Hardly any time for ciao still...work and personal life issues prevail :p But I found time to post a...
Hardly any time for ciao still...work and personal life issues prevail :p But I found time to post a new review and will now read a little of what I missed! OMG.. I was gone for a while and everybody turned orange! :o -need to change that horrid pic!-
Member since:10.02.2008
Reviews:53
Members who trust:58
Lochside House Hotel
Located in the western Ayrshire, ¾ distance on A76 from Cumnock to New Cumnock lies the family hotel Lochside. As the name says, it's in the vicinity of two lakes, one of them Loch of the Lowes. This hotel is owned by the Kyle family, who have purchased the property almost 10 years ago when it was in the state of a more or less ruined old farmhouse and they have advanced and refusbished it into a 3-star hotel which has to offer much more than just bed and breakfast.
I have worked in this hotel but it wouldn't be fair to tell you the Kyles' knowhow, now would it? I always thought it must be a pleasure to stay at Lochside as the service as well as staff was always brilliant, rooms well furnished and properly cleaned, menu vast and lots to choose from, also I've seen many guests coming back and a number of regulars, but that's just the beginning. Now let me be more detailled about the
hotel.
Accomodation Outside the hotel there's a separate building of so called cottages, equipped just the same as the hotel rooms, but more spacious apartments.
The hotel offers 15 single/double/twin rooms, which are quite spacious, the bathroom clean and neat, soaps and shampoos supplied as well as all linen and towels. A phone, tv, hairdryer, big mirrors and an electric kettle plus a tea set with sugar, milk and shortbread are a matter of course in each room. Then two luxurious suites (Lowes and Creoch suite) that are mostly taken by a newly wed couple, which brings me to the weddings. It was in Lochside I have for the first and then many more times seen what a Scottish wedding can be like and I was amazed. Lochside plans and arranges all-inclusive, so to say, weddings and wedding parties. The hotels offers a chapel where the wedding can be held and further two ballrooms for the after-party, it's not unusual to entertain about 400 guests which I thought was crazy! Getting married at Lochside must be an event you will never forget as they will take care of the utmost details and make sure you will truly enjoy the day with your family and friends. On arrival the bride's welcomed by a bagpiper who together with all the male wedding guests dressed in traditional kilts creates an amazing atmosphere!
Cuisine and service Regardless if you are a hotel guest or just wish to stop by for a lunch or coffee, Lochside has something for everyone. The choice of starters, main meals, side dishes, snacks, desserts and chef's specials is large every day to satisfy guests of all ages. Families with small children are welcome as well, there's a special kids' menu and always a baby-chair available. You can order all kinds of soft drinks, mixed lemonades, Scottish shandy is pretty popular, all kinds of whiskeys, cognacs, destillates and more and more. Selection of tea and coffee with all kinds of flavours are available as well and be sure to always get a cookie or chocolate with your warm drink.
Every morning the hotel guests are informed in which restaurant will meals of the day be served. Two restaurants, Nithsdale and Afton can together welcome approx. 200 guests, besides those there is Bar Lounge and Afton Bar, for private functions, work meetings or lunches, seminaries etc there are several suites.
The chefs are well-experienced and most of them have gone through trainings in other big hotels and received several awards, mostly they are young people who care about quality and are experimentative as well as creative, so the dish is always more than nicely arranged and particularly the desserts are a pleasure to even look at! It's not a problem to make a special wish about how your meal should be prepared, taking or adding to the ingredients and I've never seen a guest being refused should they feel anything was wrong with their food, in case of complaints they received an apology of the chef with a new serving. It also goes to the credit of Mr. and Mrs. Kyle as both of them are present at the hotel daily and personally welcome guests as well as they make sure the service and standards are being kept high.
Golfing and hunting Everyone in Scotland plays golf and if they don't, there's sth wrong with them! Lochside offers great golf course and it's probably nothing better than go have a game on the dawn with the great Scottish mist still lazing around the fields. It's available to both hotel guests as well as the local golfclub members. You can have a bird or deer hunt arranged, the offer depends on the season.
Booking You can easily book by phone or email, that's the quickest way.
I'm sure important issue here also is the price and as Lochside is a high-level place (I would give it more than 3 stars), it's not very cheap, at least that was what I thought, but I think the best is if you look the prices up on their website www.lochside-hotel.com.
Next time I'll visit Scotland I will make sure to come back to Lochside as a guest and I'm very much looking forward to that! Should you find yourself anywehre nearby, I very much recommend this hotel!
P.S.: Thank you ciao for adding this product for me! :)
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