A Portsoy Sail Loft Weekend
11 April 2017
Anyone who knows me would be forgiven for thinking I was a bit "too high maintenance" to stay in a bunkhouse for a birthday weekend away. However this is not the case, when you consider The Sail Loft Bunkhouse at Portsoy for an overnight stay. This place is both well equipped for any outdoor enthusiast and comfortable enough for anyone who enjoys life’s luxuries.
About our stay…
On arrival, we were greeted by Susan at reception, and I must make special mention of how brilliant she was during our stay. Once we had been shown around the facilities, which could only be described as immaculate, modern and clean, The Sail Loft Bunkhouse was far more than I expected.
We were staying in the Heathery, a bright room, upstairs in the accommodation part of the building. When we arrived the extremely comfortable beds were made up with crisp white freshly laundered bedding, the room was minimalist and we loved it! The bed frames are made by joiner David Urquhart, local to Portsoy and the matrasses are made by Glencraft, Aberdeen.
The communal areas were particularly nice in the evening as we lit the fire in the sitting room and played board games. Naturally, I won them all, sorry Gav. The log burner was one of my favourite things about The Sail Loft Bunkhouse, second only to the hot tub that Ian arrived in the afternoon to light. Speaking of favourite things, our stay at The Sail Loft was really made by Ian and Susan’s hospitality and helpful nature.
Everything has been considered here and we made use of most of the facilities, even on such a short stay. As per The Sail Loft Bunkhouse website’s advice we took our own towels, which after using the hot tub, we had to make use of the drying room before morning. This was a brilliant facility, perfect for walkers to clean their boots etc. and our towels were bone dry for morning. We were just disappointed we hadn’t taken a bag of washing from home to make use of the laundry facilities!
The shower facilities were also of excellent standards, the water pressure was great and the temperature was just right.
On Sunday morning, as it was my birthday after all, Gav cooked me breakfast in the well thought out kitchen. He found everything that he required and I was especially impressed to find milk in the fridge, tea, coffee and even porridge was available for guests.
I particularly enjoyed the fact that the kitchen had everything we could have ever needed, including a tea pot and milk jug. We enjoyed our breakfast outside, and for those who are regular tea drinkers, you will know that there is nothing better than a teapot that pours without spilling. This one passed the test.
How we spent our time…
On the way to Portsoy we made a stop in Banff, in fact we spent most of the weekend going between Portsoy, Banff and Cullen. My only regret is not taking more days off work so that we could spend some more time along the North Aberdeenshire coast. In Banff we stopped at Ivy’s Emporium, as was my birthday and I’d shop if I wanted to, I was in my element from the very beginning!
After exploring the delights of Ivy’s Emporium, we headed up to Portsoy to check in. We had pre-arranged the check in time for 2pm and I was conscious that we were going to be late! Once we had met Susan and dropped off our bags we were keen to have something to eat. Having visited Portsoy in the past, we wanted to try somewhere we hadn’t eaten before. So we headed off further round the coast to Cullen to sample the delicious offerings at the Rockpool.
Here I had possibly the nicest open club sandwich I have ever had and the flat white was perfect. We grabbed another set of coffees to go (and perhaps a tray bake or two) and set off back to enjoy the most of Portsoy!
The weather was just perfect on Saturday, and so after lunch we decided to head back to Portsoy and out for a walk round the coast. From the front door of The Sail Loft Bunkhouse, you can see a path as you look out onto views of the beach and so we set off.
We of course seemed to take the more difficult way round, not that we minded one bit as we lay around in the sunshine by the water enjoying the last of the afternoon heat.
Portsoy is well fitted with local amenities; we found everything we needed in the local shops. After a quick look around we headed to The Sail Loft once more to enjoy a beer in the sun shine and some fish & chips from the Hook, Line and Sinker fish and chip shop.
Once the sun had started to set we spent more of our time playing the board games provided in the sitting area. We didn’t even notice until later that there wasn’t a TV, we didn’t even miss it.
Ian had heated the hot tub to perfection for us in the afternoon and it was ready for us to use just after 9pm. It was perfect with a glass of wine and it wasn’t cold at all walking between it and our accommodation for the evening.
We were sad to leave the Portsoy Sail Loft on Sunday morning; it is just a shame that we didn’t have the time to see everything. On Sunday afternoon, Gav had booked afternoon tea at Durn House in Portsoy. It was the perfect way to end the weekend. We were seated in our own private room and the fire was promptly lit before we were presented with a tier of delicious sandwiches and cakes.
I know that a hostel/bunkhouse accommodation wouldn’t necessarily appeal to the masses, but this weekend in Portsoy was really something spectacular. If you’re looking for accommodation that offers something different, but still has that element of hotel luxury, then I would 100% recommend this place. We’re even planning our next trip with family.
I forgot to sign the visitor book upon leaving, but if I had my parting note would be: “you don’t know what you’ve been missing until you’ve tried this”.