News
The order is chronological, the most recent on top.
Licence and Children
Date: 14-02-2023
We used to have a lower age-limit of 8 years old for children staying with their parents in our house. With the introduction of new licensing in 2023, Stirling Council has introduced different requirements for those places that allow children under 10 to stay. For that reason alone, we have changed our age limit to 10.
Inflation
Date: 21-11-2022
After working with unchanged rates for five years, it turned out to be
unsustainable with the enormous inflation that reared its head in 2022. We were
therefore forced to make a fairly substantial adjustment. However, if you
factor in inflation for all years, you will notice that we have not exaggerated
at all. We don't want to either, and we can keep prices relatively low because
we don't work with the big booking websites. Affordability remains important!
It is a shame that this was necessary, and we do not enjoy doing it.
Back to Normal
Date: 17-04-2022
From the seventeenth of April 2022, the government has dropped all Corona-related restrictions.
This allows us, finally, to be fully and normally open again!
Many thanks for your patience!
A New Bike Shed
Date: 12-04-2021
We have removed the old shed that housed guest bikes. In its place is a much roomier, new one, which also allows hanging out wet clothing. Forced ventilation helps in drying those.
An End to Some Restrictions
Date: 06-08-2021
From the ninth of August 2021, the world of Bed and Breakfast will look a lot more normal than it has in the past period. We
hope we'll never see those times again!
The cleaning regime is still very intense. For the time being, that means that we still cannot go back to taking single
night bookings. We do hope that that is not very far off anymore.
A big change is going to be that we will stop our practice of having rooms empty for two nights between guests. That
guarantee comes at an end on the same day. With social distancing also a thing of the past, that means our breakfast
room can be used to full capacity again, although for the time being we will continue to work with time slots to prevent
peak pressure. Ventilation is maximised through open skylights, an open kitchen door and electric fans. You will still
be asked to wear a face covering everywhere but in your room and at your table for breakfast. And the breakfast buffet
will also have to wait - everything will have to be à la carte for a while yet.
The small daily service to the rooms is resumed. The lounge will be available again - though with face covering.
Documentation on our way of working continues to be available as usual (see previous newsitem).
Thank you for your continued interest, we hope to see you soon!
Corona and Us
Date: 01-09-2020
From September 2020 we will be taking bookings again. Our opening will be with limited capacity, but at least we're back
in business!
To see what we can and cannot do under the current rules, we made a protocol that we need to follow, and unfortunately
it also involves a set of rules we must ask our clients to comply with.
One very important change: for the duration of the limitations imposed by the pandemic, we shall not be taking bookings
for just one night. The two nights before and after any booking, the guest's room is left unoccupied - the only certain
way to void virus transmission via bedding and pillows. That, plus only three out of our five rooms occupied at any one
time, means our occupancy is already dramatically down, and this makes single night bookings too expensive for us.
We'll be happy to send you the documentation on our way of working, and on what we need guests to comply with. They will
always be sent with booking confirmations and will be part of our agreement. Everything can still change at very short
notice, so we'd rather send out the most recent version via mail, than host it on this site.
You will not find a Good-to-Go certificate. Because we find it a dismal, pointless excercise. Why? Well, here's what
a business needs to do to get its certificate: go to the website, enter business details and answer 'yes' to all the
multiple-choice questions following. And that is it. We'll have nothing to do with that!
Thank you for your interest, we hope to see you soon!
Corona Closure
Date: 27-06-2019
The current Corona-pandemic was easy enough to handle up to mid-July, as we were simply not allowed to open. From then on,
the government has decided that we may, subject to restrictions.
To see what we can and cannot do under those rules, we made a protocol that we need to follow. In addition to the
conditions imposed on us, we added lots of things that we felt we needed to in order for us to feel comfortable working
again.
This did not turn out well. There is a daunting list of extra cleaning, the maximum occupancy of the house is right down
to well below 10% of normal times, we would not be able to provide breakfast, but worst of all: when we look at what a
guest may expect from a stay with us, we cannot ensure anything remotely like the experience we want to provide.
With heavy heart, we have decided to remain closed for the time being under these circumstances. We will not consider
taking bookings before September, but even then we will not guarantee to open. It very much depends on how the situation
develops. Watch this space, which we will update as soon as we know more, or somewhere mid-August at the latest.
New Website
Date: 04-06-2019
Our website no longer met the requirements of modern times. Or rather: the requirements that Google sets to be properly visible in search results! For the most part this was caused by our website not adapting to small screens such as those of mobile phones. We can do quite a bit ourselves, but for this we have called in the help of a company that we had seen work from before. Janewi went to work for us quickly, with good feedback and at an attractive rate. So from now on the new website they have built is operational, and now we'll just wait and see how visibility improves! We have every confidence that it will be fine.
TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence
Date: 24-05-2019
We were very pleased to have been inducted into the TripAdvisor 'Hall of Fame' - an award given to some 10% of B&Bs - those that have rated at least four stars and got consistently great reviews. A big thanks to our guests - without your reviews that would not have happened!
PayPal Payments
Date: 31-03-2018
Both for deposits and for payment on departure, we now have the possibility of taking payments via PayPal. Even though the actual costs of PayPal transactions are added to the amount due at 3.5%, that still makes it considerably cheaper than many deposit payments via banks. Do keep in mind that if you do not pay in GBP, PayPal or your bank will charge you for the conversion!
Rates for 2018
Date: 17-12-2017
After four years, our rates are once more updated. Guests sharing a room will now pay £ 37.50 rather than £ 35, and for singles there is a change from £ 45 to £ 55.
Card payments
Date: 03-11-2017
During the last few years, we passed on the actual cost of taking card payments (3.5%) at check-out. As do a lot of small (and big) businesses. Now, the card companies' lobby has convinced the EU that that should not be allowed. The result is that we no longer take card payments. We do still use card details to secure bookings, though.
Rates for 2014
Date: 26-12-2013
For the first time since 1-1-2011, some of our rates need to be increased. Inflation has continued all these years, so it was only a matter of time! Guests sharing a room will now pay £ 35 rather than £ 32,50. The rate remains unchanged for singles.
Electricity
Date: 15-12-2013
An old house - ours is from 1904 - is charming and fun, but it has certain disadvantages. After a few unexplained power outages it was time to call in professionals. They have done weeks of work on rewiring almost the entire electricity supply. Everything is now up to date. A safe feeling!
Small Print
Date: 01-01-2012
We have tried to write out our policies in a separate page (called 'terms'). This is included to try to prevent any misunderstanding. Legal jargon has been avoided as much as possible, and we hope it reads like actual English!
Children Policy
Date: 01-01-2012
After a lot of bad experiences last year, we have had to decide on a minimum age of 8, regretfully. This does not please us at all; many of the children staying were a joy to have around. There were too many cases, though, of parents letting their children run wild (and that was really wild) without supervision. This caused breakages that we were expected to pay for, bother for other guests, and an unbelievable amount of cleaning, while the people involved even got angry for us not giving discounts for children. The fun no longer outweighed the toil and loss. We took the decision with a lot of regrets, and we realise that it will put out many people. But the decision is made, and we will have to let it stand.
Prices for 2012
Date: 26-12-2011
Our rates for 2012 will remain the same.
Solar Panels
Date: 01-12-2011
Just in time to benefit from very favourable government rules, we have gone a lot greener than we were. At the back of the house, solar panels have been installed. This will give us a lot of the greenest electricity imaginable when we need it most: in the summer season. And it should help us in keeping our costs down, which ultimately benefits you, dear customer!
Sign
Date: 16-08-2011
The sign hanging over the front door had become old and tatty. We were extremely lucky to have the address of Ratho Forges, who have designed and built us a beautiful new one, with a very handy mechanism to change the 'vacancy' and 'no vacancy' signs around. We hope it will remain as attractive for many years to come!
Bathroom Upgrades
Date: 01-03-2011
All of the guest bathrooms have had major upgrades this year. Some were almost completely redone, others less extensively, but they all look a lot fresher, and with the wet-walling replacing tiles and grout, they are set to remain so for a long time to come.
Prices for 2011
Date: 15-12-2010
After rates have been constant for a number of years, for the 2011 season we cannot escape raising them a bit. We hope it will not deter you from staying with us!
Bathroom Floors Upgraded
Date: 15-03-2010
We were never very happy with the carpets in most of the en-suites, and now that all rooms have been upgraded to new vinyl flooring they all look and feel a lot better!
Exterior Painting
Date: 24-02-2010
The house was in need of a new coat of paint, and now this has been done it looks almost new! It is still, of course, well over a hundred years old.
Double Glazing Installed
Date: 16-02-2010
All the old single-glazed windows were replaced by new ones offering the best insulation on offer. This will mean more comfort for our guests!
New Furniture
Date: 15-02-2010
Two of our guest-rooms have been fitted with new furniture. Over the coming years, the others will follow suit.
Flat Screen TVs
Date: 20-12-2009
The aging and bulky TVs in the guest rooms are replaced by flat screen ones. They have a DVD player built-in, so if you bring a (region 2) DVD with you, you can now watch it in the room.
Going Digital
Date: 09-09-2009
The analogue television signal (which was pretty bad anyway) is due to be shut down sometime in 2010. Instead of four snowy channels, we now have six crisp and clear digital ones (BBC1, BBC2, STV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and BBC News).
Opening Day
Date: 14-04-2009
After almost a month of preparation, Breadalbane House reopened.
New ownership
Date: 16-02-2009
This was the day that our new life as B&B owners started.