Can anyone recommend a bed & breakfast in the area of Stirling, Scotland? Also perhaps in
Glasgow & Edinburgh?

It would help if you gave us your budget in ££s

thats what Tripadvisor is for, you will find exactly what you are looking for

"<i>thats what Tripadvisor is for, you will find exactly what you are looking for</i>"

Not really -- not for small B&Bs generally. Too small a sample size to be reliable.

Marylebone: Yes - we need your budget, how many people, time of year, etc . . .

We stayed in Callender, not too far from Stirling, and can recommend Roslin Cottage. Sid and Lucy were lovely hosts and fed us a terrific breakfast. (Sid is/was a chef at Stirling Castle, may still be, we were there two years ago.)

We are going the last week in July and it is my husband and myself. We would like something in a middle price range but what is most important are the hosts and a nice clean room with it's own bathroom.

If you have a car, look at the Kilronan House in Bridge of Alan.

Hoo boy -- another failure to answer the key question. To wit: "middle price range" means what? The middle price between 1 GBP and 1001 GBP is 501 GBP -- do you want to pay $780/night? Of course not.

So give real dollar or pound or euro figures. If you can handle $150 per night, there should be many options open.

In Edinburgh, we liked the rooms and location of the Castle View Guest House, but the management wasn't going to go out of its way to be helpful. If that has changed in the six+ years since we went, go there. But you have to be able to handle stairs -- no elevator, three-story walkup.

We also stayed in Callender at the Westerton B&B. It was great, very clean, with bathroom and good food. The host were wonderful.

www.westerton.co.uk

From my trip report:

<i>Having had problems finding a B&B and knowing that we were going to the more crowded areas of Scotland, we decided to book ahead through the tourist office in Perth. It took the woman behind the desk a good hour to book us two B&Bs, so I guess the £3 per booking was worth it. The first booking was in the countryside between Stirling and Falkirk (nothing within our price range was available in the town itself) where we stayed for 3 nights, and the second was a booking in the center of Galashiels to be used as a base to see the Tweed Valley area. In both cases the B&Bs cost £50 per night, but there was a world of difference between the two. The “farmhouse” had been built by one of the sons who had just finished his training as a carpenter/contractor. Everything in it was oversized--the kitchen, the family living room, the guest bedrooms, our bathroom. Our bathroom was all in marble. Our room had two king-size beds in it, and it was not the biggest one in the house; all in all it was as luxurious as our B&B in Perth. It was the only place where we stayed more than one day where we were given washcloths after cleaning personnel saw our own in the shower stall. Videos were available for our viewing--mostly old and mostly of no interest to us, and I think were obtained when the local library cleared out some of its video holdings.</i>

Thanks everyone for the information and to BigRuss, $150 per night would be fine. To Michael, you don't mention the names of the B&B's.

Last year we stayed at Number 10 Guest House in Stirling and would recommend it highly. It had a good location, nice hosts, very nice room and excellent breakfast. We had a room with two double beds and the price was very reasonable at 75 or 80 pounds per night, I can't remember exactly. I know it was cheaper than our Edinburgh guest house and quite a bit nicer. In Edinburgh, we stayed in one of the guest houses off Dalkeith Rd and I think next time I would opt for accommodation closer to the city centre.

We stayed at Castlecroft in Stirling in September. It is one of the best B and B's we have ever stayed in. Very pleasant hostess, lovely house and garden. The food was very good.

We stayed at 14 Hart Street in Edinburgh- again an excellent B and B with a great location. We would definitely stay there again.

Saraho - I looked into 14 Hart Street and would love to stay there but they are booked. Any other suggestions for B&B in Edinburgh?

14 Hart St is rated 5th on Tripadvisor - good suggestions would be those rated 1 through 4, and if they are booked then try 6 through 10, and so on - all the top 10 have a minimum of 74 reviews

Thanks tj. I was not familiar with the Tripadvisor rating system.

I personally would not rely on TA for reviews of small B&Bs.

A 100 room hotel could have 15,000 - 20,000+ visitors in a year. A 3 room B&B maybe 200-300 visitors. Of those only a small fraction will even know TA exists, let alone post reviews. Just too small a potential sample to be reliable. And that makes it REALLY easy to manipulate the results -- both pro and con.

I never consult TA for rural B&Bs since they have even lower occupancy. For large large B&Bs in major cities like Edinburgh - it <i>can</i> make sense. But in general small B&Bs are a whole different animal than hotels.

I can highly recommend the Manor Park Hotel B&B in Glasgow. Great location, and Angus and Cathie are wonderful hosts.

From the Edinburgh part of my TR:

14 Hart Street – Another gem. I have paid 5 quid to visit homes that did not match up to 14 Hart. This B&B is elegant, and artistically decorated with lovely antiques, beautiful prints on the walls, and fine plasterwork. Everything about 14 Hart reflects a refined taste. Sleeping rooms are semi below ground level. Ours was bright and had character with a fireplace and antique marquetry fireplace screen and a very pleasant view of the garden. In contrast to the sleeping room, the bathroom was large and very modern with a tower shower that I wish I had at home. The bed was comfortable with quality linens. Towels were of the best quality. Our room greeted us with a decanter of scotch and bottles of both red and white wine, as well as a welcoming note from the hosts - a different touch that was appreciated. It was altogether a brilliant place to spend four nights.

14 Hart is in a New Town residential neighborhood chock full of restaurants and pubs. We particularly enjoyed the food at the nearby Urban Angel. It is an easy walk to both the Waverly train station as well as the bus station. Princess Street was a pleasant ten minute walk, and the Royal mile about another 5-10 minutes past that.

Breakfast was tasty and plentiful. The porridge was particularly good as was the fresh fruit salad.

Hotels and B&Bs in Edinburgh tend to be expensive, thus the 80 pounds per night we paid was quite a bargain, particularly since it was a place that we so much enjoyed coming "home" to.

In addition I should mention that the host and hostess are a delightful couple. Nothing is too much trouble and their knowledge of Edinburgh's history (He teaches history) was a plus making for pleasant and informative conversations.
www.14hartstreet.co.uk