Tudor Lodge

Reviews (5)

• Thomas

  This lovely house is also very engaging if you love a good story & like reading. Owned by the Kyle family this property belonged to the late John Wilson Kyle, better known as Jack Kyle. Jack was one of Ireland's greatest Rugby players of all time having been entered into the Rugby hall of fame for his achievements in the sport. He also graduated from Queen's university in Belfast in the medical field & spent 34 years as a surgeon in Africa & was one of the first doctor's to help people with the Hiv virus. When this incredible gentleman returned to Ireland he brought back with him all his books & art work from Africa, which are all still in Tudor Lodge for you to indulge yourself. The house itself is a lovely big family home with lots of seating areas, a large kitchen , living area, dining room & conservatory. At one point we had 20 people in the house, & as people came & went it was a fantastic atmosphere for everyone to catch up, even the kids had lots of room to run around & the back garden is very nice too, with great views but especially at night if the sky's are clear, as there is no light pollution, so the sky lights up like a Christmas tree, you can even see the outline of the milky way. For sleeping the two downstairs bedrooms & bathroom are very handy, if you have people with you of an older age or with mobility difficulties, this was very handy for us as we had 70+ years old family members coming to stay. At one point we had 6 cars on the drive too, so having all the room at the front of the house is ideal for people coming & going. The upstairs bedrooms are both nice and big , comfortable & are both ensuite with large wardrobes for all your clothes etc. I highly recommend this family home, it's location, views, accommodation & history, make it an absolute pleasure. A special mention for Caleb too, jack's son, the landlord, he is a lovely man and very helpful and accommodating, thank you Caleb for everything & bless you , Tommy.

• Ruth

  We had a great week. The downstairs accessible bathroom made it ideal for the grandparents while the location is ideal for walking the Mournes. The house belonged to Jack Kyle which was an added bonus for the older generation of Irish rugby fans! It is spacious and well equipped and good value compared to other similar sized properties in the area so I have given it four stars. Had it been pricier, I would probably have rated it slightly lower as there were a few niggles and it is important to know what to expect: (1) there was a lot of animal hair on the mats and stair carpets (maybe that’s normal for properties that allow pets - I don’t have any and wouldn’t normally choose one except the accessible bathroom and location made this one attractive); (2) again possibly an animal problem, but the sofa in the living room smells really bad to the point we couldn’t use it, although fortunately there is a lovely sunroom with nice seating so that was less of a problem than it might have been; (3) the bin situation is not adequately managed - guests have to put the right bin out on bin day but that clearly hadn’t happened for weeks as both the black and blue bins were overflowing on the patio. We had to tidy up the previous tenants’ rubbish and rearrange it to get it in the bins and get them closed. We put out the blue bin so it was emptied and we had to take the rest of our rubbish home as there was no room for our rubbish in the black bin. There wasn’t even a bin liner provided so we had to get that ourselves too. That’s going to be a problem for this week’s incoming guests too although at least they won’t have to tidy up our rubbish. The owner needs to ensure that the bins are emptied and have enough space for incoming guests - it isn’t fair to have to sort out previous guests’ waste and if you were coming from further afield you couldn’t take your rubbish home. (4) Getting hot water was complicated - there were more switches than explained in the book - you need to turn on switches to the left of the door in the hot press as well as the one in the kitchen to get hot water for the upstairs shower. It took us a couple of days to work that out! (5) It would be a good idea to bring extra towels even if you aren’t planning on the beach. We were 7 guests and had 7 towels and 2 hand towels. If you have a few people with long hair and it isn’t cold enough for the heating to come on, they don’t dry. So, great location and plenty of space. The man who cuts the grass was also very friendly and considerate. It clearly states that pets are allowed so my first two niggles might not bother you if you had brought some. However, I think the owner should sort out the bin management and improve instructions for the hot water. A couple of spare towels would be nice but not essential!

• Euphemia

  It was so well catered for our family and dogs and we had the best wee family holiday with every facility we needed. The comfort and cleanliness was first class. It just said what you see on the tin! Thank you for sharing your beautiful home with us and we would recommend a stay at Tudor Lodge