The Elphinstone Hotel in Biggar – A Review

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Our stay at the Elphinstone was gifted, but all opinions in the post are our own.

Driving the country road, winding our way through the Scottish landscapes with the sun shining and windows down, we found ourselves approaching the sign for Biggar.

Biggar is a small town in south Lanarkshire, not too far from Peebles.

We knew straight away that this was going to be a nice place to spend the night.

It was late afternoon and we couldn’t wait to get to our hotel for the night after a long day of driving and shopping in Edinburgh.

Thankfully it was extremely easy to find The Elphinstone hotel as it’s situated on the main street in the town and had plenty of on-street parking outside to make our arrival even easier.

Parking up and unloading the car, we headed inside and true to the name the Elphinstone is an Inn, so you walk directly into a lounge area and head over to the bar to check in.

It was nice after a long drive to be greeted with friendly smiling staff and it really makes a world of difference when entering a hotel, something a lot of places forget.

After filling out the short check in form, we were directed towards the stairs and headed off to find our room.

First impressions were really good and we were really looking forward to getting in to our room, dropping our stuff and relaxing for a little while before heading down for our meal.

Heading through a maze of corridoors and staircases we found our room at the back of the building and opened the door.

The Room

The room was large and bright with a nice big double bed and a bunk bed for those with extra guests.

Space was certainly not an issue and there was plenty of storage for those who like to unpack their cases when staying overnight.

Food at the Elphinstone Hotel

We chilled out in the room for a bit before getting ourselves ready to head down for our evening meal and I speak for both of us when we say that we could not wait to eat.

After a long drive, there’s nothing I like more than to sit down for a nice meal and we were in for a treat.

Heading down to the bar area, we were surprised to be taken through the small passageway into a much larger dining area that had many more tables than we expected on first impressions and one of the main things we noticed was just how busy it was.

You can always tell how good somewhere is by how many free tables there are and there wasn’t a free seat in the house.

Scanning the menu, everything sounded incredible.

For starters, we went for a portion of Haggis fritters to share. We opted to share a starter as we could see that most portions on the other tables were extremely generous, so wanted to make sure we had plenty of room for a dessert at the end too.

Haggis Croquettes

After devouring the starter it was time for mains.

I decided to go for a Vegetable Curry which was incredible and such a big portion that I struggled to finish it all.

Lauren opted for the steak pie which again was a huge portion.

Although we couldn’t finish our mains, they were both fantastic and can highly recommend that anyone visiting the hotel should try either of them.

After taking a little bit of time after our mains we decided to order our dessert.

I went for one of my favourite things to have for dessert, a banoffee cheesecake and Lauren opted for her favourite, a Sticky Toffee Pudding.

As expected following the courses we had previously, this was again presented in a much larger portion than we thought we would be able to eat.

Don’t worry though, we finished the lot.

There was absolutely nothing that we could fault about the food in the slightest.

Portion sizes were excellent, the food tasted fantastic and we could not have been more pleased with what we had ordered.

Writing this post, I could happily have the whole lot again just from looking at the pictures.

With the evening drawing to a close, we went for a little wander around the village before the sunset and to work off a little bit of the gigantic feast we just consumed then it was back to our room and into bed for the evening as we were both knackered from all the driving and eating.

The room was right at the back of the building and above the dining area of the inn so the heat from below had noticeably warmed the room up.

Probably a great thing during winter, but as we were staying during the start of summer it was a bit too hot for my liking, so I opened the windows slightly and all was well.

We woke up the following morning feeling incredibly well rested as the bed was really comfortable. Almost so well rested that I didn’t want to leave to go down for breakfast, but my stomach won and I pulled myself out of bed and down to the dining area below.

Just like the evening before, we were treated to a breakfast buffet with lots of traditional cooked breakfast items as well as cereals and a choice of yoghurts.

There was also a wide range of juice choices as well as tea and coffee.

I don’t think that there were restrictions on how often you could go up for breakfast but we were still stuffed from the evening before so probably didn’t make the most of what was on offer.

After breakfast we went back up to the room to get ourselves ready for checking out and got the chance to use the complimentary toiletries on offer which were from Aaran Aromatics. Perfect for either winding down in the evening or getting you ready for the day ahead.

It was definitely needed as we were soon to be making the long journey home in the car and with full bellies and feeling refreshed we headed down to check out and bid a farewell to Biggar and the Elphinstone hotel.

Not before stopping to get some photos of the town in the sunlight.

Overall we were incredibly impressed with the Elphinstone Hotel and if you’re looking for somewhere comfortable, friendly and quiet whilst visiting Scotland or the Biggar area then you should definitely consider adding it to your list of places to consider.

If we’re ever in the area again, we definitely would look to book the Elphinstone again.

Where to find the Elphinstone Hotel

145 High St,
Biggar,
ML12 6DL

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