You’ve heard of Robert ‘Rabbie’ Burns (of course you have!), but have you heard of Allan Ramsay? Allan Ramsay was a celebrated poet who lived 1684-1758 and it is he who gave his name to this coaching inn which dates back to 1792. You can find out more about Allan Ramsay here.
The Allan Ramsay Hotel is located in the former weavers’ village of Carlops at the foot of the Pentland Hills.
Everything here is traditional, from the floral bedspreads, to the bar, to the lounge and food. The rooms were fine, unfortunately we couldn’t get the TV to work (lack of signal apparently) and the bathroom was fairly basic, however it was all you’d need for a comfortable overnight stay.
The bar and lounge were definitely the main attraction. With a big selection of gin and whisky you can easily pass several happy hours here.
The lounge part of the bar almost becomes a mini museum to the hotel’s namesake, with some of Ramsay’s poems, verses, and suggested historic trails all scattered across the walls.
We spent a few hours reading and drinking before supper in the restaurant (more on this in my next post). We retired to bed pretty early and had a comfortable night, there was no real noise despite the hotel being situated on the A702.
With a full day of work ahead I set myself up properly with a full Scottish Breakfast. Somehow they had managed to make it look refined and it was all well cooked and beautifully presented. We also had a huge portion of toast with some of Grandad’s Homemade Orange & Ginger Marmalade which was a real treat – they should sell it to take away, I would have definitely bought some! We had a wee visitor visit, and after a patient wait he scored for a bit of bacon fat.
The Allan Ramsay Hotel is quite charming, and if you appreciate traditional comforts then you’ll like it a lot here.
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