It took me approximately 5 days into January to get away on my first break of the year to a dog friendly hotel, The Elphinstone Hotel in Biggar, Lanarkshire.  We'd been invited with Holly Bobbins, chief "Pawsonality" and reviewer of all things dog friendly to come over for dinner, bed and breakfast so Harriet and I accompanied just to make sure she wasn't being a Mariah or Beyonce style diva, you know how she gets now that all of the fame has gone to her head!

The Elphinstone Hotel is situated on the high street of the small market town of Biggar in South Lanarkshire, a short 2 hour car journey from Newcastle and a very pleasant rural location in the midst of rolling hills and green countryside.

After a quick photo stop outside we checked in and asked where we could dine with Holly, the answer was she was welcome in the bar next door but nowhere else in the hotel or restaurant, a little disappointing as somewhere selling themselves as dog friendly and after many years of visiting a lot of dog friendly hotels, bars and restaurants I would say that this came over as more of a dog tolerant policy than dog friendly.  

No matter though for Holly, she was just delighted that the room had carpets (something I don't have at home) so she could roll around at will in her crazy beagle way.

After check-in Harriet and I went for a wander to the town park which is actually around a mile away from the town centre down a long country lane, not somewhere I would have liked to walk in the dark but on a summers afternoon I would think it's glorious.  We managed to catch the last light of the day whilst Holly Bobbins had a run around the lake and we found that there's a circular route from town to the park so this afforded us quite a nice Saturday afternoon walkies without it being overtiring for chief driver Harriet.

We popped into the bar on our way back for a quick cuppa after the afternoon exertions and Holly was offered some water which was brought over in an old used Ice-cream container, a lovely thought which does show the hotel is trying but I think it would only cost pence to have proper dog bowls and maybe a jar of treats on the bar for their four pawed clients.  There's really only 1 big table in the bar which we had both dinner and breakfast at so I think if our hosts could work towards maybe making the downstairs of the hotel as well as the bar dog friendly (leaving the bigger upstairs restaurant for patrons who don't want to dine with dogs) then I would be very keen to return.

The standout for me at the Elphinstone Hotel has to be the food, although we were in the bar, no style or flavours were spared when we dined that evening.  Scallops, Venison and a Cheeseboard of local cheeses were deliciously savoured whilst Holly enjoyed small morsels of venison passed under the table.  Harriet said the chowder and the chicken with haggis were equally delicious and she too couldn't resist the temptation of the locally sourced cheeseboard.

We noticed that the hotel restaurant was also full, especially for early January and surely that has to be testament to the skills of the chef, I cannot fault a single thing about the food, it really was utterly scrumptious.

After a wonderful and comfortable nights sleep our breakfast was a more simple affair but a full Scottish breakfast was on offer, none the less and Holly was grateful for the sausage brought out by the morning chef and after a quick morning stroll it was soon time to depart.

Biggar lies around an hours drive from the border and outlet shopping at the Gretna Gateway village meaning it's the perfect mid-way shop and we noticed that quite a lot of the village seemed to be dog friendly which is such a positive sign, I think with more retailers and hoteliers honing in on the fact that the four pawed pound is so strong, it can't be too long before we see a paradigm shift with more places being dog friendly than those who remain firmly no dogs territory.

Holly Bobbins gives the Elphinstone Hotel 8 barks out of 10 and if the suggested improvements actually happen then we would definitely consider a return visit during the summer months to get the most out of the local area.

We need to talk about Scotland!

Not so very long ago, Looby, Harriet and I went on holiday to Sundrum Castle near Ayr in Scotland, the way I survive the busyness of my business is by having travel experiences to look forward to, it's the thing that very much keeps me going.  So, half term Monday in heavy rain off we all went, Holly Bobbins too of course looking forward to her very own dog friendly holiday.  I was armed with my Fuji XT1, the 35mm f1.4 lens and the 28mm f2.0, I was also armed with a brand new blue leather camera bag from Mapp of London and also a Samsung S8+ from Three complete with tons of data, essential for staying in a wifi-less caravan in the middle of nowhere but I'll get to the phone in a moment.

Now I should say that depending on which camera's and lenses you are using you can comfortably get 2 cameras in the bag, I have a padded insert in mine which I also find super useful for putting in the bottom of my Osprey bag for when I'm working, the Mapp bag is actually big enough to take along to weddings, mostly because I'm lucky enough to have Stacey who carries the bulk of my equipment so I can just keep batteries, memory cards and spare lenses in this one.  It's a beautiful, well made bag and Emma who runs the company is so devoted to making the best products possible,  a photographer herself she knows that there's a line between functional and pretty and that as a woman although you want something stylish, you essentially want something that actually does the job!

So, back to Scotland, a bargain break in a luxury dog friendly caravan courtesy of Hoseasons and I have to say after staying in both a basic caravan at the Berwick holiday park through Haven and this luxury one, I wouldn't go back to the basic one without the central heating, the lovely van we stayed in was just so spacious but even then, we said if Abigail had come to it would have felt crowded.  The thing is though, we didn't really spend a lot of time in our caravan, it was a place to sleep, and a place to cook breakfast in the mornings and the rest of the time for 4 glorious days we travelled and explored, from the South West of Scotland to the banks of Loch Lomond, there's nothing better in the world than being able to enjoy a holiday with your best friend, your daughter and your dog!!

Oh and before we get to the main part with all of the glorious images, well there's something I need to admit to - 

I'm an Apple fan girl, I have been since 2008 when after purchasing a iPod, I later went out and bought my first iPhone and my first MacBook.  I have at times been tempted in the Samsung way so when Three offered to loan me an S8+ for a month I said I would give it a go and let me tell you, it's a shiny, shiny phone, it looks good, it feels great but I love my Apple products and I just found it too different in lots of weird ways so I gave up soon after trying it out, what I did love though was the Three coverage, one day on the banks of Loch Lomond, in a sleepy village called Balmaha we sat at the Oak Tree Inn having lunch and me trying to catch up on business, checking emails etc, my usual carrier O2 couldn't connect to anything, Harriet's Vodafone also had no signal but Three, wow, we actually got 4G in the Highlands, surrounded by mountains it took me by surprise and I'm so thankful for that.  Three actually do a Sim which gets you unlimited data, 500 minutes of calls and 3000 texts for just £25 and I'm not sure how they provide service in the mountainous regions of Scotland but I shall be sending for my free sim and using it the next time I go to the Highlands!  Well done Three!

So back to the part you really all came for, my glorious break, mostly rainy apart from our day spent travelling around Loch Lomond but we didn't care, in fact we didn't give a fig because we were warriors, we were the best of friends and nothing could dampen our spirits not even the pouring rain, oh and if you're wondering, the bag coped admirably with the rain but then wanting to save the beautiful leather I swapped to my hiking Osprey bag as that was what we did for some of the holiday at least, we climbed over hills and vales and admired the views as we got to the top whilst Harriet and Looby cursed me for wanting to climb yet another mountain path, I can't help it, no matter where I go, I always want to find the highest accessible point because everything looks more splendid when you are up high!

Dog Friendly Scottish Holidays are almost here....

I get really excited about holidays, I research them, I plan them, I read everything I can about the places I'm going to and this year is no different other than we're holidaying on a budget, 1 week plant sitting in Edinburgh, whatever I do, don't let me forget to water the plants or a very lovely person might go off me! and then after Edinburgh we're going to spend 6 days at an AirBnB in Bo'ness near Linlithgow, cost of holiday in it's entirety is so far under £250 including travel which isn't bad considering we're going First Class to Edinburgh.  By the way, if you click on the Airbnb link you'll get £16 off your first booking, every little helps!  Obviously we'll have food to take into consideration but I am sure that we will still end up having a 2 week holiday which costs a lot less than it would if we were going to somewhere overseas and of course we'll be taking Holly, something we definitely couldn't do if we were going to a beach holiday in Spain.

I think for me I'm an explorer, an adventurer, a mummy and a dog mummy and so all I need to make me happy is some good weather, some dog friendly hotspots and some nice people to spend the time with.

Our lovely Airbnb hosts have already asked us to go for a trip on their barge through the Falkirk Wheel so we couldn't turn that down as it's literally so exciting!

I'm also planning to visit a friend and her family, we have known each other for 10 years and yet, would you believe we have never met, I think hugging my lovely friend Kirsteen in person is way overdue.

I'm ridiculously excited to go on the trains of the Bo-Ness and Kinneil railway, It's totally dog friendly and you know how Holly loves her train travel.

I've also been doing a lot of consultation with the Dugs in Pubs website, as I may have mentioned previously there are pubs in Scotland which due to the licensing laws will allow you to take your dog in but not your daughter, luckily they have a list of family friendly pubs for us to partake in luncheons and evening meals.

I can't wait to visit the areas of Leith (my dad was born there) and Portobello as they're apparently 2 of the most dog friendly places in Scotland and the area of Stockbridge was already on our list from last time we were there because not only is it dog friendly it's laden with Looby's favourite shops (and mine too if I am honest), charity shops!

Some of the plans include Ice-Cream at Afoggato, I hear they're working on a gelato just for the woofy ones!

Lunch at Zazou, Edinburghs only floating cafe, I know Looby doesn't especially like boats and I've already mentioned two but I am determined that we can get rid of her fear of canal boats at least!

Pastries at Manna House which is a bakery, totally dog friendly and I'm sure full of cakey goodness. Let me tell you that I have a weigh in tonight and one next Tuesday and then all bets are off until I come back from my holibobs!  Hopefully Holly and I walking so much will at least offset some of the cake!

I'm also planning a day out at Helix & Kelpies which is in Falkirk, a huge outdoor space with giant metal horse heads, an enormous outdoor play area and also a water play area it's perfect for children and doggies, I am taking 1 of each as a precaution, haha!

There are I noticed several National Trust for Scotland properties nearby us in both places we're going so if I can squeeze in one or two of those subversively it'll be a very good thing,  dog friendly in the grounds mostly at all of them I might just need to trick Looby into going, she's not a big fan of "Historic" which is surprising considering she's my daughter.  Oh well, it'll be terrible if we just happen to stumble on some of them on any of our bus and train journeys whilst we're there!

If you are reading this and think there's anywhere essential I need to try out please leave me a comment or send me an email , you know I always love hearing from you.