Firetop

Until a week before our wedding I wasn’t sure if Suzie_Q and I would be able to stay at Norwood Hall. Unlike the other three Scottish honeymoon destinations I’d made online reservations with, Norwood’s staff hadn’t responded to my email chasers so I had to phone them to get confirmation. We arrived on Wednesday evening after a drive up from Edinburgh via the Cairngorms and received our key to the honeymoon suite. No porter to help with the heavy suitcase (still carrying BA’s ‘heavy’ sticker), and no lift – the Norwood needs an ‘Angus’ like Melville Castle, instead I struggled to take the case up two flights of stairs myself.

In our room was a bowl of fruit (which to be honest seemed to have about one day’s shelf life left) and a congratulations card (nice) – we were quizzed a bit at reception though – “when did you get married�, “where did you get married�… it was more of an interrogation than friendly customer service. Perhaps they’ve had a lot of problems with people lying to secure a decent room? The complimentary wine, water, crisps and chocolate were a nice touch – all guests receive those.

The honeymoon suite was above the main entrance (which had a lovely open fire) with a view of the car park and surrounding trees. The décor was very traditional with Tartan style wallpaper, a thick solid four-poster bed, antique furnishings and separate ‘living room’ area between bedroom and bathroom. It was certainly very pleasant and had a lot of traditional character.

Dinner in the restaurant was very good, the quality of food was very impressive, as was the table service. A shirt, but not tie, seemed to be the chosen gentlemen’s attire so I gambled correctly there. Disappointingly we had to wait forty minutes for the eight o’clock table we booked earlier at reception, Suzie_Q wasn’t best pleased as she doesn’t like to eat too late. After dinner we retired to our honeymoon suite and I blogged for an hour using the wireless Internet access on offer at this hotel. For me this was excellent – for Suzie_Q I think it was more of a disappointment!

Whilst I was typing, my wife kept saying ‘This bed isn’t right’ and it wasn’t until I also got under the covers that I discovered what she meant. It was raised at the head end, dipped in the middle and went back up at the bottom. Combine that bizarre set-up with a big dip in the middle and a head to toe length of about 6ft and I wasn’t able to fit in comfortably. For those who sleep on their front like me it was impossible to use because as most people know, backs don’t bend backwards only forwards.

Eventually I popped downstairs to ask reception if we could change rooms but they were fully booked until the following day. I was told “It’s a traditional horseshoe bed� which I’d never heard of, not sure traditional horseshoe beds are meant to have cushions supporting them beneath the mattress either! I went back upstairs and discovered a fold out sofa bed in our living room so took all the bedding from the four-poster bed and we relocated, we were very cramped though and slept badly.

The following day after a very nice breakfast (great selection) we asked reception if another room was available and we were going to get the ‘other’ honeymoon suite in Room 19 when it was vacated. We were pretty exhausted from the poor night’s sleep in Room 4 so went back upstairs and slept until lunch time, by which time we’d packed to move and then were able to relocate all our belongings to our new room… and what a room.

The new honeymoon suite was much more modern but the bed was enormous and so comfortable. A television speaker was fitted in the toilet so we didn’t miss any of the Big Brother controversy and the view was lovely with big windows overlooking the car park. Frankly I wondered why we hadn’t been given this room when I first made my reservation in November.

We tried out room service on Thursday evening instead of dinner as we both fancied sitting in, making no effort to dress up and watching TV in bed. Room service was good, and when we went to sleep it was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a while. We have to get ourselves one of the super size four-poster beds for home! We checked out at around 11am – true to form and headed for Dingwall (Inverness) via a newly planned touring route.

In terms of value for money I’d say the food at Norwood Hall was a tad better and the interior hotel décor more impressive than Melville Castle in Edinburgh, but the personal customer service was lacking which let them down. We’d certainly recommend staying here but if you’re honeymooning ask in advance for room 19 and NOT room 4.

Technorati Tags: norwood hall, aberdeen, scottish hotel, honeymoon suite]

Bookmark to: