Merrick Cottage

Opening the door to Merrick Cottage, you step straight into a galleried bedroom with a double and single bed, then down to the ground floor where the living and dining area flows into a kitchen equipped for real cooking. The bathroom has a bath with shower overhead. Everything needed for a self-catering stay is here—heating, electricity, bed linen, towels and wifi included—plus parking for two cars and a bike store on site.

The 18 acres surrounding the cottage hold a private hot tub, a lawned garden with patio furniture, and coarse fishing by arrangement. From here, Galloway Forest Park is ten minutes away, famous since 2009 as a Gold Tier Dark Sky Park; the mountain bike trails at Glentrool take twenty minutes by car or a warm-up ride through the forest, and the Kirroughtree trails are thirty minutes' drive. The Southern Upland Way passes nearby. Newton Stewart, with its full range of shops and services, sits nine miles down the road. The region has thirty golf courses scattered through it. No smoking inside; one pet stays free.