Our Stay at Coolfin Cottage in Ballycastle!

We visited Ballycastle, as a family the summer before the pandemic shook the world. This makes our time there so much more special and man, over the course of a global pandemic you don’t half gain some perspective, right? So, naturally, ever since, we have wanted to go back. We stayed overnight at the Marine Hotel in Ballycastle during our last stay. So this time, we thought we’d look for other places to lay our heads & rest our feet. We found this adorable little Cottage just 10mins from Ballycastle town centre on Booking.com. It is called Coolfin Cottage.

I noticed it was booking up fast, so I booked it there & then! The North Coast here in Northern Ireland has been extremely popular since our hospitality sector was able to reopen. And staycations are the new thing, which I am 100% here for.

Getting to the Cottage

I cannot advise by car, because we do not drive. However, Google maps will be your handy service for that form of travel. For us, we are public transport monkeys and took a train from Whiteabbey to Yorkgate. Hopped over onto the Derry line and took a train to Coleraine. From there we got on a bus from Coleraine Bus station to Ballycastle. It is a long-form of travel, just over 2.5hrs or so all in. But the views you get make every minute of the travelling, worth it.

Once you reach Marina Corner, where your bus drops you off, we made our way to the Cottage. You take the first left after the shops along the strand {facing the beach} and keep walking up. It is based on Moyle Road, so there is quite a cheeky hill to walk up before getting to it. According to the advertisement for the cottage, it says it is a 10 mins walk. But I think depends on your walking speed, it could take 10mins, but when you have a herd of little legs as we do, it took us more like 20 minutes.

But it was nice to see a Spar literally across the road from the property, which came in so handy! We actually ate from there the next morning and cannot recommend their hot breakfast deli counter enough.

Coolfin Cottage in Ballycastle

The cottage itself was super cute. It has everything you need as a family to feel safe, warm & comfortable. The owners even leave you some bits to make a cup of tea too, which I thought was a really kind touch.

Coolfin Cottage has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms {one with a bath & shower and the other with a shower cubicle}, a fully equipped kitchen, a TV {with Netflix – win!}. Every room was so clean and tidy and the kids didn’t take long to claim their beds for the night!

There were 6 of us staying, so the 4 bedrooms were perfect. My husband and I in one. Annabelle and Jacob had their own bedrooms and my teenager & her friend shared the bedroom with two single beds. So it really did fit us all perfectly. It was also a contactless check-in. We were sent the code for the special lock by the front door to retrieve our keys and also where to leave them upon departure.

The downstairs part of the cottage had a living room, a kitchen, a toilet, bathroom with a shower. And also one bedroom with a king-sized bed, and a bedroom with twin single beds.

The upstairs part of the house has a toilet and shower cubicle as well as 2 double bedrooms with beautiful skylights.

The rooms were all so clean and tidy and it really did feel like a home away from home as soon as you walk through the front door. And that is so important when you go away with your children. As long as they feel comfortable and safe, you know where you are exactly: comfortable and safe.

The kids scrambled around and within moments had their rooms picked out for the night. And not long after that could be found running around in the gorgeous garden out the back of the property.

Overall, the cottage was perfect. We decided to just enjoy it and stay in for the rest of the day. So the kids all ran about the back garden, rested in their rooms and just embraced everything the cottage had to offer. We even enjoyed a glorious shower and we can confirm that the water pressure is amazing.

It was the perfect thing to enjoy before settling down for a movie night with the kids. This was made easy because the cottage already has Netflix installed onto the TV in the living room.

This madam had other plans…

After her shower {which is adored!} she decided to enjoy the late evening on the bench in the back garden, with a book and some music. She is just the cutest and it was so nice to see her enjoying the space and peace as much as the rest of us.

But once it was time to come in, it didn’t take her long to get comfortable in the king-sized bed she chose for herself upon arrival!

We embraced everything Coolfin Cottage had to offer, whether it was the four bedrooms, the amazing showers, the free wifi, the gorgeous garden out the back! All of it. And at first, I thought £140 for one night was a little expensive, but for what you get? It is totally, totally worth it. And in truth, we were all a little gutted that we only booked it for one night.

But do you know what? We live and learn, right? And next time we go it will be for a few nights because I just loved being able to sit at the kitchen table with a cup of tea as the rest of the house slept. The joys of being an early riser. You get that 100% serenity and with the morning sun coming in through the kitchen door, I was just bliss.

Due to COVID restrictions still being in place, upon our departure, it was a requirement to strip all beds and place sheets, pillowcases etc into the black bags provided in the kitchen. You are also requested to empty any recycling, waste and rubbish into the bins at the side of the property. There is also a very helpful binder in the kitchen informing you of what rubbish/recycling etc goes into which bins. And it also provides helpful information on how to use the dishwasher, washing machine and so on. 

How to Book your stay

If you are a Northern Ireland resident, like ourselves and love Ballycastle, or maybe you have never been! Or, if you are planning a trip to Northern Ireland! I cannot recommend Ballycastle enough as a beautiful place to visit and of course, Coolfin Cottage as a place to stay. The North Coast of our little island is nothing short of breathtakingly stunning.

You can check out Coolfin Cottage {and book it} via Booking.com and if you do stay, be sure to pop by here and leave me a comment of your experience! If it was anything like ours {and everyone else who has ever stayed there} it will be a good one!

I do hope you’ve enjoyed this post and that you have a lovely day!

If you enjoyed this post, then you might also enjoy Visiting Rathlin Island and everything you need to know post on my blog.

*We paid for this accommodation ourselves. I am sharing because it is a really highly recommended place to stay.