Went to ballyvara house last weekend for my wedding with all my family. It exceeded our expectations completely. We were blown away by its location and the views around it. Both kids and adults had a fantastic time in this house. It was clean and had everything we needed. It was perfect for what we needed and would definitely recommend.
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We had a Four generation reunion of 32 people, and this was a spacious and perfect rental.
Full commercial grade kitchen, a common room, library, outdoor patio, tennis courts, and kids' play area.
The house has a path that leads into the center of town that is safe and keeps you off the roads while walking.
It's rustic and needs a few updates but a great experience.
Had a family holiday with 14 adults and 14 kids. House is great as even when weather isn't great it's so big everyone has space. There are a few things that need to get fixed to keep the house in order but can see that the owner is doing constant maintenance. Great place and will certainly return
What a great place to spend a family staycation in the times we live in.Just home from spending quality time with the family in a very safe enviornment.Everything we needed was at our fingertips,As its self catering we had a very well equiped kitchen,large dineing room ,comfortable lounge and ample play areas for the children.Aready looking forward to our hols in Ballyvara next year
I recently stayed here for two nights for my sister's hen - there were 17 of us in total. After the first night we woke up to a bitterly cold house. The boiler had apparently broken so there was no heating or hot water. We were frozen and couldn't have showers. It was 3PM before the heating came back and we could have showers. The owner was in Dublin so sent a few people around to fix it, and in fairness it was fixed as quickly as possible (within 4-5 hours) - but one of the people who came to fix it was an oil truck so we're not sure if it was the boiler or if it ran out of oil... It was unlucky enough to be during a storm so we were trapped inside and couldn't leave. It was miserable.
The house is fine but is very dated and in need of a serious refurbishment. It wasn't a very comfortable place to be trapped in the freezing cold.
We had to book for a 2 night minimum (even though we only wanted one night). We paid nearly €2000 so the least you expect is heat and to be able to shower. The owner refused to compensate us at all - not even a gesture for the extra money we spent on briquettes as the fire was our only source of heat. We're all a bit shocked that no money back was offered as compensation for the lack of heating and hot water.
I checked in the Sorcha Coller group at 4:30pm on the Friday evening. The group had booked a standard minimum 2 night stay. All heating was in perfect working order, the open fire was burning in the lounge, and there was plenty of hot water. Sorcha confirmed on behalf of the group that they were happy with the facilities and the property at check in.
At 10:30am on the Saturday I got a text from Sorcha to ask if I could call over to look at the heating as they had tried to turn the heating on but it didn't seem to be working. I explained that I was in Dublin but that I would get onto the plumber to take a look.
There was no mention of any issue with hot water at this point and there was plenty of wood/briquettes in the fuel shed to keep the open fire going in the interim and as they wished.
The plumber arrived at 11am and reported an issue with a boiler part which he had to go get.
At 12:10am Sorcha called me to say that they had run out of hot water for showering. I explained to Sorcha that when the plumber got the boiler back up and running there would be hot water again some 15-20 minutes later.
The plumber returned and the boiler was back up and running at 12:30pm.
Wonderful place for a family reunion. My large family living in many different countries could spend a wonderful week together. My little family was unfortunate enough to be allotted the O´Loughlin Suite. Lets say the big bed had seen better days and we faced a flooded floor each time we took a shower and a smell of mildew was always present there. But all the other rooms were really great with a few minor hitches here and there, like missing door handles. I assumed the O´Loughlin Suite is still on the waiting list for renovation. The children were a bit disappointed with the play houses, they too are in need in renovation. But yes i recommend Ballyvara house but try not to draw the short straw on the O´Loughlin Suite.
We did discover a leak affecting the en-suite in the O'Loughlin Suite and this has since been fixed. I'm not sure what this guest is inferring by 'better days' but we have had some guests comment on the softness of the memory foam mattress on the bed.
The playhouse village is unfortunately not immune to the inclement Irish weather and maintenance of the structure is proving problematic. We are considering replacing the playhouse village under the current and ongoing refurbishment and maintenance plans.
