We stayed at Apartment 166 for four nights which is at ground floor level so there are no flights of steps. ||This apartment has its entrance door to the rear of the properties that form Carmel Apartments. Access is via a secure gate into a lovely garden area which looks as though it would be lovely to spend summer evenings in over a glass of wine, G&T or beer.||On arrival, having easily followed the well detailed instructions, we found the apartment welcoming and very clean with some very nice quality furnishings. It’s obviously been converted from what would previously have been a two up two down type of terraced house. Entering the main door you arrive into a small utility room with the sink, microwave, washing machine and cupboard. The next room is a kitchen diner lounge open plan room I found it a bit disjointed having the sink and microwave in a different room to the rest of the kitchen. There’s everything you need though for your stay and mostly good quality items. Ok, one small reservation, there’s no dessert spoons ! There are soup spoons, but one of my pet hates is eating anything other than soup with a soup spoon ! The utility and main rooms are located at the rear of the property. At the front of the property is one large bedroom and the bathroom/shower. Both are well appointed, though their position in the apartment I think are wrong as these rooms should really be to the back. A. Ice touch in the bathroom is the nice quality soap and moisturiser.||Generally it’s quite a comfortable apartment and was ok for our visit as we didn’t really intend to be spending much time there except for the evenings. There were however some reasons why I’ve only scored this 2 out of 5, some minor issues as well as some of a more annoying nature. The biggest problem of all was the noise. As I’ve mentioned above, this apartment is located on the ground floor of the building, but it is also literally on the pathway adjacent to a busy road (Thornhill Road in fact). I don’t sleep well with any form of noise and so the traffic noise was a big problem for me. There is constant traffic noise until very late into the evening, it’s lighter at night but still there. For some reason, there seems to be a mini rush hour at around 5am each morning so after a disturbed nights’ sleep, I would be woken up by this and rarely got back to sleep again. If like me, you can’t sleep with traffic noise, I really wouldn’t recommend this apartment.||The other issue of a more significant nature is the lack of a blind on the window in the shower. This is a big window (was likely created from the top part of the old front door) and means that when taking a shower you’re literally standing a few feet from the path outside and although the glass is opaque, much detail can be seen from outside while showering with the light on in times of darkness ! I’ve included a photo of the window from both sides. ||A lesser issue, but nonetheless one that we found annoying, was the lack of a comfortable sofa in the lounge. It’s actually a sofa bed and has no support for the upper body. I’m only 5’7”, my wife a little shorter and the back of the sofa was beneath my shoulder blades. We couldn’t sit on the sofa and watch TV for too long before it became really uncomfortable. Which was a shame because good quality Internet and TV is provided. ||Another nice touch was the fudge left next to the coffee/tea provisions and there is a very nice coffee machine. It would’ve been nice if there were a few more coffee pods along with a description of the contents of the pods provided. Oh, and nice as the fudge was, a bottle of milk would’ve been more helpful !||So all in all, a nicely appointed apartment but in a...
Read moreWe recently stayed at the Carmel apartments. Due to an error by Booking.com we stayed the first night in the Studio Deluxe apartment. On arrival I was worried as it looked like we had arrived at a garden shed, but once inside it was perfect, there was everything you needed for an overnight stay, comfy bed and bedding, a little kitchenette area with a combi microwave, bathroom with toilet and shower, I did find the bathroom sink a little awkward, it was over the toilet and with short arms brushing my teeth was a little difficult. I would be happy to spend a night there again.|The next day, Booking.Com error sorted by the owner Jamie and we transferred to the main apartments, we were in 172 which was absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way. We spent 3 nights here and it was almost a shame to have to leave. The large bed was very comfortable, a three seater sofa in the lounge meant we could relax when in the apartment. The kitchen area had everything you could possibly need (although we did need a pair of scissors one day and couldn’t find any but that’s not to say they were not there somewhere, so many cupboards and drawers with lots of little extras in. A good sized fridge freezer, oven, microwave etc, even a coffee machine with coffee pods included. Premium quality toiletries included. |There were plenty of plug sockets around the apartment. |The Wi-Fi was very good in both accommodations, as were the tv’s. |The curtains were completely blackout and very heavy and luxurious which meant no light or noise from outside once drawn, making for a good nights sleep.||Our friends stayed in apartment 170 right next door to us and their apartment was just as beautiful, slightly different layout and decoration but the same high quality and standard.|Both 170 and 172 are first floor apartments with a view across the park, however they are up a stone staircase, not a problem for us but for someone with mobility issues maybe a ground floor apartment would be better suited. |All the apartments were exceptionally clean, lighting was good and they were warm with great heating. |The garden area was beautiful, just wish we had stayed longer to be able to have made use of it. |If we should ever have need to visit the area again Carmel apartments would most definitely be our...
Read moreCarmel Apartments is a brilliant place to stay. We were seriously impressed by the attention to detail, the cleanliness and the quality of our apartment, with only one issue that can be rectified quite easily.||We stayed for two nights in the final week of July, in apartment 170, which has a double bedroom and a sofa bed that can fit two people. When we first arrived, we had a problem - we could not find the key in the key safe. However, the owner was quick to drive out, and when he arrived, we quickly realised it was our mistake and not his. Nevertheless, the owner was very quick to help us. We had arrived a day too early for our booking, so he researched nearby hotels with availability, and thanks to him we found somewhere in minutes. ||When we actually started our stay, we were really happy with the apartment. It has basically everything you think you'd need. We bought shower stuff, our own toilet paper, washing up liquid etc only to find it had all been provided. It felt like home. The TV was huge, the apartment itself decently spacious, and everything decorated beautifully.||The single problem we had came the next morning. We wanted to cook some breakfast. We had the window wide open, but the fire alarm went off - twice! It was a bit of a shock and early in the morning, waking one of my family member's up, and all we did was scramble some eggs and fry off some sausage for no more than about 3 minutes. The kitchen was not smoky at all and nothing had been burnt so we were really confused about the sensitivity of the fire alarms. I would really recommend having an extractor fan placed in the kitchen, because cooking on the stove seems an impossibility without it. This is the only reason I don't give a rating of five stars.||Everything else was perfect. The hospitality and amount of amenities made available is brilliant. We were so pleased with our stay. I would absolutely recommend this place if you are going to Falkirk at any point. It is very close to town, supermarkets, and The Kelpies. Wifi signal is brilliant and there is everything you would need. Well done,...
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