We were travelling north with our 8 month old baby and stayed here to break our journey. The room we were given was gloomy and in desperate need of refurbishment. Worse still it was too cold for a baby and we had to ask for the heating to be put on. Even when on the central heating produced little heat.

The staff did their best and were friendly but clearly short handed with management apparently out of town. Breakfast service was particularly slow.

The bar food in the evening was fine but the breakfast was sparse in its offerings and little of it. To add insult to injury the high chair provided was filthy.

Just spent a fantastic night in the Golspie Inn. We had been looking for accommodation in nearby Dornoch but could find nothing available. Fate took a hand and we arrived at what did appear to be a slightly tired looking hotel.Welcome was very warm and room 12 large and clean. Being tired after travelling we decided to eat in the restaurant .The menu surprised us as it wouldn't have been out of place in a 5 star hotel.Certainly surpassed any meal we have had since travelling though France in the summer.Hotel to be updated over the winter but I would recommend a visit just to taste the black pudding.

We called in "on spec" having left another hotel early and were glad we did. The staff were very good and the food (although some may class as "pub grub") was of an excellent standard - the haddock I had was the freshest and tastiest in many a long year!

The room was comfortable and clean although a little "tired".

We arrived directly by train from London KIngs Cross with one change at Inverness. A superb way to see Britain and the glorious Highlands. The line from Inverness to Golspie winds around the mountains, lochs and the sea.

Rachel and her staff in the Golspie Inn gave us a warm welcome, we were happy with the room and theres a sunny conservatory for the kids to play in. The Big Burn breakfast set us all up for the day. Their pub serves real Cuillin ale from the Isle of Skye.

Theres so much to see within a few miles of Golspie and you don't need a car. We walked half a mile up the road to the real but Disneyesque Dunrobin Castle - seat of the Dukes / Earls of Sutherland. With its scores of rooms the catle really is something to behold, including falconry and a beautiful garden. This is how the other half lived and their penchant for evicting tenants during the Highland Clearnaces (19th Century) has left a bitter tatste with the locals to this day.

But the golf, oh the golf is superb! You can play the excellent links course in Golspie and Brora 4 miles up the road must rank as one of the best courses in the world - running along golden sands that would put Spain and Greece to shame.

For nerds like myself theres a very interesting geological museum a few yards from the hotel, and a well laid out Big Burn Walk leading from the hotel front door to see the gushing waterfalls upstream.

I commend the hotel to you as a little gem.

We sadly departed on a gloriously sunny August day along the railway, winding back through the Highlands along the lochs, and esturies to Inverness with a quick connection to Kings X. We took the local bus and train on our day trips and the Golspie Charlies Taxi service also helped us out - 5 quid for most rides.