ormidalehouse.co.uk Reviews 

We had a Fantastic time. There were 26 of us from one year old to 76 years old. The house id beautiful, roomy and calm. The furnishings were comfy and fitting for a traditional Scottish Mansion. Yet there were no valuable and twee furnishings that we might have worried that the children would break.
The main rooms are beautiful and roomy, space for all of us. The snooker room and the Huge TV room for the kids were well used.
We had traditional Scottish weather (some rain). But there are so many things to do inside and outside that it made no difference. All ages will remember Ormidale for a long time.
Perhaps the roof needs attention. There was a small leak in one room after some heavy rain.
The Staff were attentive and always went the extra mile. The caterers we engaged were excellent . Food was superb. Tommy, especially, took all the cooking and cleaning pressure of us all.

Great place to stay, staff were excellent. Problem was with the water supply. They have their own waer supply from a local stream which had almost dried up due to the long spell of hot weather. The day we turned up they told us the water was highly likely to run out within a day or two. We were a group of 60 so had hired the whole place out. We survived on severe rationioning and spending a fortune on bottled water in order to shower and flush blocked toilets (due to airlocks forming when the water supplied finished at times which also meant no water coming from showers or taps). But apart from that it was a great place and scenery, activities to do, the staff were very helpful but the main issue is why the property doesn't have a plan b if the stream dries up.

Had the weekend of a lifetime in this beautiful mansion. It was clean and beautifully laid out. Lots for the kids to do with tennis courts, table tennis, bikes, a swimming pool and a fully equipped games room. All of this set in the middle of Scotland’s most beautiful coastline. I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone.

Nestled in the Argyll hills, Ormidale is a hidden gem and the perfect place to get away from it all.

We stayed in the stunning Ormidale House and found it to be everything we wanted - and more. The house has everything you would need for a holiday and boasts large bedrooms, public areas and even a huge games room with a full size snooker table, darts board and lots of other games. Look out for all the amazing celebrity signed pictures and framed sports shirts - including one from Scotland's favourite son - Andy Murray. There are TV rooms with Sky TV on hand, a large dining room or lounges with real fires to cosy up beside on cold nights.

Ormidale is perfectly placed to explore Argyll but if you fancy staying put you will find a swimming pool, hot tub, tennis court, football pitch or just relax around the vast grounds.

The owners have spent a lot of time and effort making sure Ormidale offers the perfect experience.

We attended with kids aged 15, 11 and 6 and a boisterous dog. All of them had a ball.

We will be back.

A group large group 20+ of us stayed here in April 2018 to celebrate a 30th birthday and had an amazing time!

House is full of character, rooms are lovely (our bed in Mull room was so comfortable!), and surrounding area is beautiful. We ordered the hot tub which was just as you'd expect, great!

We took full advantage of the darts, snooker table, walks, tennis court and even managed a game of football out front.
In the evenings we all gathered around the one huge table in the dining room to celebrate.

There is loads of space, and everyone in the group commented on what a great place it was. Some are thinking of booking up again for other another birthday.

Full deposit returned promptly.

Special mention to the staff and owner, John. They really did make a big effort in ensuring we had a great stay!

Stayed for the weekend with a group of friends for a 30th birthday celebration and had a great time. Lots to do from snooker, darts, football and tennis football to hot tub and sauna. House was massive with really nice rooms. Hot water was an issue at times but not a massive concern. I accidentally broke a pane of glass in the snooker room window and by the time I was up the next morning it was being fixed without a problem and no money off the deposit. Thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

Just back from Ormidale House after a fantastic long weekend break. What a wonderful old house, full of character. We had children with us who made the most of all the amenities; swimming pool,bouncy castle, tennis courts, golfing equipment and hot tub. We used absolutely everything even in February!
The bedrooms were lovely with beautifully comfortable beds. It was cosy and warm with a fire going in the grand sitting room at night.
The grounds were truly beautiful with some great walks. You really don't need to leave Ormidale, there's so much to do.
Estate staff were there to meet us and were most helpful without being intrusive. John, the owner, could not of been more accommodating. He kept in touch with us from booking until we left to make sure everything was fine for us.
You cannot fail to be impressed with this wonderful old house and we are looking at booking again next year.
Thank you for a magical stay!

The moment you walk into the kitchen of this beautiful rambling old house it feels like a home. The house is never ending and so makes a fantastic getaway for a large group (25 in ours). The children loved all the space inside and out. We all made full use of the facilaties ,swimming, hot tub, football , tennis and even a treasure hunt. The bedrooms were lovely and spacious. The beds enormous and so comfy. The estate managers were very helpful and only around when you wanted them to be. The house is by no means perfect with a few little things in need of updating , but for us that only added to the enjoyment that a big rambling old house provides. My advice to anyone wanting to stay in a large group accommodation is to book ormidale and enjoy the magnificant grounds and beautifully quirky old house.  Well done john for providing what can only be described as a home from home on a much larger scale. We will be back.

As you will read from other reviews, I also stayed in this house with a group of friends in January 2017.

The house itself was nice and spacious for our group, with the added bonus of a hot tub and sauna.
On the second day we noticed the timetable for the indoor swimming pool stating which ‘house’ could use the pool at a dedicated time.
A few of us attended the pool at our allocated time slot which, sadly this was cut short due to the pool being freezing cold.

Before attending we were told there would be staff on site at all times, but we did not see anyone that represented Ormidale House or indeed on behalf of John (the owner). This prove difficult at the start of the getaway as we could not locate the key for the property and is wasn't until a friend opened the door we realised the property was unlocked. This meaning the property was insecure for a time until we got there which was a bit of a concern.

Overall the visit was great regardless of the minor issue of a cold swimming pool, but this wasn't the end of our dealings with Ormidale House. After our group leader (the birthday girl) eventually got a reply from John about the return of our security deposit, she was met with serious allegations of damage to the swimming pool area. After lengthy emails, some of which are borderline slander towards our group, it became apparent that John was adamant that our group had caused the damage.
On presenting John with images of the pool area during our short time of using it, there was clear pictures that the area was already in a poor condition. I believe that John is just trying to find a scapegoat for the poor attention of maintenance needed to this area and thought that blaming a “young” group would solve his problem.
John has shown a clear unprofessional approach to this issue which has now escalated to legal proceedings.

This is still going on and sadly, what started as a good few days away celebrating a milestone birthday with a group of friends, which in itself is extremely difficult to plan in the first place, has turned into nothing but being called names, being accused of criminal damage and dealing with a very unpleasant person.

From the emails/phone calls that have taken place John has come across as being an unapproachable, arrogant and an unreasonable person.

During the course of this all we asked from John is show a record of maintenance to the area which he is unable to proceed, showing a clear lack of responsibility as the owner in my eyes.

After reading other reviews which shown similar issues to ours, we are now in contact with those persons who were also in the same situation in regards to security deposits not being returned.

Therefore, if you are looking for a professional owner to take care of a special event I would avoid this property and John at all costs. It has clearly not been worth it all and it has put an extreme about of unnecessary stress for the event organiser, who again was the birthday girl who should have great memories of her celebrations but sadly its now resulted in court proceedings.

I hope this review helps you in your choice for picking a nice property for a special occasion as it should not be this property.

A large group of friends and I stayed in the house for two nights in January 2017 for a friends 21st birthday. The house was very spacious and the hot tub facilities went down a treat for us all!
However, our overall experience has since been far more negative than we ever could imagine and I would advise that anybody considering this house steers clear.
Upon arrival, there was no staff member in sight and no information on how to get the keys. After around 15 minutes outside in the cold while some members went to look for a member of staff, we tried the door to find it was unlocked and the keys were sitting on the dining table. That meant there could have been anybody in the house at the time we arrived.
While I didn't use the pool facilities myself, several of my friends did and unfortunately returned only thirty minutes later complaining the pool was freezing cold, before they got into the hot tub. This was afternoon time on our second day and was the only time any of us entered the pool area. While they were there, countless photos and videos were taken of each other and in some show clear rotting of the tiles around the shower area. We have clear time stamps on these photos and videos.
Since returning, the birthday girl has received countless nasty emails from the owner of the house, John, in which he accuses us of causing £2000 worth of damage to the tiles in the shower area on our first night (even although not one member of my group entered the area until the next afternoon, as previously stated). He has referred to us as 'drunken species of fools' and accused us of lying, stating his staff members heard us banging on the wall in the pool area on the first night. The same staff members who we tried to find NUMEROUS times throughout our stay and were nowhere to be seen. We are 100% confident that nobody was on site for the duration of our stay.
John refuses to provide evidence for his accusations and we have since sought legal action against him as he point blank refuses to return the safety deposit to us. Furthermore, our group leader has been contacted by others who have had similar experiences with John.
I would urge everybody to look elsewhere for bookings as what was a fantastic few days away with friends for us has been overshadowed by a legal battle with a landlord who has no respect for other people.

When we arrived there was nobody there to greet us, and with poor phone signal it was almost impossible to contact the owner to establish where we should go and how to gain access to the property. We found the front door to the property unlocked which was shocking since NOBODY was there - totally unsafe. The property itself was a great size for our group, and the hot tub was a much loved feature although we had trouble working it at times. However, the windows had black mould around them, which alarmed us but we only noticed this as we were cleaning the house ourselves before leaving. We had to wash most of the cutlery and kitchen utensils before using them as some still had bit of food stuck to them. The worst area was the indoor ‘heated’ pool, which had broken tiles and black mould around the edges of the pool - clearly in an unkempt condition. It was freezing cold when we used it (for a total of 40 minutes on the last day of our 2 night stay) so we quickly returned to the house and didn't get our money's worth out of it. The communication was okay until we left. Then we were accused of causing the damage we noticed to the tiles. The owner refused to accept any evidence we produced (we took videos when we used the pool and you can see the poor condition of the pool clearly, even black mould) and was very rude calling us ‘drunken species of fool’ and ‘compulsive liars’ among patronising us saying we should decide who caused the damage and say we are sorry. The owner wanted at least six people from our party to declare they caused the damage and he would in turn give back a fraction of the deposit. This offer was totally ridiculous and disrespectful. The area of damage in question was the small shower area, the ground had sunk slightly and the tiles had shifted due to this. We have had independent experts evaluate this area of damage and they all concluded that this was a maintenance issue (the water from the showers sunk through the cracked grout around the tiles and over time with people walking and standing caused the ground to sink) and furthermore the pool should not have been let out to us due to massive health and safety concerns. Regardless of this, the owner dismissed our many reports as ‘fictional’ and continued to patronise us, calling us liars once more. We were all left totally depressed and stressed by the messages we received from the owner. If I - a 21 year old student - can remain calm and professional when discussing these issues, then surely a business owner can do the same. It got to the point where I was dreading receiving a reply (which were often weeks apart, now he had our money he wasn't so interested in us) and would get so upset reading the abuse he would respond with. I can at least hold my head high and say i never stooped to his level and remained professional and polite. He shouted and called another member of my party horrible names when we tried to contact him by phone when he stopped responding to my emails. It has been a completely horrible experience for me, and it was my 21st birthday we went away for. And I am totally shocked and disgusted by the way this man speaks to me. He is convinced we caused this damage only because two of his employees claim to have HEARD us ‘jumping up and down and being loud and boisterous’ on a night we weren't even at the pool. Without going to see where the noise was actually coming from (how often do you hear a sound and mistake the origin of this sound). Furthermore these employees were not seen once during our stay and we looked for them on several occasions for help since we couldn't contact the owner at the time due to poor phone service but could not find anyone. I seriously advise against booking with this owner. The property itself was nice, although in areas it needed a proper cleaning, but it just isn't worth the abuse and hassle you may face when being accused without proof of damage you can actually prove you didn’t cause. If you have already booked then I suggest taking all the photos and videos you can to protect yourself against the possibility that you may end up in my position in the future. For the money you are paying, you deserve far better.

Fifteen of our family stayed at Ormidale House between 20-23 April this year. there are four properties within this estate to rent. We rented the Mill House which has been beautifully converted.. The Mill House sleeps far more than the 15 that we were, we had more than enough personal space for ourselves and some extra freedom too. The Mill House has been thoughtfully renovated with luxury in mind, the main room is lovely and has everything that a large party needs. The bedrooms ( i have seen that other people have said that they are a bit small), we loved their quirkiness, if you want hotel rooms...then stay at a hotel? this is a beautifully converted Mill House, simple as that.
Our family aged between 10-90 years old stayed and we all loved it here, it had a little something special and oldie worldly for all of us, there was of course the pool for the kids, beautiful small walks for the oldies, just enough time for a small sherry, but for the more adventurous of us we had a discovery of a climb/walk behind the Mill through aged forestry that was amazing, the kids were fascinated by the 4ft tall ants nests that we found and the natural beauty, freshness of the wild trees. The children aged 10-15 years made a bridge from stones and discarded bits of wood across the beautiful water fall that travelled pass the Mill....no X Box needed everyone....just a little imagination.
The house is positioned so very well for access to Loch Fyne and a few adventures to other beautiful places. we went for our father in laws 90th Birthday and we all had a lovely, relaxing time....For those that were lucky our favorites was the Owls at night...we loved to hear them in the quiet of the night.
lovey memories.
Holly Boyd