Readers, how are you?!
Surviving this rainy, windy and generally awful winter where we left the
EU, then Coronavirus came, then we tried to avoid the multitude of storms that
had names? Sorry, I’ll stop.
On a cheerier note, this Glasgow travel (and food) blogger,
headed off on a staycation with Mr What Claire Did last weekend, to
The Stair Arms,
a lovely family owned traditional coaching inn, at Pathhead, Midlothian (for those
of you from further afield – nearish to Edinburgh). We were gifted a dinner,
bed and breakfast stay at the hotel.
The Stair Arms is family owned and we were greeted by some lovely
members of the family during our stay – from the girl on reception when we
arrived, to our waitress at dinner.
The hotel has recently undergone an intensive refurbishment
programme, with the rooms and bathrooms being refurbished, followed by the bar
and restaurant area in the main part of the hotel. It’s modern Scottish – with touches of tartan
– painted in hues of sage and light grey.
It feels cosy and welcoming, yet not twee.
The hotel is on the main route to the borders – making for a
great pit stop if you’re on a tour of Scotland, or for a quick lunch or
takeaway coffee on a long drive. We
stayed in room 11, which had big windows and view of the garden, complete with
picnic tables – a great summer beer garden, just sadly not to be visited during
our visit, as the latest of the storms raged on outside The Stair Arms during
our visit!
We arrived late afternoon and made ourselves a cuppa with the
tea and coffee facilities in the room, then watched some tv from the comfort of
our big, soft bed. The room was clean
and spacious, with modern décor and bedlinen.
There was a decent selection of biscuits…. 3 packets! Although confession, we didn’t get around to
eating them as we’d booked in for dinner.

The Stair Arms restaurant is popular with both residents and
locals from the community. It was busy when
we arrived at 8pm on Saturday night, with couples and family groups celebrating
special occasions. The hotel had two
menus – their regular menu with bar favourites and then the Steakhouse menu,
which had a special 50% off deal. The
hotel run this regularly during the winter months – keep an eye out as it’s
excellent value. We had starters from
the regular menu – I enjoyed the shredded beef, which came deep fried in batter
and served with chilli sauce. Mr What
Claire Did had the chicken liver pate, served with oatcakes and a side salad. Both were generous starter portions and
arrived hot from the kitchen.
With such a great deal on the steakhouse menu, we went for
the venison chateaubriand for two at an amazing £25 FOR BOTH OF US. We honestly
couldn’t believe it.
Perthshire venison,
cooked medium to our liking (properly seared and rested before service) with
tomatoes, mushrooms, onion rings and triple cooked chips.
We’ve never ordered chateaubriand before, for
fear that there isn’t enough meat and you leave hungry, however, this was definitely
not an issue at The Stair Arms.
Deal
didn’t mean small portions!
There was
plenty of food to go around us both and we definitely didn’t feel hungry.
We spotted someone ordering the Tomahawk which was HUGE and
at £33 as part of the deal, it was a total bargain. A fillet steak with sides came in at £15 and all
we watched a number of diners enjoying the special deal. It’s rare to see this
on a Saturday night where we live, however, it clearly brought the locals out
even in the worst of weather and it’s lovely to see the community supporting
their local restaurant.
Feeling it would be rude not to take advantage of the
desserts on offer to us, Mr What Claire did ordered the Sticky Toffee Pudding
(arriving as a slab!) and I went for an ice cream sundae with meringue. Both of
us struggled to finish our desserts, but what we did manage was lovely.
Full of food, we headed back to our room and enjoyed a peaceful
night’s sleep – it was so quiet – in our cozy room.
Despite the storm outside, with the thick curtains
shut and the heating on, we were warm and comfortable.
Breakfast was served in the restaurant where we’d been the
night before, with a selection of small cereal boxes and orange juice to help
yourself to, on the bar. Toast was
brought to our table and we were offered either tea or coffee. Breakfast is included in the room rate, however,
non residents can also pop by and enjoy the cooked menu, priced from £2.95 for
a breakfast roll, to £9.95 for a full breakfast platter.
We’d had so much for dinner, we didn’t have a huge amount,
however, both ordered a breakfast roll which was on a toasted scotch morning roll,
with plenty of filling and plenty of sauce to set us up for the day.
I can’t fault the staff at the hotel – they were friendly,
professional and nothing was too much bother.
We had a small issue with the hot water in our room which I mentioned on
departure (old plumbing – we understand!) which was dealt with professionally
by the lady at front of house on checkout.
The hotel is great value for those passing through the area, or perhaps attending
a wedding or function at the hotel, with a double room including breakfast
priced at £75.00 during peak season. We’d
consider this good value and have paid much more to stay at hotels not nearly
as clean or well decorated. It was
lovely to have an overnight stay in an independently owned Scottish hotel, that
didn’t feel like the sorts of soulless corporate hotels we keep finding across
the country!
The Stair Arms serves food from 8am to 9pm and for more
information and to book visit their
website.
You can also follow the hotel on
Facebook and
Instagram.
Disclaimer - we were gifted an overnight stay at the hotel, including dinner. Any opinions expressed are my own.