I get it... most B&B's have a tarrif predicated on the number of guests not the room itself. It makes sense when you are serving full breakfasts as cost go up as you have more mouths to feed. However Donan House serves toast. That's it... just toast. The rest you get yourself... some fruit, a selection of dried cereals and juice. To be fair coffee or tea is also available. Now I knew upon booking that we were only going to get a continental breakfast but when you consider that you are paying rates above the norm and that they charged the full rate even for our young child you start to resent it. Despite this buyer's remorse of a sorts I will try to be fair in my review.

The spectacular view from your Donan House room will lead you to forgive much. However, we didn't feel like we were being welcomed into someone's home. Yes we were greeted with a request to cover our footwear before entering. We declined the plastic booties and removed our footwear instead, as this is customary where we originate. Moreover I didn't want to feel like I was being led into surgery. The sterile feeling continued once inside and seeing all the "private" signs posted on the doors. At least it made it clear where we were not wanted. Once past this and up into our room we were pleased to find an impeccably clean and large room with a perfect view of the Eilean Donan Castle (which is just a stones throw away). This view is even better from the breakfast area.

I only saw the proprietors for a grand total of 2-3 minutes during our two night stay. The lady when she brought our toast and tea and took our cash and the gentleman I introduced myself when we returned one evening as he was in the driveway. Both folk were courteous but not what one would call engaging. I am new to the B&B scene and still not sure if that should matter. It seems to be important to our daughter as she commented on it, contrasting how friendly the hosts had been at the other B&Bs we had stayed.

The hosts have a computer in the inner foyer. From our laptop you could see they had a wireless router but it too was "private" and no security key was offered. I never really had the chance to ask if they would make it available. Mind you at the other places we stayed they all had an information book with details about the TV, Internet, local places to eat and attractions. At Donan House there was no information in the room except a sign indicating no smoking and the expected breakfast/departure time. Odd demand regarding the smoking since you can smell it everywhere else in the house. Mind you were we quite pleased to note this didn't carry into the sleeping areas. The small seating lounge area at the top of the stairs did have a few tourist pamphlets and old books on the history of the area. They were generally marked with "do not remove". I wasn't sure whether we could take them for a read to our room and thought "Please return when finished" might have been more appropriate... it is in the details folks!

As an aside... it was windy during our stay. The acoustics of the house or its location make sure you were aware of that fact all the time... it howled in the room. On the second night I thought the roof was going to come off it got so loud.

180 GBP for two nights stay at the end of Oct. You don't get a full breakfast, you don't get Internet, you don't get the warm and fuzzies from the hosts but you do get a nice room with an amazing view. However, I like to have my cake and eat it too and we discovered so many B&Bs in the Lochalsh area there is likely a better value for money very nearby even if they lack the absolute proximity to the castle. So while we will return to Eilean Donan and the Highlands of Kintail we won't be returning to Donan House.