We stayed at Braighe House for two nights in September - the first of several stops on our tour of the Outer Hebrides and it certainly set the benchmark for hospitality, comfort and service.

We arrived late off the Harris ferry and made our way up to Stornoway. Braighe House was easy to find on the causeway just by Stornoway airport. The room was big, modern and well appointed - free wifi, hospitality tray, TV/DVD player and a lovely big ensuite shower room with The White Company toiletries. The bed was big and comfy and we slept brilliantly.

Breakfast offered a wonderful choice of hot and cold options - I tried both and would heartily recommend both.

John, one of the owners, took time to offer suggesitons of places to visit and what might be open on a Sunday; not much as it turns out, but that was absolutely no barrier to a very enjoyable day in the outdoors. As well as offering breakfast, on a Sunday Braighe House offers a packed lunch - this is a great idea as we didn't find many open shops and the packed lunch was very nice. Thinking ahead, John had reserved a table for dinner for us on Sunday night which was a lovely and thoughtful touch.

The modern and spacious lounge, with Sky TV, was available to guests and a glass of (very tasty) vintage port was also available of an evening.

We met Alison, the other owner, on Monday morning when we set off for Harris and had a nice chat with her and John.

While we drove up to the Western Isles and didn't need to take advantage of this service, John and Alison also have a car rental business which is perfectly located for travellers arriving into Stornoway's airport or ferry terminal.

All in all, a wonderful place to stay that I would recommend wholeheartedly to anyone looking for accommodation on the Isle of Lewis.

I feel very mean writing this review but having read all the other reviews I cannot agree with all the aspects of the five star ratings

Pros
Lovely views
Spotless rooms
Extensive breakfast menu
Comfy matress
Attentive hosts (when I managed to find them)
Luxurious toiletries in the bathroom
Carefully thought out additional extras in rooms such as hot water bottle, iron and blanket

Not so good (nothing in this B&B is a con)
Short sleigh style pine bed - my other half is very tall and he could not fully stretch out in bed
Fire doors to rooms that are impossible to shut quietly, our stay was accompanied by slamming doors as other guests left or arrived in their rooms - more noticeable than in any other b&b I have used
Thin walls - we were next to a private bathroom & could hear exactly what he was doing in there (I knew it was a man, which is enough detail about what we could hear) and how long the cistern took to refil
Time slots for breakfast, we couldn't always get the one we wished for
Rubbery scrambled eggs - possibly microwaved? Some of the cooked breakfast and my porridge looked as if it had been sitting around rather than being freshly made once you had appeared for breakfast
Tables not cleared as the other people left, we ended up sitting amongst 4 other tables covered in extensive breakfast remains
Expensive

I have tried to be fair as the stay was not awful but there are 4 star B&Bs in Stornoway that are quieter, breakfast is cooked to order, they are not so expensive and you can get a peaceful nights sleep in them. For two nights totalling £230 for our room I feel I would explore an alternative rather than use this guesthouse again.

My sister and I have just returned from a two-night stay at Braighe House. Can't praise Alison and John enough for their hospitality as the service and accommodation were first class. The glass of port offered to guests each evening was a particulalrly nice touch too!

Alison was also kind enough to organise both a packed breakfast and a packed lunch for us to collect on the day that we had to set off very early to go on a day cruise to St Kilda.

Alison & John have also just recently started offering an excellent car hire service to their guests (see http://www.carhire-hebrides.co.uk ) which we wish we had known about beforehand as the standard of the vehicles offered by other local car hire services leaves a huge amount to be desired.

All in all, Braighe House is very highly recommended - we would not hesitate to stay with them again in the future.

We were suprised and delighted to be met at the ferry teminal by John, greeted by Alison at the house, and were swifly shown up to our lovely room - cosy and clean with lots of treats. We spent some time pouring over the wonderful breakfast menu and placing our orders for the next morning. Breakfast was even more delicious than it had sounded on the menu, served in a lovely sunny room. Alison supplied us with tips of places to go on the island and we only wished that we could have stayed longer.