Larchfield Chalet 1, Larchfield, Heights of Achterneed, Strathpeffer, Highlands, IV14 9AE

Just returned from a three night stay at larch-field chalet 1. Had a lovely time. Chalet clean and comfortable and dogs welcome . Difficult to find even using satnav, however owner Alan was easily contactable and helped with directions. Also friendly throughout our stay. I would recommend . Surrounded by beautiful Scottish countryside. Not far to travel into strathpeffer and Dingwall .

I booked a short three-night stay here with my young dog. Location is lovely but you do need guidance from the owners to get to the actual location and it is accessed by typical Scottish country roads (ie single lane with passing places). The chalet is cosy but the rooms are quite a bit smaller than a standard cottage as it is a chalet. One of the bedrooms is located in the roof (there?s a ladder to get up there). However it is pretty decently equipped, although note there is no WiFi but you do get a decent 4G signal.

The views are beautiful and you can walk your dog on a leadin the immediate area. There are cows and sheep in the adjacent fields so need to be careful and also avoid the electric fencing.

I only met one host, Alan, and wasn?t really welcomed by him so I was left to my own devices when trying to work out how things operated in the chalet. There are also no instructions/welcome pack provided which I think might have been useful for things like operating the DVD (which source to use on TV), etc. The host didn?t seem that interested in welcoming me into the property or showing me how things worked. He was also quite abrupt when I inadvertently parked in the wrong area one day; personally, I think a welcome pack or proper induction would have avoided that issue!! Generally I felt the hosts are only interested in longer bookings where they can take more money and not shorter stays such as mine. Fair enough but then they should instruct Sykes Cottages accordingly. There are lots of places to stay in and around Strathpeffer so I think there may be better options than this one. That said, I did love the views from the balcony of the chalet and they were great to wake up to.

This was a good base for all the activities which we had planned to do on our holiday. On the whole the property was good but a few niggly points for me, there was not enough space around the table for 6 people only 4, there was no family size freezer, and if you are not cooking or eating out (which the owner commented to me on arrival) why is there a dishwasher . Owners would be better off advertising the property as 4 and not 6.

An excellent holiday chalet: very comfortable, great location, wonderful views.

The only problem - not a big one - is that the directions to the property were unhelpful (unlike the owners who came to meet us and show us the way)

This property is well located for discovering the Scottish highlands, with easy access to hills and coast.