Hotel berhampiran The Witches Stone, Forres

I've been coming to this hotel for around 20 years, initially on business and now for leisure, and I visit every few years. In that time not much has changed, apart from the ownership. The hotel is still a beautiful building set in tranquil and wonderful grounds. The downstairs interior is stately and is tastefully decorated with an elegant bar, Lounge and Restaurant. Staff on Reception are polite and helpful But the hotel isn't without its issues which are 1) The bedroom furniture has been the same on every visit over the last 20 years and is showing its age 2) The carpet in the room we were given was actually threadbare in places and isn't what you expect 3) The lady waiting tables at breakfast is a joy. She is attentive, polite and helpful. The same cannot be said of the older gentleman working there who is ignorant and ignores people waiting to be seated. There is no need to be so rude and dismissive of people of all nationalities who are basically paying his wages ! 4) My biggest grumble of all is the lack of a premium lager in the hotel bar. Under previous management in the early 2000's they used to stock 1664 but now it's Carling (yuk!), Guinness, Scots ale or Cider. I would have spent a lot more time in there had they stocked better beer. That's a real own goal and other guests are of the same opinion.

A friendly welcome to us and our dog on arrival. Our room was very comfortable and well supplied with coffee/tea/biscuits, lovely fluffy towels and it had very comfortable beds. Our breakfast was very good. We walked to the beach from our hotel and it was really beautiful there.

The moment we walked inside the Pines we knew “Everything is Good here: Everything is Right.” We spent a week there, enjoying Elgin, nearby Scottish sights, and the hospitality of the owners. The Pines had been recently acquired and renovated by the owners. It is immaculately clean and well-appointed. Guests may choose among many breakfast options. They are all excellent. The portions are generous; on our first morning there I apologized to the owners for over-ordering and eating only about half the plate. We used the Pines as a central location for day trips and touring. It was in a good location for this. If you want to go to John ‘O’Groats, Stromness, and the ****************, be prepared for a bit of a drive and perhaps an overnight stay, so we kept our travels a bit closer to Elgin. What can I say about the owners? In a word, “great.” They were the perfect hosts: friendly but not familiar. We enjoy watching Formula 1 racing. On the day of a Grand Prix, they set up a telly in the sitting room for us and ensured we had tea and snacks. It was perfect. Would we go back to the Pines? Absolutely! We consider it our home in northeast Scotland.

Stayed here last Friday, house looked lovely on arriving at the property, on entering the reception hall is lovely first thing I noticed was a sign saying restaurant closed. Reception was a wee space in the corridor, the man on reception was pleasant but stank of cigarette smoke 🤮( he was smoking outside on arrival) we were allocated our room on checking it out it was very dark as only a small window so I asked for a better room which I got no bother. Room was cosy and clean, the only issue I had was getting in and out of the bath to use the shower I'm 5'1 and the bath is very high and deep and had a tiled casing which made it even deeper to get into and no bath mat making it tricky to get out when wet even though it's modern and looked like it's been upgraded it's not safe in my opinion. No evening meals are being served, menu is still on website. Breakfast was very nice no complaints there. I would definitely use it again as its conveniently located and plentiful safe parking and some lovely seating areas.

房間特別温馨舒適而且很大，比描述的大多了，很乾凈，洗澡水也很舒適，淋浴蓬頭沖力大，吹風機也可以，長髮洗頭比較好。 前台在黃房子二樓，一樓是餐廳和酒吧，二樓是接待中心休息室、還有著名的古老威士忌酒吧，幾面牆的威士忌很震撼，現場有超過620種威士忌可供品嚐，最老的51年的威士忌，也有很多絕版的威士忌，還有很多定製款，和單一桶，威士忌愛好者會很開心。 地理位置是著名的威士忌小鎮，酒店對面山上就是大名鼎鼎的麥卡倫，1月底可以預約參觀了，酒店周圍開車15分鐘內有52家威士忌酒廠，大部分都是一百到兩百年的老廠，非常有意思。 酒店對面也有家威士忌酒吧是日本人開的，裏面也有日本的威士忌。 酒店一樓自營的餐廳還算好吃，很地道的蘇格蘭風味haggis，方圓幾公里選取地道的食材做新鮮的料理，值得嘗試！ 酒店的早餐也在check in的同層二樓，點餐式的，建議選擇蘇格蘭全早餐，自助的是飲料和一些麪包酸奶之類，果醬酸奶都是原味不加糖像是酒店自製非常好吃！ 窗外景色也很美，像住在森林裏，酒店房間裏膠囊咖啡機提供，總體超級推薦！ 能在英國節假日和鄉村裡有這樣的家庭式四星級酒店真不錯！整體都非常好！特別適合休假哈！ 不過信號不太好，畢竟在村子裏可以理解，酒店有wifi雖然也不是很快。沒有拖鞋是一貫的，通車好像是免費的，門口同學很方便。總體不錯！