We have been traveling to Scotland every year since 1995 and for the past few years, we have stayed at the Carriden House, either at the beginning or the end of the trip. And, we always look forward to our next visit. We look for upscale accommodations, but with history and character. The Carriden House is perfect. It is a small castle with beautiful views of the Firth of Forth. We book far enough ahead that we usually get the four poster room, but the others are lovely as well. And we like the place and the owners so much that we have taken a fair number of friends and relatives with us. The owners refurbish as they can, so we have seen the huge library/parlor get new paint and the wonderful plaster work on the ceiling restored. Breakfast is always delicious, and there is always more than enough to fortify us for a long morning of doing the things we love. The owners are friendly and helpful, and by now they seem like friends.

We stayed at the Carriden as part of a family vacation. The place was easy to find given the map on their website, but the access road is a bit on the poorly maintained side. That aside, once you are there, you'll find Carriden House an interesting place. It's a huge house at a lovely location. You can walk down to the beach on the Forth Rive in 5 minutes, or along the beach to Blackness Castle (~40 minutes) or further if you like. A really ace spot.

We had a room on the 2nd floor (3rd floor to those in the US) and I wouldn't recommend those rooms to anyone with accessibility issues as you have to go up a cement spiral staircase (like many castles), but those on the 1st floor were just up some simple, wide stairs. Our family occupied 4 rooms, all of which were amazingly spacious; probably the largest of any B&B or hotel I've stayed in. That was very nice as we stayed there for 6 days. The bathrooms were all nice, clean, good water pressure. Breakfasts were good, hearty and cooked to order. There is wireless in the sitting room which is great, and the sitting room itself made for a wonderful meeting place for our family.

The proprietor, Barbara, was more than helpful and accommodating. She gave several suggestions on places to eat and places to visit. The location is nice, but you'd definitely need a car here. You can drive to Linlithgow in ~10 minutes to take the 20 minute train ride into Edinburgh's Waverly Station and save yourself the hassle of parking in Edinburgh. It's a great central location for exploring Edinburgh as well as Stirling, Falkirk and even Glasgow. I would definitely recommend Carriden to a friend.

My wife and I stayed here June 26, 2008 as part of our driving vacation through Scotland. The room was very nicely decorated and had lovely views. The grounds are nice to walk through with nice garden areas. There is an interesting overgrown cemetery next to it which was fascinating to walk through and reflect. The breakfast was very good, and the staff very friendly. The only drawbacks I could think of is the conservatory entrance was a little run down, but it wasn't bad at all. Also, getting to the place was difficult as the gravel road was potholed and it wasn't well signposted. But all in all, I would stay here again.

My husband and I stayed at Carriden House our last two nights in Scotland. As others have stated, it was somewhat hard to find (my GPS was confused!) but eventually we found the place and never had a problem getting back.

We stayed in the 4 poster room which was large and lovely. It was a bit chilly but we snuggled to keep warm:) Breakfast was made to order and very tasty. The plumbing did have a mind of its own (hot hot hot water!) but the bathroom was very clean.

The owner was very kind and recommended a delicious Italian restaurant in town (we returned twice...yes, it was that good!) The housekeeper was super nice and we enjoyed our visit with her.

Since we had an early flight out of Edinburgh, the location could not have been better.

If we ever get a chance to return to Carriden House, we will!
(The cemetery creeped me out a bit, but it just added to the experience!)

Thank you Carriden House from Joe & Kari in Oklahoma!