Showing posts with label Scotland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scotland. Show all posts

April 8, 2015

Bonnyrigg, Scotland: Dalhousie Castle Hotel; hotel review

Dalhousie Castle Hotel  

In Bonnyrigg, 8 miles south of Edinburgh, l (01875) 820153.  24 rooms; restaurant. 

Turreted and fortified, with ramparted terraces and battlements, 13th-century Dalhousie Castle Hotel is set amid open meadows and woodlands.  It overlooks the banks of the South Esk, from which came the sandstone it is built of.   A path through a bucolic horse pasture follows the river to a watchtower ruin.  The main castle has two ornate, circular, turret-like skylights and a magnificent wood-paneled library with a bar hidden behind a false bookcase door—the perfect spot for a pre-dinner drink.  Another bar and a candle-lit restaurant are in the dungeon.  Rooms feature high 12-foot ceilings and tall windows, with attractively coordinated heavy cotton brocade drapes, antique furniture, and a geometrically patterned carpet.  Large bathrooms equipped with substantial bathtubs invite a good soak.  Wind whistling through the trees sets the mind to imagining, and the stupendous views remind you of what they were once for—not for luxuriating in, but for watching out for invaders and attack. 


Dalhousie Castle Hotel in Bonnyrigg, Scotland
Dalhousie Castle Hotel in Bonnyrigg, Scotland


More castles.

More castle hotels.

More ideas for exploring Europe.


images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers 

April 6, 2015

Midlothia, Scotland: Borthwick Castle Hotel, hotel review

Borthwick Castle Hotel  

In North Middleton, Midlothia, 12 miles S of Edinburgh, 01875 820514.  10 rooms. 

Built in 1430 and situated in a pastoral valley, this remote castle features a Medieval ambiance and boasts arrow windows that provide tall, narrow framed views of the bucolic countryside.  Mary Queen of Scots sought refuge here in 1567.  Features of Borthwick Castle Hotel include a Great Hall with minstrels’ gallery (candlight dinners occur here), a 40-foot Gothic-style vaulted ceiling, and a collection of medieval armor.  Guest rooms are reached via a curving spiral stone staircase.  Some have four-poster beds, and the bed in the Mary Queen of Scots room is covered with blood-red fabric.  Bathrooms are small but set in thick-walled alcoves entered by low doorways--providing the feel of being enclosed in a cozy cave.  The castle has just undergone extensive renovation.


view from Borthwick Castle in Midlothia, Scotland
view from Borthwick Castle in Midlothia, Scotland



More castles.

More castle hotels.

More ideas for exploring Europe.

images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers 

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