Hawthorn Cottage

Families and larger groups will find Hawthorn Cottage works well for a week away. The four bedrooms sleep eight across a mix of configurations—a king, a double, and two zip-and-link rooms that can be arranged as doubles or singles. Three bathrooms mean the morning routine stays manageable. You have the whole place to yourself, with parking for four cars on site and a bike store for exploring locally.

The ground floor holds a living room with a wood-burning fire, a separate dining room, and a conservatory. The kitchen has an Aga for cooking, and there's a utility room with a dishwasher and washing machine. A games room doubles as a garage, equipped with a pool table, table tennis, darts and table football—useful for keeping people occupied on quieter evenings. The enclosed garden has sitting-out furniture and a lawn. Essentials like heating, electricity, bed linen, towels and Wi-Fi are covered, along with initial fuel for the fire.

Stranraer itself is walkable from the cottage, with shops, pubs and restaurants in the town centre. The Southern Upland Way skirts the area for serious hikers, and the Rhins Peninsula offers coastal exploration—Portpatrick and lighthouses are within reach. Nearby are three public gardens worth visiting. For children there's Agnew Park with pedal boats and an adventure playground. Golfers have courses at Creachmore and Dunskey. The town has several beaches, with quieter stretches a short drive away.