The houses are designed with the ambition of being the best equipped for children that you will find, anywhere, ever. We holiday with children in self-catering houses ourselves, and we know that happy kids make for relaxed parents. With a swimming pool opened in 2008 and tennis court in 2010, trampolines, sand-pit, and a commercial sized bouncy castle, we hope we have some of the best facilities you could look for.
Each house has a separate TV room (or two) away from the adult sitting room. The Old Barn and The Mill House share a games cottage with darts, table tennis and pool table. The Mill House has a separate playroom.
We are sure we haven’t thought of everything but we’ve tried to. So as well as the TVs and DVDs, library of books, paper and pens, we’ve spent a small fortune on table football, darts, air hockey, table tennis, a pool table, and board games.
The gardens and woods, with a ruined witch’s cottage, abandoned quarry (sadly no mine-shafts), fairy glades, stream, waterfall, and lochan, are one big adventure playground for children of virtually any age. Trees are for climbing and falling off, rivers for crossing and falling into… the most fantastic games of hide and seek and sardines have been played in the house and gardens.
For those who want a slightly more controlled environment, we are in negotiation with Argyll & Bute council over the construction of two wooden play areas – for smaller and bigger kids - in the woods. We hope to have these completed at the start of 2012, with swings, climbing walls, monkey bars, zip wires, rope ladders, etc. All of these will of course, like the bouncy castle, swimming pool and dart board, be used at the family’s own risk, but at the moment we can’t get clear of health and safety and public liability issues, so we can’t build..
We are only a mile or so from the edge of the Kyles of Bute, and the stony shore there is fine to while away some time. There’s a sailing school at Tighnabruaich and another on the Holy Loch. There’s a fantastic big sandy beach at Kilbride Bay, about a twenty minute drive away through Tighnabruich and Kames – great for picnics or barbecues, games of cricket, swimming, and sandcastles, about a three quarter of a mile treck down a pretty path from the road. The west side of Bute also has a host of sandy beaches if you are doing a day over on the island. The Tighnabruaich Gallery offers a children’s treasure hunt throughout the summer designed to encourage children to find birds and animals in the art and sculpture. They also host a series of children’s story time with Jean Marshall – famous for her Granny Porage books plus there is a great range of childrens, books, games and jigsaws.
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Children at Ormidale
