holiday

pink princess · Post by **pink princess** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 5:36 am

ok im really thinking seriously about coming back to scotland on my hols....

so im wondering whether any of our scottish posters can recommend anywhere.... having been to scotland before i know it quite well so am looking for somewhere around the gateway to skye..... sound of sleat.... either on the isle or the mainland itself...

has anyone stayed in a self-catering cottage they can recommend? its for 2 people for 2 weeks probably later this year.... november kinda time

i have been on all the websites i could think of to look for places and ive found a few but you never know until you get there so im looking for a little local knowledge!

something romantic would be good too!

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 5:40 am

awww sorry wish i could help pink but the area you like is not one im overly familiar with

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 7:02 am

Know the areaell but afraid I generally camp or caravan so don't know of anywhere.

pink princess · Post by **pink princess** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 7:24 am

ooh no not thinking of camping or caravaning!!

most definitely want walls around me!!

at the moment am contemplating this:

http://www.unique-cottages.co.uk/cottag ... ach_estate

apparently its joined to another holiday house tho which is slightly putting me off.... combined with im not quite sure how 'out of it' it will be.... i do want to be in the middle of nowhere but id like nowhere to be reachable!!!

i stayed at balmacara years and years ago but i cant remember it all that well now....

perhaps i should bite the bullet and just book it.....

give me something to look forward to and a purpose to not get ill again!

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 7:33 am

you should book it pink, its gorgeous

scotty · Post by **scotty** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 9:43 am

Princess have you been to this area before, its Glen coe and is in an area of fantastic scenery.

I haven`t stayed there myself but I passed through a few years ago and stopped for a pint .

I kid you not I sat there gobsmacked with the views and promised myself one day to return , sorry I dont have any prices .

Failing that Glen coe village has lots of holiday lets.

Btw just over the road from the hotel Jimmy savile has his hyde away, LOL don`t know if thats good or bad .

http://freespace.virgin.net/kings.house/

pink princess · Post by **pink princess** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 12:51 am

yeah im sure ive been there...... glen coe its on the way to fort william isnt it? you can sort of drive round it in a rather big circle cant you??

its so barren and deserted, theres about 3 properties the whole way round and the whole road can be shut off if theres too much snow right??

see i thought i may still be able to convince the fiance to drive out to it from glen elg.... didnt think it would be too far.....

pink princess · Post by **pink princess** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 8:56 am

ok heres another place i quite fancy....

http://www.unique-cottages.co.uk/cottag ... ch_cottage

which one do you all think is best??

(out of this link and the one i posted a couple of replies up)

scotty · Post by **scotty** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:21 am

Hi

Princess this looks really nice, a photographers dream, and with easy reach of the road.

My only concern with Skye and the highlands are the midges, I always prefer it in the winter months when the little blighters are gone.

Scott

pink princess · Post by **pink princess** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:28 pm

aaah good old midgies - how ive missed them!!

ive still got the two skye midgie t-shirts that were passed down to me from my brothers!! they are a GOOD 10 yrs old now - the t shirts that is!!

am still planning to hopefully get away november time so by then fingers crossed theyll be in hiding!! LOL

scotty · Post by **scotty** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:37 am

You should be OK Princess most should be killed off by the frost by then.

God I cant stand them , they seem to love me and I come out in huge sores, I once did the west highland way with my brother ,camping as we went, I swear I have never seen so many of the little blighters.

Once on the trip we had to abandon camp and find refuge in a local hotel.

honest voice · Post by **honest voice** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 1:27 pm

Go to Oban. Lots of interesting people in oban. But stick to the roads.

randall · Post by **randall** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 12:56 pm

:-6

randall snooping around,

I can thoroughly recommend the Kintail - Kyle of Lochalsh area for a holiday

I wanted to go and live there but my wife wanted back among her "ain folk" only to discover that after the parents are dead and you have no living relatives within a hundred miles of you it can be very lonely indeed.

As R.L. Stevenson said so rightly, "He committed to two worst mistakes a man can make. The first was in leaving home and the second was in returning."

We stayed one night at the Kintail Hotel which was very pleasant indeed, but as our main interest was in camping, we camped at "Merven" camp site, I think it is called, at the foot of the Five Sisters Of Kintail.

Visited the McCrae cemetery - who rebuilt the famous castle of Eilean Donan; to give his clan work in the early 1900's (my spelling might be a bit off these days) Then on foot to the "Falls of Glomach" a long walk to the foot of them but you can get nearer to the top by road. A real straight down waterfall well worth seeing.

We visited Skye more than once by the ferry with the R.Y "Britannia" sailing past us - a complete surprise to our English companions who did not realise that the Royal Family move about freely in the Scottish Highlands - The Princess Royal with her husband, was "shoooed " off the land of a house she was interested in by a gardener and simply walked away unperturbed. I don't think he recognised her at all.

There is also a very good camp site at Polewe, (NOT POLYOUIE) as our English friends pronounced it. The gardens there are magnificent and full of lush vegetation, much of it tropical. Loch Marie is small but very beautiful. It has avery short river emptying it and it was omical to see young boys with primitive fishing lines pulling the fish out whilst the nearby anglers, who had paid for their day's fishing, were not catching a thing.

Lucy Irvin - who wrote "Castaway" - her father attempted to grow bananas in that area. I do not know how successful he was but it gives you an idea of the warmth of the climate up there - further north you come to Loch Carron where they have been recently made famous because "NIKE" shoes want to make shoes from their tweed. There is also a tartan weaving shed there.

I haven't been over there for many years so much of it will have changed as there were holiday homes even in the 1970's.

All in all it is a very beautiful and interesting place and more so if you try and learn a little of its history before you go there.

If you have the gut you can drive to Applecross up the zig-zag road over the highest road in Britain, I believe, and then walk along the old drovers road back to Sheildaig. The road is clearer on the map than one the ground but it is a test of stamina.

God bless.

randall

pink princess · Post by **pink princess** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:50 am

honest voice wrote: Go to Oban. Lots of interesting people in oban. But stick to the roads.

ive been to oban quite a bit, about 4/5 times, its lovely your right but i want to try somewhere different now....

pink princess · Post by **pink princess** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:51 am

randall wrote: :-6

randall snooping around,

I can thoroughly recommend the Kintail - Kyle of Lochalsh area for a holiday

I wanted to go and live there but my wife wanted back among her "ain folk" only to discover that after the parents are dead and you have no living relatives within a hundred miles of you it can be very lonely indeed.

As R.L. Stevenson said so rightly, "He committed to two worst mistakes a man can make. The first was in leaving home and the second was in returning."

We stayed one night at the Kintail Hotel which was very pleasant indeed, but as our main interest was in camping, we camped at "Merven" camp site, I think it is called, at the foot of the Five Sisters Of Kintail.

Visited the McCrae cemetery - who rebuilt the famous castle of Eilean Donan; to give his clan work in the early 1900's (my spelling might be a bit off these days) Then on foot to the "Falls of Glomach" a long walk to the foot of them but you can get nearer to the top by road. A real straight down waterfall well worth seeing.

We visited Skye more than once by the ferry with the R.Y "Britannia" sailing past us - a complete surprise to our English companions who did not realise that the Royal Family move about freely in the Scottish Highlands - The Princess Royal with her husband, was "shoooed " off the land of a house she was interested in by a gardener and simply walked away unperturbed. I don't think he recognised her at all.

There is also a very good camp site at Polewe, (NOT POLYOUIE) as our English friends pronounced it. The gardens there are magnificent and full of lush vegetation, much of it tropical. Loch Marie is small but very beautiful. It has avery short river emptying it and it was omical to see young boys with primitive fishing lines pulling the fish out whilst the nearby anglers, who had paid for their day's fishing, were not catching a thing.

Lucy Irvin - who wrote "Castaway" - her father attempted to grow bananas in that area. I do not know how successful he was but it gives you an idea of the warmth of the climate up there - further north you come to Loch Carron where they have been recently made famous because "NIKE" shoes want to make shoes from their tweed. There is also a tartan weaving shed there.

I haven't been over there for many years so much of it will have changed as there were holiday homes even in the 1970's.

All in all it is a very beautiful and interesting place and more so if you try and learn a little of its history before you go there.

If you have the gut you can drive to Applecross up the zig-zag road over the highest road in Britain, I believe, and then walk along the old drovers road back to Sheildaig. The road is clearer on the map than one the ground but it is a test of stamina.

God bless.

randall

yep done the kyle of localsh too, did that way back when with my parents, tis also very beautiful but then all of scotland is!

pink princess · Post by **pink princess** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:53 am

last bits of advice im asking for......

ive been scotland many a time but never in the early months of the year....

im thinking of going to skye.... if i went around the first two weeks of jan would i be likely to see snow?

chrisb84uk · Post by **chrisb84uk** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 4:31 am

Well I can't speak for that particular region of Scotland, but obviously a large part of Scotland tends to get snow within the winter months, so I would say your chances of seeing snow would be pretty high.

Just be warned that certain places get some serious blizzards around that time, so make sure you look at the weather forecast before setting out, as it could make travelling a real difficulty!!

pink princess · Post by **pink princess** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:13 am

anyone know any really nice hotels in edinburgh or glasgow? preferrrably edinburgh though...

was thinking maybe the hilton??

chrisb84uk · Post by **chrisb84uk** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:21 am

Well we stayed at the Hilton in Glasgow and I would highly recommend it, very nice place. Hilton's are usually always a good bet when on holiday, and being probably the only major chain of hotel in Scotland (I think anyway,) should really be of good quality.

pink princess · Post by **pink princess** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:26 am

ive driven past the glasgow one before and always been intrigued!

thing is ive always wanted to see edinburgh castle......

chrisb84uk · Post by **chrisb84uk** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:31 am

Ah Edinburgh castle is a great place to visit, we went there two years ago. Well depending on how long you are on holiday and how much you want to travel, it's not that far between the two cities, (about 40 miles if my memory serves me right.)

So you could still visit it if u did stay in Glasgow, but of course that's up to u PP.

scotty · Post by **scotty** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 11:56 am

Depends on what you are looking for PP, If its history and scenery you are after you could try this little inn, the oldest pub in Edinburgh set virtually in the heart of Edinburgh, Arthurs Seat to be precise.

Some of the famous people who have enjoyed this gem include Mary Queen of Scots, Bonny Prince Charlie, and more recently jimmy Carter.

I cant find a direct link to it but I managed to find out this info for you.

http://www.dudding.com/duddston.htm

http://www.clearingtheairscotland.com/c ... -heid.html

Or how about Dalhousie castle a little outside Edinburgh 10 mins drive, really easy to get too, just down the road from Roslyn Chappel, Da vinci code land.

Dont know about cost though , but I once done a wedding there and must say it is stunning.

http://www.dalhousiecastle.co.uk/events ... efault.asp

What ever you go for you wont be far away from any of the attractions, Edinburgh is really quite small.

Hope this helps

Scott