B&B's from our Scottish Holiday
The Old Rectory (near Hurstbourne Priors)
Big impressive outside, and it has a little watercourse which gurgles happily, and more
greenery than all of Nunhead (well, maybe not, but it looks that way). The inside does
look like someone's house, a little cluttered, clean to those kind of standards. But not
quite up to a hotel. Shower didn't work, the knob to divert the water was fixed on
"bath". Everything else is fine by my standards. Of course the defining factor
of the B&B is that breakfast - 3 large strips of bacon, mushrooms, baked-beans, one
fried egg (done both sides, gooey inside), a sausage, thick fresh-bread toast, and the
ubiquitous tomatoes (which I declined when ordering the night before, but they still
appeared...), all cooked well, and satisfyingly filling. The proprietor is friendly
and accommodating, Tricia liked the large fluffy towels. Moderately close to site
for I.D. Summer Tourney.
Greenwood Lodge (Nottingham)
Oooo! a friendly cat greets us we pull up to this B&B, as I open my door it jumps
in and promptly lies on the rear-window tray like it belongs there. Taking this as a good
omen we chat to the proprietors for a bit, and check into an OTT English Country styled
room. Everything is clean and maintained, but the shower units positioning seems a little
strange, if it was placed in the corner one would get more room. You get the impression
this is meant for a class higher than myself, crafted furniture, silver tableware, and
some condiment pieces that I'm not sure of the function of, it's funny though some things
look like antiques, others crappy imitations... The only bad thing was the very
strong smell of deodoriser which didn't leave even when we left the windows open for
several hours while we went out to dinner. However I did find and switch it off before
going to bed and this made a large difference. TV is small, but did have a suitcase stand.
Grub consists of 2 pieces of thick bacon, 3 mushrooms, a rather small and tasteless
sausage, one fried egg (sunnyside up), and unordered tomatoes! All very civilised. All
very English.
The Lodge B&B (Outside York)
Two nights here, serviceable room, but not quite as nice, and significantly nosier than
the others so far (what looked like a quiet back road on the map is very well travelled),
and definitely no extras anywhere. One light bulb was blown and we had to go down and ask
for a replacement. Shower is a little pathetic, but the bathroom is quite large for the
UK. The towels were a little scratchy
Breakie consisted of 3 crispy strips of bacon, a heap of mushrooms, 2 sausages, a home
grown poached sunnyside egg, a half slice of fried bread, and NO tomatoes! she remembered,
hurrah! No nice muslie, but prunes and fresh banana with yummy fruit corner yougurt.
Coffee was instant-blah!.
Vivers Mill (Pikering)
A reasonably sized room, with freshly painted white walls, and plain but solid
furniture. No in-room TV, but a huge lounge is available. Ensuite is very small but is a
separate room. "The shower" has a fitting at waist height, but with some kiwi
ingenuity can be adapted to provide a reasonable job. Plenty of hot water. On the first
night strong stale smoke smells came from the expel-air but this was fixed when mentioned.
Reasonable sized fluffy towels. I had to go downstairs and ask to get the heating turned
on (after being told I only had to turn the radiator on). The staff were seldom at the
front desk and there was no bell which was inconvenient, but otherwise they were very
helpful. 2 bacon, 2 small sausages, beans, mushrooms, 1 poached egg. Only canned
grapefruit segments provided for fruit.
Dukesfield Hall
Some awesome scenery on the way up, but this B&B turns out to be some way out of
town (10m). The room has been recently redecorated to a high standard, but it is very
English and flowery.. The brand new carpets meant no shoes inside. To be truthful I felt
scared to touch anything it was so immaculate, so not a very homey feeling. Furniture is
not matching but is all of a style. A TV in the room, and a nice firm bed, if a little
small. The views are very nice, and sine we were out of town on a farm there were lots of
free roaming animals, dogs, chickens and a peacock. The neighbours exuberant dogs met us
on our arrival, we bumped into four very friendly fellows, and one not so friendly, but
were defended by one of our new friends. Food was great, a selection of yougurts and
fruit set out, and they had muslie. I was impressed.
Angus Hotel + Almonds Bistro
The room decor is slightly aged, giving the room a more relaxed atmosphere. There is a
proper ensuite that is a very reasonable size. No complaints except that there are no
extras, we were given two small bars of soap, but there were fluffy towels. The main room
is large with a standard double bed that was nice and firm. Alarm clock and hair dryer
provided. We tried to get some washing done but despite handing it in by 12.00 it was
still not ready when we wanted to leave in the morning.
Breakfast was a little disappointing, served restaurant style you had to ask for
everything except toast and cereal. The oj was served in very small glasses, there was no
fruit, no muslie, and the yougurt was unsweetened, nothing was particularly to Tricia's
taste. Except for the coffee which was great (especially compared to the last few places).
Given that they did have more than the standard selection on the menu, Zane had poached
egg on haddock, but was highly tempted by a superior sounding Full English - Cumberland
sausages, bacon etc.
The Old Manse
We were served with meringue and cream and a drink when we arrived. We had an upstairs room with a double bed and fully private good sized bathroom. The decor was new, not too flowery but as we have discovered is typical here there were quite a few little nick-nacks dotted around available surfaces. The bed was a little "springy", as in you could feel them, and there was only a full-sized bath with a rubber shower attachment. The lovely front garden compensated for the view of silos from the bedroom. Nice proprietors, helpful too. Breakfast had excellent fruit platter, but no yoghurt for Tricia, cooked kippers were tasty, but very boney = messy. Full English was of middling quality. The local pub, The White Swan, did huge portions of traditional foods. McEwans on tap; we must be getting close to the border!
Kings B&B (Stirling)
For some reason it is almost impossible to get a room with on-suite in Stirling. The
best I could do was a room right in the centre of Stirling, by the main street with a
supposedly private bathroom (that turned out to be infact very public). This was obviously
the more traditional kind of B&B, so our room was in a private home rather than a
professionally run B&B or guest house. Infact it was so central we were above some
shops, an excellent base for walking to all the towns attractions. The decoration was only
partially completed, ie unpainted skirting boards and poorly laid carpet, as well as the
usual odd mixture of furniture. The level of cleanliness was good, but not sparkling.
The bathroom was right next door to us (so handy for us), and was of a reasonable size. It
had a shower above the bath, however the shower was very very hard (and therefore very
uncomfortable for me - but Zane liked, and also very noisy when the family go up to go to
work). Our towels were not changed or dried although we were there for two nights.
Although clean, it was a family bathroom so did not appear to get cleaned each day.
The owner was very chatty (which Zane likes and I don't so I left him to deal with it). A
very cute, patable Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was on site and around especially at
breakfast time.. Breakie is good, yep it's Scotland now, you get fried potatoes with your
Full "Scottish" no-haggis breakfast.
Greenwood Lodge (Perth)
First thing I noticed was the reproduction Tudor chair, it looked classy like the rest of this expensive B&B. Big room, with shower/ensuite. Mini-bar and nice views as extras. Everything well maintained and cleaned just like a hotel. The staff were a little more abrupt, and they had almost a dozen rooms, so things were a little more busy than the "homely" B&B's. Close to the centre of Perth, this is much more hotel in outlook and feeling, all very professional.
Doune House - On the main street of Edzell
Semi-detached converted house, right on main street, and not too far from the village hall (where the Warbands feast was held). Given a selection of biscuit/snacks plus tea and coffee after unpacking the car. The room was moderately large, clean and modern. A sink in one corner, and the shower/toilet was just outside the door, with a larger bathroom up on the nest level. The shower was great, fully adjustable, infinite hot water, and multiple water streams. You could probably fit two people into it too, arguably the best shower I've had in Europe (including my £190/night Paris hotel). No cats :-(
