Jul
7
Travel Ideas: Accommodation
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We are VERY grateful that those of you who we have spoken to from far away are planning to come up and celebrate our Wedding Day with us in September and hopefully you have found some of the information on travel and location useful in the news section of this website (If you haven’t seen them click here and scroll down through the information pages)
Lots of you have been asking about Accomadation and hopefully we can give you some useful info on that here. Although numbers aren’t confirmed we expect a few of our friends who live in the surrounding areas to be able to accomadate some people coming up from Cornwall and further afield but these numbers will be very limited.
The Visit Scotland site might be useful to find all levels of accomadation, click here for the banchory site, but if you are coming for a shorter period and are looking for a cost effective way of staying very near to the wedding we think we may have come up with a good solution.
A local Golf Club (Inchmarlo Resort) has 2 and 3 Bedroomed Apartments which can take 4 and 6 peoples respectively, the 3 Bedroom apartments are £159 per night which works out at about £26.50 per person, with the 2 Bedroom apartments being £119, which works out at roughly the same per person. Click here for more info.
The apartments and villas at Inchmarlo Resort now have the prestigious 4-Star Award for Serviced Apartments from the Scottish Tourist Board. Our luxury apartments and villas are all fully serviced, which means that you have all the privacy of your own luxury accommodation in one of the most beautiful settings in Scotland, and we’ll take care of all the usual services you’d expect from 4-Star Award winning accommodation, like impeccable housekeeping, fresh linens on request, a welcome pack, luxurious fully equipped modern kitchen and living spaces with beautiful furnishings, and of course, TV and DVD player and wireless internet connection.
For more information about fees for Inchmarlo Resort Apartments and Villas, please contact Bruce Graham, General Manager, Sales and Marketing on 01330 826420 or email bruce@inchmarlo.com
If you can think of a few people to share with this would be a great option. Apart from being fairly good value for money the apartments are fully serviced (like a hotel) and have a 4* rating which should make your stay all the more enjoyable. The other plus is that the apartments are very close to Banchory and Finzean which is where the wedding will be.
For thos on a tight budget, There are two Youth Hostels in the general area which are probably the cheapest options, but both a fair distance a way still, one in Braemar (in a lovely area in deeside) and one in Aberdeen (handy for Aberdeen - I stayed in this Hostel the first time I came to Aberdeen.
Here are a few other good options depending on your budget, as I mentioned in the travel info North East Scotland doesn’t have a brilliant public transport system and if you stay outside of the Banchory area, eg. Aberdeen you will probably have to rent a car unless you are willing to be dependent on the odd lift.
If anyone has any questions let me know, mail@liambyrnes.co.uk
Jun
2
Travel Ideas: Flying to Scotland
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Although a fairly short domestic flight, once you have travelled to a regional airport (Plymouth, Bristol Exeter or London) and waited in departure drinking overpriced coffee, flying to scotland will take you the best part of your day but you will undoubtedly feel alot more human upon arrival, and you can actually get some pretty good deals if you shop early (eg. NOW).
One thing with Flying to Scotland that I would advise is, because on the ground transport infrastructure is significantly better in the south of England it will be far less hassle to, for example travel to exeter and end up in Aberdeen than to fly from Plymouth/Newquay to Glasgow. Also, contrary to popular opinion, Scotland is quite spread out so unfortunately we won’t be able to arrange for you to be picked up from Glasgow or Edinburgh, but we will certainly be able to pick you up from Aberdeen airport.
As I said transport infrastructure here isn’t as good as in the south of England, there are essentially no trains apart for travelling between the cities, and rurally the buses are quite infrequent and the journeys long, if you’re flying up you may want to consider hiring a small car for a couple of days, you can normally get good weekend rates and it means you can make the most of scotland for the few days you’ll be up for and do some exploring or just to have the freedom to go into Aberdeen for some shopping.
Lastly, when shopping for flights, especially the budget carriers such as flybe and easyjet, the best prices are often on their own website, but just to cross check its worth searching through a multiple flight checker like travelsupermarket.com. Also keep an eye in the local papers as regional carriers such as airsouthwest often include promotional deals that are not available online.
As I see it here are your options - (I have taken almost all of these routes at one time or another, so if you need more info on any of them then let me know):
- Exeter to Aberdeen - This is possibly the best option, which is why I listed it first. Flybe operates this route and currently tickets are about £50 return before taxes.
- Exeter to Edinburgh/Glasgow - The other option is to fly into Edinburgh or Glasgow if the times suit you better or you want to extend your time in Scotland by taking in some sights before or after the wedding. Budget carrier Easyjet offers the best flight prices for this route.
- Bristol to Aberdeen - Bristol to Aberdeen flights are known to be outrageously expensive but its worth checking if you think that Bristol would be a handy option for you. The route is operated by Eastern Airways.
- Plymouth/Newquay to Glasgow - Flights operated by AirSouthWest, which you can often get some good deals if you get in early enough
- London to Aberdeen - If you can get to London easily enough there are lots of options to get direct to Aberdeen, British Airways flys from heathrow and gatwick(for about £60 return if you get in early enough) and easyjet flys from Luton (again for around £60 return).
Jun
2
Travel Ideas: Driving
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For many of you coming from ‘doon sooth’ (down south) it will be quite a long journey, so firstly THANKS, We can’t wait to see you and we’re honoured that you’re even considering making this effort.
Secondly, it is entirely do-able, I have done it within a weekend before (definately not to be recommended) I left work on Friday and the left Sunday after Church in Cornwall. If your driving, although it is a long way it is a fairly straight forward route,
- on the M5 after Exeter
- follow signs for Birmingham,
- then Manchester (almost exactly half way)
- past Preston (this is roughly where your first wind will end!)
- Through the lovely Lake District heading for Carlisle
- Stay on the M74 to Glasgow, then onto the M73 (routes to Stirling/Dunblane)
- Follows signs to Dundee then stay on the A90 all the way to Aberdeen
You can do the route and go across country in England and via Edinburgh, but I have found that to be a good bit longer.