“A break away which is well worth the pay”

It was that time again for my next hotel break as it had only been 3 weeks since my last one…

I decided to book our very popular hot offer DBB at Airth Castle Hotel & Spa for a relaxing night away with my partner, Stephen. I have always been keen to visit this hotel due to the amount of bookings we receive. I also wanted somewhere not too far away from home (South Lanarkshire area) for the one night – Airth Castle was an ideal choice!

The hotel is located in central Scotland in between Edinburgh and Glasgow in a small town called Airth (near Stirling). The route was well sign posted & straightforward even for a driver like me!

I decided to do some research prior to our stay on our Facebook private membership page. One of our members recommended to go to the Helix Park at night when the Kelpies were lit up as this was only a 10 minute drive from the hotel. We decided to make a pit stop here before we arrived at the hotel. Little did we know there was a Supernova 5K event on. There was a great atmosphere within the Park with a variety of stalls and even better the facilities were open until later including the exhibition, gift shop and cafe. The Kelpies are the largest equine sculptures in the world and is well worth the visit!

We arrived at the hotel around 6 o’clock & there were plenty of car parking spaces. The hotel is split into two sections – the castle itself where there are 23 bedrooms & the main hotel across from the Castle with 100 bedrooms and all the hotels main facilities including reception, restaurant, spa and leisure club.

    (Pictures taken at night & the next morning)

We were warmly welcomed by Debbie at reception who was very friendly and efficient. She gave us all the information with regards to the hotel facilities and booked us in for dinner (which I would always strongly recommend for any hotel break). A gentleman who looked like the manager on duty also offered to help us with our bags to our room. We immediately felt very welcomed in the hotel.

We were given our room key to room number 314 (located in the main hotel building). I was a little worried about the bedrooms as in the past I had seen mixed reviews about them. The hotel however had informed me there is a transformation refurbishment program being undertaken with a £4M investment which includes upgrading rooms. There were plenty of lifts in the hotel to take us to our room, we also passed a cash machine and tourist leaflets on the way to the room which came in handy!

On entering room 314, I was immediately surprised at the size of the room, it had a big bed, seating area and all the facilities you would expect, toiletries and tea & coffee facilities as well WiFi. It was very clean & modern.

We decided to get ready for our dinner reservation at 8.00pm. When we went down to the reception area it was extremely busy as there was a wedding on. We were not sure where we were going and Debbie was on hand in directing us ensuring we got through the huge crowd! We were really grateful for this.

Set underneath a unique pyramid of glass, the Grill Room is one of the main focal points in the hotel. It is simple stunning! The restaurant was busy which created a good atmosphere. We were staying on the DBB offer which gives you the choice of a set 3 course menu or a £25 allowance from the main grill menu. Kimberly was our server who was friendly and efficient.

We opted to go for the set menu, I choose the thai prawn salad with lime & chilli dressing and Stephen had the Mushroom Auld Reeki with garlic ciabatta to start. I very much enjoyed both of these, especially Stephens which of course I helped him with! For main course, I had the Chicken Breast with mushroom and white wine sauce & Stephen had the Scottish Salmon Fillet. Both equally as good as the starters. We were surprised at how quick the service was considering how busy the restaurant was. To finish I had the homemade Lemon Tart with mango sorbet, orange and mango meringue – this was amazing!  My favourite part of the meal!

After our evening meal, we decided to have a few drinks in the bar, the hotel had plenty of seating areas including a large lounge area and plenty of seats in front of the bar. Even with a wedding on, we managed to find a seat. The hotel had a cocktail menu that was reasonably priced. I unfortunately did not manage to get a picture of the menu as I was too eager to order one… I did of course get one of my first cocktail… strawberry daiquiri! It is safe to say this went down a treat! My only complaint was I found the bar area a little chilly however the staff were aware of this & brought some heaters down!

After a few more drinks, we decided to go to bed. We both had a great night sleep, the bed was really comfortable & we were not disturbed by the wedding party.

We went down for breakfast a little earlier as it was on from 7.00am to 9.30pm (during the week). We went down at 8.15. We were greeted by the manager who sat us down promptly and the waitress took our tea and coffee order. This was a buffet style breakfast with plenty of options! I liked how both the cold & hot buffet were separate as this meant there were shorter queues! The food was fresh and there was plenty of choice. Plates were cleared quickly, all staff knew what they were doing & there was plenty of them. Very enjoyable breakfast!

A short while after breakfast, I had a spa treatment booked for a back, shoulder and neck deep tissue massage at £30 for 30 minutes using Elemis products which I found fairly reasonable. Similar to dinner, I would always recommend  you book your spa treatment before you arrive at any hotel break. Lindsay who gave me the treatment was friendly and the massage was great. She managed to get a few knots out my back too! My only complaint would be I wish it lasted longer than 30 minutes!

After my massage, we decided to use the leisure facilities. It is to note the hotel had a reasonable sized swimming pool, sauna and jacuzzi. We were made aware before our stay by Jennifer that the jacuzzi was not working, however since this was communicated to us, we were not as disappointed. We did not use the gym this time, however we did go as far as looking at it… we thought this was a reasonable gym for a hotel with a variety of gym equipment.

Check out was efficient although it was extremely busy with wedding guests, the receptionist handled it well. Overall we thought this was a fantastic value for money! I would like to say a huge thanks especially to Lavelle, Debbie and the rest of the staff for looking after us.