We are a family of 2 adults and 2 children of ages 9 & 15 planning to visit Scotland in May for 10 days. We are planning to stay 3 days in Edinburgh and then hiring a car and driving around. I require help in planning my itinerary for the 7 days and also which places to stay. We would be interested in staying in self catering accommodation. Any advice will be really helpful.

Scotland is a very big place and you could go any number of places. I could suggest a hundred different itineraries - but that would be useless w/o more info from you. What sorts of things do you enjoy? Lots of Castles, or only a couple? Gardens? Ancestor hunting? Whisky Distilleries? What research have you already done - any particular area you want to visit?

Most self catering places go by the week - normally Sat. to Sat., though in May many will allow shorter stays. But even then they often dictate the starting day. So what day of the week are you leaving Edinburgh? Do you want to spend the whole week in one self Catering property or do you want to try to find 2 that will squeeze into your available time?

A well placed cottage for a week really doesn't limit you to a very small area since you can use it for a base to travel w/i a 70 or 80 miles radius.

What kinds of things does your family enjoy? castles, history, nature? Knowing that will help people lend advice. If you do a search of the forum, using "Scotland itinerary" in the first box and selecting "United Kingdom" in the second box, you will find lots of threads on planning Scotland trips. If you are interested in self catering accommodation, you will probably want to select one or two places as bases of operation and explore from there.

Sorry to have been repetitive, janisj posted as I was still typing!

I guess I should have been more specific in my question. Anyway we are interested in visiting a few castles,gardens,one whisky distillery and of course lot of scenic drives and a few nature walks. Also kindly recommend two places where we can stay in self catering accommodation and explore the surrounding areas in a 70 to 80 mile radius.Looking forward to your recommendations

mmm. well. That's quite open. Castles, gardens, distilleries, nature, scenery and walks.

I fear I'm going to be repetitive and suggest Perthshire again. It's just so central. From there you can get to the west coast, get to the east coast, have distilleries, scenry and walks all on your doorstep. Plus there are castles and gardens galore.

How about this
http://www.uniquescotland.com/brewhouse/index.html

Or one of these?

http://www.huntingtower-lodges.com/home.html

or one of these?

http://www.scotland2000.com/taymouth/

My only experience of Scotland was a fantastic one: I rented a self-catering cottage on the Isle of Skye, which has castles, a distillery, nature walks and scenic drives. Plus beautiful sunsets.

Here is where I stayed (scroll to the bottom for self-catering apartments).

http://www.duntulmcastle.co.uk/failte.htm

However, it may be too remote for your needs, and given the fact I was the September, you might need to find out from someone more knowledgeable what the weather is likely to be in May.

Actually this website shows all the self-catering accommodations available in Duntulm. I stated in a coastguard cottage and it was terrific, with easy access to a neighboring restaurant when I didn't want to cook:

http://www.duntulm.com/