we didnt book,just arrived we were shown two rooms a smaller one which had been refurbished and the garden room which was bigger but not yet been refurb.we choose the garden room(num 20) nice room but does need updating.the only concern was that the fans for the kitchen were very loud in the room,but when cookin was done the fans went off. the staff were all very freindly.and the food was very good.shame the weather was so bad.

We arrived in the middle of a downpour and were immediately welcomed and shown to a lovely(and warm) bedroom and then had an excellent meal with plenty of choice.

We have stayed in the Selkirk Arms several times now and visited many occasions in the past to enjoy the excellent restaurant and bar.

We visit twice a year as we love the area but equally look forward to our visits to the Selkirk Arms. Great food and beer, a lovely homely atmosphere and friendly, welcoming staff who would do any hotel proud. Breakfast is the best I have ever had anywhere, the Selkirk cooked breakfast requires a hearty appetite indeed!

Douglas and Chris have done a wonderful job with the Selkirk and long may it continue to thrive. Car park always seems full - what more can we say!

If it sounds as if we love this hotel and the staff it's because we do, they always make us feel special.

And by the way - no, we were not paid to write this review!!

We stayed here under a 3 night break special offer. We have a small dog and found only 4 establishments in the Kirkcudbright area that would allow dogs, so we were pleased that the Selkirk arms Hotel was one of them. We telephoned and asked for a quiet room and Joanne was very helpful and patient with us as we discussed our best options. We settled on Garden annex room 2 after listening to her advice.

When we arrived we were shown to the room. We were disappointed in that it was tired and was, in our opinion, in need of refurbishment. We went back to the reception and asked if there were other rooms available. The gentleman there told us they were fully booked but did have 2 rooms at the front of the hotel either of which that they would swap our room for. We were shown rooms 5 and 6 which had been refurbished and indeed they were much nicer and more comfortable rooms. He was perfectly fair and pointed out that these rooms were above the Sports Bar of the hotel and faced the road so would be noisier than the first room in the garden annex we were offered. He said that the bar closed at 11pm and they had installed some soundproofing to the rooms floor to minimise the transfer of sound into the room from the bar below. We were torn but with so few establishments allowing dogs in Kirkcudbright, we decided to accept room 6 and see how we got on.

It was possible to hear the sounds from the bar but as promised it did close around 11pm. However the noise from vehicles using the road at the front of the hotel was by far the most disturbing. This is a residential area but the road does appear to serve as access to the local school and the harbour by some traffic. The windows were single glazed wooden sash type of some age and served as little barrier to the noise from passing vehicles. This building is quite likely “listed” and if so there will be planning restrictions as to what materials can be used for its windows. If that is the case it may not be possible to fit plastic doubled glazed sealed units to cut down on the road noise but surely some form of secondary glazing could be installed (as I have found in many similar old hotels). We did find the traffic noise to be a problem and so wore ear plugs to get to and remain asleep.

The following day we did check out the other hotels and B&Bs that took dogs but frankly they didn’t match the quality of all of the other aspects of the Selkirk Arms Hotel, so, despite the noise problem we decided to stay for the full 3 night break. We ate in the bar the first night and the food was very nice indeed. I had eaten here some years before on a number of occasions and the food on this visit was still excellent. I’ve eaten more hotel breakfasts over the last 40 years than I could reasonably count but we did enjoy the Selkirk Arms breakfasts. Would we return? Perhaps, if the quieter garden annex room had been refurbished giving us the best of both worlds of quiet room and excellent service.

So to summarise, we both love this little town. The Selkirk Arms Hotel being a town hotel does have its limitations in that it will never have outstanding views and has to cope with the restrictions and disabilities of space and traffic; however we found the service to be excellent and staff to be friendly and very helpful and understanding of its limitations.