Stunning castle hotel with original features just outside Edinburgh
BookMember since 2024
Underwhelming, not as anticipated or described
stayed: February 2026
We stayed for two nights over the Valentine's weekend.
The staff were very polite and pleasant.
Our bed was very comfortable.
When we arrived, we found our towels had been "sculpted" into two swans, and silk rose petals covered the bed. This was an unexpected nice touch.
We had afternoon tea booked on arrival. Overall, it was a bit disappointing. There was no choice of tea, and the service was quite slow. Some of the scones were rather stodgy, as were some of the cakes. The finger sandwiches were good, particularly the smoked salmon. Tea was served in a room that was quite disappointing. We were expecting more from what was described as a castle.
We ate at the hotel on Saturday night. The menu was a bit limited, but this was probably due to Valentine's. The food was well-cooked and pretty good. There was an extensive wine list ranging from reasonably priced house wines to some very expensive vintages from around the world. Overall, the meal was good, if a bit expensive for what it was. However, the dining "room" is in a converted cellar. It was quite dark and frankly disappointing.
Breakfast on the first morning was disappointing. My coffee was cold, and the service was poor. The wrong food was delivered, and we had to wait over twenty minutes for the order to be corrected. The cold buffet was adequate.
Our bedroom was okay, but looked a bit tired. Some of the wallpaper was peeling, and the woodwork definitely needed a refresh of paint. The en-suite bathroom was quite small and lacked enough surfaces to place wash items. Parts of the shower mixer fitting were missing. On the second night, we noticed a smoky smell in the room. We found this to be coming from under the door. There is an open fire in the main reception hall that seemed to draw up the stairs to the corridor to our room. We had to block the gap under the door with a towel and open the window. It was quite a chilly night as a result.
We were left slightly underwhelmed, and our expectations were not met.
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