It's all about the location here. There is nothing to compare with the vista at breakfast looking out at the megalithic landscape of Maes Howe, Ness of Brodgar, Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar. Just amazing.
As there's nothing else within easy striking distance, we ate in the bar both nights. It was end-of-season so the place was pretty quiet. Staff are very friendly and extremely helpful, and the food was pretty good actually. There was a local pool tournament on our second night, which involved some major reorganisation of the bar furniture to accommodate a second pool table shipped in from another nearby hostelry; however it did provide some pleasant entertainment while we ate our meals. All the players were incredibly polite and well-behaved, and instead of the anticipated raucous shouting match that I expected we were treated to a very gentlemanly evening of civilised competition.
My only complaint is about the actual building construction. The walls in my room appeared to be made from cardboard or some other acoustically near-transparent material. They were so thin I could hear the guest in the next room zipping up his trousers in the morning - seriously! The floors were also very creaky when moving about. The loo roll holder in my bathroom was working its way out of the plasterboard fixing, and the shower mount was held together with a bit of string at the top. The room curtains also appeared to be made from a couple of bits of old sacking and some backing material and may as well have been shutters as they were so inflexible.
The room was otherwise excellent and the bed was comfortable, but the combination of these small irritants is enough to prevent me giving a higher rating. read more
