UPDATED Review: Lochside B+B In Arrochar

UPDATED 1/4/2013

After writing this original post below I received an email from one the Lochside associates who was appalled to hear how long it took for us to be checked in. I was then offered a complimentary stay to make up for this. While on our roadtrip around Scotland we took advantage of this lovely offer and stayed in Arrochar on the final night of our trip. Having arranged all the details before hand, I felt terrible when the weather changed our plans and we arrived early! Despite this we were checked in super fast – we still had to head over to the pub as reception isn’t constantly manned however it took less than five minutes to be showed to our room. We were given room 9 this time, a favourite of the Lochside staff – although it didn’t have the beautiful bay window it was still exceptionally gorgeous. We were treated so well for the whole of our stay, enjoyed an amazing breakfast again but also a lovely dinner in the pub next door. As this time we received the £10 off voucher that everyone should receive when staying at the B&B. It was an absolutely lovely stay and the B&B was nice and full which made for a lovely atmosphere. As I said in my original post I would highly recommend a stay here.

Our Room

For New Years the lovely boyfriend took me away for a night out of the city. We weren’t heading far away from Glasgow but that didn’t matter, I would be spending the night in a strange bed and waking up with a beautiful view. Arrochar is on the west side of Loch Lomond and actually sits on the shore of Loch Long – with is a loch made by the sea. Mountains tumble down around the Loch making the views fantastic.

Review

We were staying in The Lochside which has beautiful views of The Cobbler Mountain – there is a great walk to the top but its steep and long so we gave that a miss this time, it was raining after all. Much of the area had signs of flooding with much of the water sitting at a very high level.

The B+B itself was located next to the Ben Arthur pub and had a lovely decking area outside for the summer. We parked easily in the car park and headed up to check in dead on arrival time of 2pm. Unfortunately being New Year’s Day everything was a bit hectic and it took us a while to be seen, firstly we had to go to the pub then they couldn’t get hold of anyone on the phone. Eventually a lady who seemed like she needed another pair of hands apologetically took us over to check us in. She was lovely and I soon stopped being annoyed at being left to wait for so long. Our room was nearly ready – just needed a hoover – so we hung around for 10 minutes while that was sorted.The check in process was very quick after that, we were shown to our room and given a quick rundown on where everything else was, how long the pub was open and how late they served food. Given how busy the lady was she certainly made us feel very welcome! Our room was gorgeous; we had a beautiful bay window overlooking the Loch, the wall paper was a great touch and it was a good size with two arm chairs as well as a double bed. We also had our own en-suite and a kettle with tea/coffee provided. There was also free wifi.

The bed was extremely comfy and we had a TV positioned for perfect viewing. I spend most of the afternoon staring out of the window at the ever changing view, with low clouds hanging over the mountains every so often you would get a glimpse of something you were yet to see. The hills were all covered in snow and it felt so cosy and snug being inside looking out. Like I mentioned above there were several walks to be done but what with the rain and high water levels we decided to give them a miss this time. It just felt so nice being away from the flat and relaxing with such beautiful views.The next morning we headed down for breakfast at our chosen time (the night before we had to choose a time and what cooked items we would like). The breakfast room was beautifully set up and had a conservatory added on. We helped ourselves to juice, cereal, fruit etc. while we were offered a hot drink and then shortly after received our hot food. It was DELICIOUS a proper full Scottish breakfast if you wanted. I tried haggis for the second time and actually enjoyed it. We had until 11 am to check out but we decided to head off at 10 am to try and avoid the rain. That didn’t happen, the minute we packed our bags in the car it started to pour down.

Luckily the rain didn’t last long and we set off on a driving photo stop tour of Arrochar before then down the west coast of Loch Lomond as we headed home. The sun came peeking out for the most part with the rain staying away until we hit the bottom of Loch Lomond and decided to call it a day for this trip.

The Lochside B+B was a beautiful place to stay, our room was gorgeous and the view even better. They provided a brilliant breakfast and the whole place was full of character. I would certainly stay here again and recommend it to others. It is easy to find and located less than an hour outside of Glasgow city centre, the whole area is beautiful an certainly worth a visit if you are in this area.