I regularly travel to the Orkney Islands on business. And since Flybe have trebled the price of the flight from Glasgow to Kirkwall( more expensive than a flight to Boston!) it now requires a lengthy drive and an overnight stay.

I have now had the dubious pleasure of staying in most of the higher profile Kirkwall and Stromness hotels and have to say they are generally overpriced and distinctly mediocre.

However, the Sands Hotel is an absolute GEM and is only five minutes from St Margarets Hope( the arrival point of the shorter and cheaper ferry crossing to Orkney.)

The building had originally been a fish store and has been lovingly converted some years ago into what an Island Hotel should be. Family owned:family run and extremely welcoming.

The rooms are modern and expensively furnished, with flat screen tvs and hospitality trays. The en-suite is large enough and the showers effective.

There is a public bar where many of the local fishermen congregate together with a lounge bar and a small restaurant. Try the locally dived Scallops and Blackpudding with pesto. Fantastic.

And after a couple in the bar you can walk out onto the pier and marvel at Scapa Flow and the hundred years of history below the surface.

The next morning and a thirty minute drive takes you up past the little Italian Chapel; over the Churchill Barriers and onwards to Kirkwall or beyond.

I just loved this little island hotel. I am sure you will too.

We didn't stay here (stayed at the fab Creel Restaurant and Rooms) but came here for dinner one night when the creel was closed.

The service was perfectly good and deserved of the 10% standard tip BUT the food was bland at best and greasy at worst. The choice of starters was 90% deep fried (cheese, prawns, chicken fritter types) and the roast beef main was a dark grey, with an odd jelly like gravy,...very strange. My steak was appropriately cooked to order but un-seasoned rendering it, also, rather flavourless.

Small redemption in the puddings - 2 single scoops of hard-to-get-wrong Orkney honeycomb ice cream were pallet boosters after their depressing predecessors.

Not one to drive out of your way for.

We are a family of 5 with three primary age children. We often find it hard to get reasonably priced accomodation for the whole family and many hotels will not let us share a room.

We were amazed and delighted by the accomodation at the Sands hotel. We booked a family suite which was vast. It had a sitting area with large family sized sofa and chairs, a dining area, a small separate kitchen (fully equipped). Upstairs in the loftspace were 2 bedrooms, one double and one twin. They were happy to put in another bed into the twin. The rooms were quite small but as there was lots of sitting space downstairs you didn't need much. All the furnishings were new and up to date and very clean, as was the bathroom. The suite had a contemporary feel and there were 3 TV/DVD players in the various rooms. Every window had stunning views out to sea.

All this cost little more per night than the cost of 2 rooms at the premier inn on the motorway up (2 rooms because they don't let a family of 5 sleep in one room).

The children found plenty they liked on the menu and so did we and we liked the relaxed feel in the dining room. They were happy to give us a jug of fresh milk to put in our fridge for morning tea and coffee - it is the little touches like this which make the difference for a family!

All in all a lovely small hotel.

We arrived on Orkney with no room for Saturday night and tourist info told us this was the only double room available on the whole mainland! Fortunately it was a lovely room with sea views and we had a fine evening meal there and walk along the rocky beach. Recommended.