glos October 2020
"Hi Sheena and Alasdair
Just to let you know that the time that we spent with you was absolutely brilliant, from your wonderful property, the setting of the surrounding area and then you as hosts, you compliment your property superbly. We will be highly recommending you and your property to all our friends and family. Hope to see you again and all the best to you both for the future."
Kevin and Margaret, Glos, October 2020
“A great place, peaceful and lots of nature around but close to shops, cafes, places of historical interest etc. We saw deer, red squirrels, otters & buzzards close by. Very friendly hosts, thoughtful welcome pack with wee things for the kids.”
Irene, Ross and Family, Nairn, October 2020
"Dear Alasdair and Sheena, thanks so much for having us for the past 2 years and putting up with all our extra "baggage". We have loved staying here and it's been a wonderful base for the beaver project.
A massive thank you from me and everyone at Scottish Beavers. Helen"
Dr Helen Taylor RZSS on behalf of Scottish Beavers September 2020 (final project survey)
"Thank you for a warm welcome and a lovely stay! We have all enjoyed a much needed holiday - beaches, seals, otters, bats, birds and lots of walks. I am grateful to Alasdair and Sheena for all of the extra cleaning and precautions that made it possible to come this year."
S Ingleby and Family September 2020
"A beautiful gem of a place. A wonderful and pretty restored farmhouse on the edge of the Knapdale forest. A period cottage with all the mod-cons and such wonderful and thoughtful hosts in Alasdair and Sheena. Fantastic little touches and nothing was too much trouble making this truly a cosy home from home. Lovely location, fantastic walks on the doorstep and many historic sites and places to visit within easy reach. Thoroughly recommend Gartnagrenach and would love to visit again in the future."
Jane N and family August 2020
"Ruhiger, direkt am Bieberpfad gelegenes ehemaliges Hofgebäude. Perfekt zum Wandern und Erkunden des Crinankanals und der weiteren Halbinsel. Großes Haus mit sehr zuvorkommenden Gastgebern, die auf der anderen Straßenseite wohnen. Location wird ohne Einschränkungen empfohlen."
"Quiet former courtyard building located directly on the Bieberpfad. Perfect for hiking and exploring the Crinan Canal and the wider peninsula. Big house with very accommodating hosts who live across the street. Location is recommended without restrictions."
Klaus and Family, Germany August 2020
"This is our 2nd visit to Gartnagrenach. Alasdair and Sheena are super hosts who made us feel very welcome. The house is comfortable, spacious and extremely well equipped and the welcome pack is a lovely bonus.
We were very impressed with the owners enhanced cleaning before our visit and they supplied us with antibacterial hand gel, sprays and wipes for our stay. Alasdair also explained that all the games and dvds in the house were being swapped over weekly. This gave us a huge amount of reassurance during this difficult covid time."
D & K Mathie Inverness July 2020
"The Scottish Beavers project has been delighted to call Gartnagrenach its home for the past few beaver monitoring surveys. A joint project between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the Scottish Beavers project builds on the Scottish Beaver Trial, which saw the first ever successful reintroduction of a mammal to the UK, right here in Knapdale Forest.
The Knapdale beaver population was established as part of the Scottish Beaver Trial back in 2010-11, when 16 beavers were brought over from Norway and released into various lochs in Knapdale. Today, the forest is home to 20-30 beavers, and the Scottish Beavers project works to improve the prospects of this population by bringing beavers to Knapdale from Tayside in the east of Scotland, and by monitoring the population and assessing its genetic health.
There are beavers on most of the lochs within Knapdale Forest, including Linne and Fidhle, which are just down the track from Gartnagrenach. Look closely there or take a walk round Collie Bharr and Barnluasgan just across the road, and you might spot some beaver activity. From felling trees and building dams and nibbling twigs, beavers make an impact wherever they are. Look for the bright orange wood that’s exposed when beavers feel a tree to give a clue to where they’ve been active most recently.
Scottish Beavers team members visit Knapdale at least twice a year to carry out our six-monthly monitoring surveys in March and September, and we also visit when we’re releasing animals being moved across from Tayside. We’re very lucky to be able to stay here, right in the heart of the Knapdale beaver population, and we very much appreciate the support and hospitality of Alasdair, Sheena, and Charlie.
Thanks to the work of the Scottish Beavers team, the support of Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry and Land Scotland, Heart of Argyll Wildlife Organisation, and folks like Alasdair and Sheena, in May 2020, beavers were granted European Protected Status in Scotland. This means beavers are back and they’re here to stay. This is great news for beavers, and great news for Scotland’s landscape and wildlife, much of which stands to benefit from the activities of these amazing ecosystem engineers.
We hope you enjoy your stay here as much as we do and be sure to ask Alasdair and Sheena to point you in the direction of the latest beaver activity!"
Dr Helen Taylor RZSS on behalf of Scottish Beavers
"Sheena and Alasdair are wonderful and go that extra mile to make Gartnagrenach a peaceful and restful place to be. We slept like logs there and just loved sitting outside at night with a nice glass of Malt watching the stars appear in the most tranquil setting you can imagine."
Paul & Helene, Wales
" Thank you to Alasdair and Sheena for letting us stay in your fabulous home. You made us feel so welcome. You truly have thought of everything to make a perfect holiday. Even though Livvy wasn't very well we still managed to explore the area and take some lovely photographs. The journey down to Kintyre and up to Oban was very scenic. We will return.
Ken, Mandy & Livvy (the dog) Co. Durham
“A fantastic place to stay and excellent hosts. We had a brilliant weeks getaway here. The location was perfect for a relaxing stay, with many local attractions on the doorstep. The place was well equipped, spotlessly clean and regardless of the inclement weather gave us plenty to do and see. I would highly recommend stopping here.”
W T & Family, Gnoshall
"Thanks to Alasdair and Sheena for being amazing hosts. We had a fantastic holiday, it felt like home. House is in a perfect location. A lot of attractions and woodland walks for children and dog to run freely. We couldn't ask for more. We absolutely loved it, we will definitely comeback."
The Mataj Family, Malvern
"Our stay at Gartnagrenach Cottage was really perfect! The cottage has everything inside and outside what is needed and we had perfect hosts. The surroundings with beaver trail, crinan trail and the crinan channel is wonderful! It is worth to stay there."
The Sutter Family, Germany
"We have had a fantastic stay at Gartnagrenach. Thank you Alasdair and Sheena for making us very welcome and providing endless information about the local area"
The Green family, Bakewell
"We have all thoroughly enjoyed our stay here at Gartnagrenach. Thank you Sheena and Alasdair for your hospitality and for your help, hints & tips in spotting the local wildlife! We were really chuffed to have seen a beaver at Loch Coille-Bhar. We would love to come back some time to continue to explore this beautiful area."
M & B Tadcaster
"Perfect house, hosts and area. We have had a magical week, highlights include seeing a beaver, otters and seals. Thank you for allowing us to experience the little bit of heaven that is Gartnagrenach. See you in September!!"
K, T & E, Somerset
"Lovely cosy house, everything we needed in it. No problem when it rained solidly for 2 days! Saw a beaver!. Sheena and Alasdair great hosts, this area very beautiful. Many thanks for a lovely stay. P.S. The porch/conservatory is a fantastic reading room - when the weather is bad you look out at the drama without getting wet!........
I C and family, Stockport
"Spent a wonderful week at Gartnagrenach.The house is very comfortable and has everything you could possibly need!! Masses of information about the local area and we enjoyed all our trips out. Very pet friendly - our 2 labs made very welcome and exhausted by the many walks.
Fantastic little extra touches made us feel welcome and Sheena and Alasdair are great hosts, we will definitely be back."
D & K Mathie, Inverness
"Sheena & Alasdair thank you so much for a wonderful holiday in this very cosy home! we've had such a great time tramping around this beautiful country and we are very excited by all we've seen, including beavers!! Thanks to all the info you provided we got out and about a lot. This Dublin gang will be back."
B G and Family, Dublin
"Alasdair's place is perfect. Great location (beaver trail in walking distance), plenty of cycle trails, beautiful lochs, highly equipped home from home, thoughtful touches , and warm welcome. We look forward to staying again soon."
F De S, England
"Thanks so much for such a wonderful stay, we really enjoyed it and you both did so much to make us feel welcome. The house is really lovely."
HS
"Stayed here for 5 days for a survey in the local area. Cottage was very clean, warm, dog friendly, and well stocked with everything you need. It was a great location for exploring Knapdale and I would definitely stay here again."
GM
"Gartnagrenach far exceeded our expectations for our New Year Trip. Alasdair and Sheena are wonderful hosts and have an immaculate cottage with everything you could ever need and more. A perfect home from home! It is in a perfect location for walks, cycling and wildlife, including the local pine martens, deer and beaver. In fact the beaver lochs are only a short walk from the front door! Alasdair had prepared a selection of local walks and maps which we found really useful for our walks and bike rides. Our little dog was very welcome and was even provided with a bed, dog bowls and treats! Although we were out most of the time there was still plenty to do when we got back, including Sky TV, many games and even a playstation. There is also a large lockable storage space for outdoor gear which was really useful for keeping our muddy boots and bikes in. Overall, we couldn't have asked for a better cottage in such a beautiful part of Scotland. We will be back again!"
Dave