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Having spent two nights at the Melville Castle Hotel we checked out on Wednesday morning. We enjoyed our stay thanks in part to the extremely friendly and helpful staff. The aging porter ‘Angus’ seemed to take a shine to Suzie_Q, calling her ‘Princess’ at all times and insisting that she should be the one to receive the tour of our hotel room and not me; “You’re just her butler now� he said to me. He tested all the lights in our suite when we arrived – even changing a blown table lamp bulb within minutes of our arrival.

The bridal suite was on the ground floor with a door in our living room opening up to the castle grounds – it was a bit too cold and muddy to make regular use of, we actually felt it was more of a security risk than benefit – a flimsy bolt the only security measure in place. The décor of the suite was modern, warm and comfortable (no castle character though). The four-poster bed was nice, not very sturdy though and it lacked curtains for authenticity, I had real problems getting comfortable with the small pillows that seemed like bean bags – Suzie_Q repeatedly told me off for fidgeting. It was nothing compared to the discomfort of the forthcoming Norwood Hall bed though!

Melville Castle itself has a lot of history even if the building itself was rebuilt in the 19th century when the previous building was completely raised to the ground. A modern castle, the typical ghost stories don’t seem very believable until you go down into the cellar for dinner or breakfast where the age of the original building is more apparent. I did have to wonder if I was in an area that Mary Queen of Scots could herself have sat (she lived at Melville for some time).

The food on offer was certainly very good, although ‘soup of the day’ seemed more like ‘soup of the week’ – good thing we liked lentils! I managed to try haggis for the first time (they gave me a free taster), discovering that it’s pretty good when stuffed inside chicken. Their duck and venison was quite superb, but their attempt at a penne pasta dish was a bit of a failure – drenched in olive oil that was more disappointing for Suzie_Q. Breakfast was excellent, full Scottish, boiled eggs or simple cereal and juice. Again, like the rest of Melville Castle hotel, it was the friendliness of the waiting staff that made dining a very pleasant experience.

I suppose the only thing that disappointed us was a lack of any honeymoon gesture – they were notified of the occasion well in advance but we saw no extra touches for us. Our next hotel in Aberdeen ‘Norwood Hall’ had a congratulations card and basket of fruit waiting for us in our suite – very nice, a similar touch at Melville Castle would have been a nice gesture. However, we’d definitely go back there, it’s a great location for heading into Edinburgh to explore.

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