We want you to have a safe and happy stay with no surprises, so this page explains what we both agree to when we make a booking. Our terms are designed with fairness and safety in mind for you, for us, and for our future guests.
Our Privacy Policy covers how we and our suppliers handle your data.
Dos and Don’ts during your stay
By Booking with us, you confirm that you and everyone in your party accept with these Terms and Conditions including the Terms of Booking and Dos and Don’ts during your stay.
You acknowledge that failure to disclose all relevant information or comply with these terms may lead to termination of the contract and loss of booking without a refund.
This section covers all bookings.
Please take out travel insurance even if you are travelling within the UK. If you are visiting from abroad, please make sure your insurance covers healthcare.
We are happy to provide you with documents to support a claim. If you are delayed and there is no booking immediately after yours, we will work with our cleaners to extend your booking..
However, we do not provide refunds for missed nights due to disruption to your travel plans, e.g. due to bad weather, road closure or delayed flights, and we do not provide refunds if you have to cancel your whole booking at short notice, e.g. due to illness, including Covid-19. (There is plenty of information available about travel insurance, for example from Money Savings Expert).
If you book via a third party such as Booking.com, Airbnb, VRBO, etc, then the terms covering booking, payment, cancellations and refunds for our listing on their website apply.
Any changes to your booking will be managed through their website and messaging services.
Payments are made as follows:
We reserve the right to cancel your reservation without refunding your deposit if we don’t receive the full balance on time.
Payments can be made by Visa or Mastercard on our website. They are handled securely via Stripe and we do not see your card details. If we need to issue a refund, we will do so via Stripe.
We have introduced a returnable deposit to cover recycling, laundry and major damage. We ask for this to be paid a week before you arrive, and return it automatically three days after you leave.
We will always notify you if we have to withhold funds.
We will only withhold funds as follows:
We never charge for minor damage such as scuffs or broken plates.
If the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage becomes unavailable after you have booked (for example because of flood damage) we will refund anything you have already paid and we will make every effort to find alternative accommodation in the area for the same period or other acceptable dates.
Contact us about changes to your booking phone, on the website, or by emailing welcome@lhkc.co.uk, but not by post.
More than 6 weeks before you arrive
• Your deposit of 25% is non-refundable though we will return any balance already paid
• You may use your deposit of 25% to make a future booking
4-6 weeks before you arrive
• We will refund 50% of the full amount
• You may use the 50% we are unable to refund to make a future booking
2-4 weeks before you arrive
• We will refund 25% of the full amount
• You may use the 50% of the cost of your holiday to make a future booking
Less than 2 weeks before you arrive
• We are unable to provide a refund
• You may use 50% of what you have paid to make a future booking
The following sections apply to all bookings.
Check in is from 4:00pm onwards.
Check out is by 10:00 am.
It may be possible to agree earlier check in or later check out with our cleaners, but only if agreed in advance.
Only six people (adults and children) may stay overnight at the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage. If more than six people stay in the Cottage, your booking may be cancelled and you may be asked to leave with no refund made.
Please contact us by email or phone if you wish to invite your own guests during the daytime. This is usually acceptable, but there may be other events on site.
We charge £10 per dog, and up to three housetrained dogs over 12 months old are welcome. Contact us if you would like to bring more dogs.
Note that the Cottage is surrounded by farmland and it is near open water and cliffs so it is not suitable for very young or excitable dogs. See section below for more information about keeping your dog safe while it is with us.
The Cottage doesn’t have a phone.
Wifi is free and typically works between 5Mb-20Mb, which is usually enough to stream a TV programme or conduct an online meeting, but may not be enough for gaming.
Please note that the provision of a broadband internet service is outwith our control, and does not form part of the contract to provide accommodation, but we will always try to ensure an unbroken service.
It is a condition of using the wifi and /or broadband services that you and your party use them responsibly and do not use them for illegal activities; use is subject to our Internet Use policy and to EE’s Privacy Policy
We will cooperate with legal authorities to the fullest extent if asked to provide information about usage, logs or other records.
The nearest electric vehicle chargers are in Wick, which is 5 miles away, however, we can provide emergency trickle charging overnight by arrangement using our outside socket.
Using a trickle charger (or “granny” charger) connected to the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage is strictly forbidden.
Conditions for over-night charging are as follows:
We are very happy to do this for you, but failure to comply with the above may result in your stay being terminated without a refund.
We want you to enjoy your stay from start to finish, so please tell us about any problems straight away. Please note that we rely on trusted local trades people who may not be available at short notice, overnight or at the weekend, and replacement items may not be in stock locally which can cause delays.
We cannot consider compensation for complaints raised after you leave or if you won’t let us try to put things right while you are with us.
The simple rule is please tell us! The safety of all our guests comes first, so please do not hide damage to furniture, electrical items or anything which may compromise the safety of future guests.
We know accidents happen and we never charge for minor breakages (glasses, crockery, ornaments etc) or fair wear and tear, and we understand that an appliance may choose to break down while you are with us.
We will discuss any significant damage with you, such as broken furniture, or specialist cleaning for upholstery or carpets, and we reserve the right to charge these against your damage deposit at cost, or to claim the full costs from you if exceptional.
Please lock the cottage and close the windows whenever you go out because we cannot be held responsible for any accidents, break-ins or theft within the cottage during your stay.
Please put the key back in the keysafe before you leave. The charge for a lost key is £25.
We cannot accept liability for any injury, loss or damage, consequential or otherwise suffered by you or any other member of your party, unless there was wilful default by us or our employees, or unless personal injury or death was caused by our negligence.
Immediately outside the walls of the Noss Head Lighthouses Compound, there is open water, and sloping ground leading down to cliffs. Thisis more dangerous when the ground is icy or wet. Everyone in your party and anyone who visits you must understand the dangers the water and cliffs present to infants, children, teenagers, adults and dogs.
As the person placing the booking, you agree to take full responsibility for the safety of all members of your party, your visitors, and any animals you bring with you, and agree to completely free the owners of the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage, Noss Head, their employees, agents and representatives from any liability, loss, damage or expense, including without limitation, legal fees and cost of litigation, resulting from any accidents or incidents relating to the nearby cliffs and open water occurring on the way to or from the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage or while staying there.
This section applies to all bookings.
These Dos and Don’ts keep the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage safe for all our guest and neighbours; following them is a condition of your stay.
Our neighbours include people, farm animals, rare plants, birds, wild-life and sea-life; please be aware of them and respect them.
FIREWORKS OR SIMILAR ARE EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN as farm animals are nearby.
There must be clear vehicular access the Lighthouse at all times. We are not responsible for any actions taken by the Northern Lighthouse Board, the Coastguard, their contractors or agents or the emergency services if your vehicle blocks access to the Lighthouse.
There is parking outside the cottage for two cars; and we can accommodate additional vehicles – please just let us know.
Pee, poo and toilet paper only down the toilet please! There are bins in the bathroom for everything else including sanitary items, wipes, cotton wool, etc.
We have had several blockages due to “flushable” wipes and sanitary items going down the toilet, so please bin everything despite what it says on the packet.
Do not light candles, tea-lights, wax melts or any other item with a naked flame in the cottage or outside.
They pose a fire-risk, and the soot damages the lampshades, paintwork and upholstery.
Smoking, vaping and using e-cigarettes are forbidden inside the cottage including the porch but you may do so in the compound. There is a sand bucket in the porch for cigarette butts so please don’t leave them outside where they may harm wildlife.
Your pet will be in an unfamiliar place and may become anxious, so we provide a plug-in which is calming for dogs. We also provide a water bowl, and throws.
Dogs and cats also live in the lighthouse compound, so please keep your dog under control at all times.
Our priority is keeping all the animals and birds here safe, including your dogs. Keeping your dogs under control and abiding by these house rules is a condition of your stay, and if you don’t do this we may ask you to leave immediately without a refund.
The lighthouse compound is surrounded by cliffs with open water nearby.
PARENTS AND GUARDIANS: Only you can prevent an accident! These rules are to keep your children and dogs safe while they stay with us.
The gates of the compound are not closed, so there is walking access to the cliffs and the lochan (pond).
There is limited storage available on site and none of it is lockable, but please let us know if you would like us to store any items out of the weather and we will see what we can do.
We want to keep our cleaners as safe as possible while they do their work.
Please use the bins and bags provided to sort your rubbish and put it into the appropriate wheelie bin by the gate before you leave or when the kitchen bins are full. Details are in the kitchen and the online info-pack.
The Council sometimes refuse to empty wheelie bins with unsorted rubbish. If this happens the charge is £50 minimum per external bin that the authorities won’t empty. The cost of any local authority fines for not following recycling rules could also be passed onto you.
We really don’t want to charge you anything, so please recycle!
Our cleaners will strip your beds.
We want you to have a lovely time while you stay with us, and these terms are designed to keep everyone safe, including you, your children and dogs, future guests, and the team here at the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage.
Last Updated 16th March 2024.
