Gill and I used to have a professional interest in the B&B business and while we have now hung up our pinnies we cannot resist the chance to run the rule over other peoples businesses. In the USA B&B is very much the up-market place to stay, in the UK it has traditionally been seen as the poor man's hotel although we tried to position the Porch House at the top end of the market.
We were therefore intrigued by a B&B which charged £160 a night so in the interests of research and being nosey we have spent the last two nights in the Broad Bay Lodge a few miles north of Stornoway.
From the outside it does not look anything special, it is one of a row of three individual houses each with stunning views over the sea (pictured across the top of the page). Mind you, most houses in Lewis have views of the sea. Inside the fittings are top notch, the bedrooms have coffee machines, packs of biscuits, crisps a tea pot and mugs. The bath is a stand alone jobby and there is a fancy Bose sound system although when I set Fight the Bear playing it could be heard throughout the house so not a great idea. The guest lounge is what makes the place different, it is very large and surrounded by glass to make the most of the sea view. There is an honesty bar and a well stocked wine fridge.
The real crunch is will people pay double the price to stay there? The answer seems to be yes, there are four rooms, on the first night there was one other couple and last night two others, tonight they are full and the landlady said they were booked up right through May. We have not been over impressed with the hotels we have stayed in on the islands (Hamersay Lodge opposite - quite good food, great service but no atmosphere whatsoever) so perhaps the competition is not very great and there seem to be plenty of well heeled people on holiday in the Hebrides and I guess they are happy to pay if they feel it is worth it. An interesting couple of days.
I am writing this on the ferry back to the mainland, it is a two and a half hour crossing to Ullapool and then we have a 4-5 hour drive to Tom's house in Edinburgh from where I will upload this blog.
Did we enjoy the Outer Hebrides? Yes, it was a good trip, the islands are very beautiful and unspoilt and whilst the accommodation, apart from the last two nights, was nothing special it was OK. The ferry company (CalMac) do a special ticket called a Hop Scotch, a package which gives you all the tickets necessary for you and your car to get from Oban to Ullapool, or vice versa, via all the islands which in our case with a tiny car cost £240, it seems a bargain for almost 10 hours cruising. We were however very lucky with the weather, the roof only went up on the car twice and on neither occasion did it pour with rain, just a bit of drizzle. It is the first time in the 20 years we have had it that we have had a proper holiday in the Caterham, it has been good fun and not too restrictive so we will do it again.