Hotel Review: Crieff Hydro

The past few months have been suuuuper hectic (hence the lack of posting!) so Shaun and I decided to have a last minute night away to Crieff Hydro a couple of weeks ago for some relaxation.

We thought it would be nice and quiet with it being a Thursday, however we were sooo wrong...

We'd only forgotten it was the Easter Holidays!! (as you do when you don't have kids!)

So bang went our lovely quiet night - the place was FULL of noisy screaming children!

However, we didn't let that stop us and all in all we had a lovely stay.

We left straight after work and it only takes an hour or so to get there from where we live so we were there by 6.30ish. Stunning hotel by the way, and very nicely decorated. Unfortunately it was so busy I couldn't get many photos of the inside.

Check in was simple, the girl was lovely and very informative. We got a map of the hotel and facilities (yes, it is really that big!) and she told us the meal times etc. We were given our room key (255) and headed up. When we got in the room though, we noticed that it was freezing cold, and the reason quickly became apparent - the window was broken! The latch had broken which meant that it wouldn't close properly and was letting in a draft, but also it was loose which meant it rattled in the wind!

We sat down and started to get settled because we thought "och we'll just put up with it", but then we thought "actually, why should we?" For a place as expensive and of high a standard as Crieff Hydro, we had expected better.

We packed up and went down to reception and asked if we could have an alternative room, (note "alternative", not "upgraded") but the receptionist immediately, without checking, told us that they were fully booked for the night and there were no other rooms available.

So Shaun went onto the website on his phone there and then and lo and behold, there were standard rooms available to book! So the girl then said she would "see what she could do", went to the computer and as if by magic found another room! Why couldn't she have done that in the first place?? She then radioed for a young lad to come and show us to the room and make sure it was to our satisfaction, which it was, and he went down and brought us up our keycards. This room (119) was immediately a lot warmer and the first thing we checked was the window - it closed!

There are two pools, the main pool and the adults-only Victorian Spa which was available for an extra £7.50 per person. If it was a normal Thursday we might have just stuck with the main pool, but because it was swarming with children we opted to pay extra for the spa, and boy was it worth it! A lovely quiet area with murals on the ceiling, soothing music, free drinks, loungers, robes, a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi. Unfortunately the jacuzzi closes at 8.30pm and when we got there around 7.45pm it was full, and the same people stayed in it for the entire time until they got thrown out at 8.30pm 😠

We didn't eat at the hotel as we had already eaten but there are a few restaurants and bars to choose from. We did have a cocktail in the Meikle bar while listening to a really good band though (Mixtape I think they were called).

Because the hotel was busy (and full of children) we thought we would treat ourselves to room service for breakfast the following morning which was an absolute bargain at £3.50pp! Breakfast was included in the price we had paid for the room and all we had to pay was an additional £3.50pp to have it brought up to our room. We had a little card in the room that we filled out with our breakfast choices and the time we wanted it brought up and just hung it outside our door. Amazing!

I would rate our stay at 7.5/10, a little lower than I had anticipated for a hotel such as Crieff Hydro, mainly due to a) the broken window in the room and b) the fact we were immediately told there were no other rooms available when we asked to switch. 

Have you stayed here before? What was your experience like? Let me know in the comments!

Shaun Brown on Spirits of Scone 2018

Having visited this event in 2017 I was eager to return this year with the promise of a "bigger" and "scarier" event. My did they deliver on that promise!

Spirits of Scone is a Halloween event based at the iconic Scone Palace just outside Perth. Running from 25th - 31st October the event promises scares, shocks and Halloween fun and it delivers on all fronts. On arrival in the free car park you are directed to a short uphill walk through the scary woods which leads you to a box office which was new for this year. Tickets sorted, you are left to follow a pre-set route around the gardens and woods of Scones Palace not quite knowing what you'll encounter along the way.

The frights here are excellent and you never quite know where to look. The excellent lighting and special effects really add to the eerie atmosphere. We encountered ghostly figures, werewolves and chainsaw wielding maniacs to name just a few on our path towards the maze of nightmares! You really ARE walking through the woods and there's a fantastic feeling of isolation and dread as you make your way around.

There are several photo opportunities dotted around which we took advantage of and the actors were happy to interact with you but they never broke character! You shortly arrive at the Scone Palace maze re-branded to the "Maze of Nightmares" for this event. Following a short queue you enter and quickly realise you are not alone. If you're a fan of Halloween scare mazes this is a MUST for you. It's fantastic and I've been in many a horror maze at theme parks all over the world. They've added smoke machines, sound effects, netting, body bags, lights and many many actors into this maze and it works really well. There were only 2 of us in our group and it made for even more effective scares. We were literally running at some points. We enjoyed it so much we asked the kind stewards if we could go around again and they had no problem allowing us to do so.

Upon exiting the maze there are food and drinks options including a marshmallow pit! The prices seemed very reasonable too. After that it's another short walk through the woods towards the palace itself which is lit up beautifully. Here there is a gift shop, restaurant and children's story telling available - for an extra pound each. We missed the fire juggler outside the palace this year though. There's also plenty more Halloween themed props dotted about for those photo opportunities.  

Back towards the entrance box office there's a temporary Spirits of Scone gift shop which is new this year and we of course made a purchase. Two t-shirts for £20 is a bargain! There was everything from mugs, magnets and bags plus much more.

Adult tickets for the event were priced at £15 which we felt was just about right.

Will we be back for a 3rd visit next year? Of course we will!