It was time for our for our first overnight break of the year with Nadia (my wife) and Harry (our two year old son) so we decided to take a trip up to the Angus coast and to the Links Hotel in Montrose. This family run hotel always reviews very highly with our guests – around the 91% mark – so we were eager to find out why.
The drive from the Glasgow area up the A9 past Perth and Dundee took about two hours all in – including the obligatory toilet stop for Harry. We arrived at the hotel at around 4pm and check-in with Yvonne was very quick. We had booked a newly refurbished Executive Room which had a sofa bed for Harry. This room was located in the annex part of the building where you have to go back outside for a few steps and through another door. All the rooms in this section have been refurbished recently and we were right at the end of the building in room 32.
The Hotel
On entry to the room we were immediately surprised by the size with sliding wardrobes to the right, a huge bathroom, large double bed and sofa bed with large TV, tea/coffee making facilities and a large bay window looking out over the car park and the park across the road. The room was finished to a very good standard.
After unpacking our stuff I decided to leave Harry and Nadia and go for a look round the hotel – like I always do. I funnily enough found myself in the bar (not sure how that happened) and managed to catch up on the days football results. I do not often find myself in bars drinking alone, however when you are alone it is very difficult not to listen in to other people’s conversations – or is that just me?
There was a large group of 10 people sitting behind me and could not help but overhear they had booked a deal for two nights with dinner on one night – thinking to myself this is one that we offer. So I asked them the question and sure enough they had booked through our website. So it was great to have a chat with regular guests of myhotelbreak and hear the great feedback about the hotels they have booked with us in the past.
The bar had a fairly extensive gin menu – for all you gin lovers out there!
Dinner
We had pre-booked our dinner for 7pm and even though the restaurant was fairly quiet at this time I would always recommend booking your dinner time before arrival. We were presented with the a la carte menu which was not extensive however all the dishes sounded amazing. I decided to go for the Pan-fried Scallops and then the mixed grill, Nadia went for the Pate and then the Breast of Angus Chicken with Haggis and Whisky sauce – yum. Overall the food was probably one of the best I have had in a hotel – it certainly deserved the AA Rosette status! Harry had sausage beans and chips from the kids menu which he enjoyed too.
We were so full after our two courses we couldn’t even manage a dessert – which is not like us. We finished our drinks and headed to back to the room for an early night.
Sunday
The next morning we woke up after a great nights sleep in the Kingsize bed. We got ready and went for breakfast at about 9.30am. Breakfast was a buffet style with everything you would expect including eggs, sausage, bacon, potato scone, black pudding and beans. I was also impressed that when ordering a coffee I was given a cappuccino – great start to the day!
We were planing to head to the Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre which was Great Britain’s first Military Air Station established back in 1913 – however upon arrival it was closed and does not open until 12pm on a Sunday – so this is worth a note. Much to Harry’s disappointment we could only see the planes through the fence – not what he was hoping for!
Instead we took the 20-minute drive back down to Arbroath as I wanted to pick up some famous Arbroath Smokies to take home, we also stopped off at the harbour and had a walk around as it was a stunning day, before taking the journey back home.
My hotel break summary
Overall we had a very enjoyable stay at the Links Hotel in Montrose. The new rooms are great however the real highlight of this hotel is the standard of food and the first class customer service from all the staff, especially Alison in the restaurant who was great.
I would highly recommend the Links Hotel for groups either as part of your tour or for a centred stay. Our Angus Secret Coastline Package is based at the Links Hotel, Montrose.