Scottish hotels, Dunoon, Edinburgh and Prestwick

O.K. It's all been happening in the last couple of weeks, pigs, hay, woodworking, potato harvesting......, a stag weekend and a wedding. All in all lots to post about, so I best get started.

As a result of the stag weekend I had occurance to spend 3 sucessive nights in different Scottish hotels. All of which were note worthy not all for good reasons

Our choice of stag activities took us to Quadmania in Scotland, a full review of which can be found on more-power, the blog.

The Friday night saw us staying at The Cothouse Hotel. near Dunoon and only a couple of miles from Quadmania. This charming little hotel, was very welcoming, the food was excellent and it had a satisfactory wine list. I thoughroughly enjoyed the garlic mushrooms and the huge plate of haggis with a sauce of neat whisky. The large selection of Scotch Whiskys was also explored with great relish. The rooms were comfortable, and the breakfast was excellent. I asked for everything from the Cooked Breakfast options, and was duly treatened with the washing up if I didn't clear my plate. It was tough, but I rose to the challenge. The cothouse had that certain personal charm that only a small hotel can have, and large hotels never come near. Prices where very exceptable. If you are spending a night in the Dunoon area, I can highly recommend the cothouse.

Saturday night took us to Edingburgh, an exceptional city for a night out, it must be said. However, exceptional is not one word that applies to the Edinburgh Holiday Inn. This displayed the typical impersonality of a large hotel with a good helping of incompetance and high prices to boot. When we requested a shower curtain, which was missing from the bathroom, the porter told us that "Shower curtains were out" leaving us to soak the bathroom floor each time we had a shower. Reception was chaos both at check in and check out and the main doors, seemed to trigger themselves to open before they had finished closing, making a very irritating, repetitive noise for the crowds waiting for the incompetance of reception to turn it's attention to them. Next time, we will book early and avail of one of the countless other, cheaper, and no doubt better hotels in the Edinburgh area.

Sunday left me on my own in Prestwick before my RyanAir flight to Oslo Torp. My hosts were the "North Beach Hotel". Perfectly acceptable, very good food, and excellent if you play golf. Prices reasonable. Recommended, if you are travelling out from Glasgow Prestwick Airport in the morning as it is right beside the train station which is 1 stop and 2 minutes away from the airport.