Lochside Garden House
Scottish Borders
View on Google MapsPhoto: Emma Hurst
The Scottish Borders around Kelso offer rolling hills, woodland walks and a quieter pace than the cities. Lochside Garden House occupies a substantial wing of a Victorian country house, set back from the main building with its own entrance, garden and facilities. It's the kind of place you rent whole for a milestone celebration or extended family holiday—sleeping up to 14 across seven bedrooms with three bathrooms.
The layout spreads across two floors. Downstairs you'll find two living rooms, each with an open fire, plus a kitchen with a full range cooker, dishwasher and microwave. A utility room contains a washing machine and tumble dryer. Upstairs, five more bedrooms branch off a landing; one is a half-tester double accessed through an adjoining single, another is a four-poster, and the rest are singles and doubles in various combinations. Bed linen, towels and wi-fi are included. There's parking on site, a private hot tub in the garden, and a barbecue if you want to cook outside.
A sheltered, south-facing garden with patio and furniture surrounds the house. Beyond it, parkland stretches towards Yetholm Loch with views across to distant hills; horses and rare breed sheep graze nearby. Coarse fishing is available, and badminton can be set up in the garden. Woodland and farmland walks start almost at the door. One dog is welcome. No smoking inside the property.
Sleeps & rooms
What's on offer
Check-in & check-out
Arrive after 16:00 Depart before 10:00
🚭 No smoking, please
What guests say
I used to run holiday cottages myself. Following all the myriad regulations etc. But an enormous dilapidated (almost) castle ? The good points are the enormous rooms, the peaceful country location, and especially the kitchen, which can sit about 12, and was the great meeting point for our party of 10. Some of the showers didn't work, but we put the people who insisted on baths in there. If you are the fragile kind, the rudimentary plumbing, none of the windows being able to close, the hilariously ill-fitting curtains etc might not tick your boxes. But we loved it.
2 years ago · via Google
Only giving it 2 stars for the lovely setting & stunning views. I understand this is a Victorian house, however I doubt any work has been carried out in decades. From the leaking shower into the downstairs bedroom, to the dodgy wiring set up around the fuse box, there was plenty of updates definitely requiring attention, health & safety nightmare. The owner always had an answer for each problem, rather than fixing them it seems like everything gets patched up and passed on to the next punter untill it inevitably happens again The tactical money saving ideas where also interesting, pay extra for logs & the hot tub to be turned on, but leave no lighters, matches or kindling 1 bog roll & 1 bin liner, so make sure you bring everything with you, also no tea bags, which I couldn't believe, £1000 to stay here for the weekend & we have to bring our own toilet roll and tea bags, next level money savings, Martin Lewis would be proud All in all it was a fantastic stay, mainly due to the location and company we had. Get your hand in your pocket & sort the place out.
2 years ago · via Google
Fantastic homely place to stay. 4 year had a fantastic time in the tree house and hot tub. Lots of farm animals to see as well as the wild life. Lots to do right on the door step. Enjoyed a game of snooker each day and a walk to the boat house where you can take out the boat on the Loch bring your own rod plenty of place to fish. Would say the other reviews are harsh on this place!!
3 years ago · via Google
I booked Lochside Garden House for a week from 29th April for the family to celebrate my husband's 70th birthday. The location was great but, unfortunately, the house was not. It was not clean. There were cobwebs everywhere, hair in the shower drains, fluff from the tumble dryer on the floor in front of the washing machine, a lot of cracks and chips in the kitchen floor tiles which were black, the radiator in the kitchen was very greasy and the lightshade above the kitchen table was thick with dust. A lot of the carpets were dirty, the rug in the sitting room was threadbare and some of the floorboards in the hall needed replacing. A lot of the window panes had cracks in them, one of the sheets had a large tear in it and another had a stain on it. One of the wardrobes was falling apart, some of the beds had blocks of wood on the legs and the door from one of the kitchen cupboards was at the side of the fridge freezer. None of the sofas in the sitting room were comfortable and when I removed the throw on one of them to try to plump up the cushions, I found that there were two green cushions on it which looked like they might have come from one of the green sofas in the photos advertising the property. This made me wonder how long ago these photos were taken. The final straw for us was when part of the ceiling in the downstairs bedroom fell down onto the chair beneath it around 8am on the Monday morning. This completely unnerved my husband and he went straight home. When we said to the owner that we could have been injured and asked about compensation for our ruined holiday, he said that we wouldn't have been hurt and he fixed things, he didn't deal with money. He told us that we would need to contact the agency about compensation. We did complain to the agency and we did receive compensation from them but as of now, more than 2 months after our stay, I have not received the return of the £200 I had to deposit into the owner's bank account before we arrived at the property. I have attached a selection of the photos we took which illustrate some of the points made above
4 years ago · via Google