Scotland: Moness Country Club « Those Crazy Schuberts

So one of the ways we were able to afford to go to Scotland this summer is the lodging – my parents traded their timeshare week for one in Scotland, so we had access to a little cottage that sleeps 6 for free (kind of).

They ended up getting a cottage at Moness Resort, a country-club-type-place just outside the tiny tiny town of Aberfeldy.

Aberfeldy is pretty much right in the middle of Scotland:

Sidenote: When we were planning our trip, a couple people in online forums told my mother that Aberfeldy wasn’t close to anything and we wouldn’t want to make the drives to Edinburgh or Oban or similar.

Little did that stranger know … We are hearty American West-coasters. We drive 45 minutes every weekend just to visit dogs! Or, at least Andrew does.

I for one didn’t find the drives out of the Aberfeldy obnoxiously long, and I rather enjoyed seeing the countryside.

But anyway …

Moness Resort is set up with a big MAIN building – with the pool, restaurants, lobby, etc – and a big Hotel-like building, and then all around the grounds are little cottages of varying sizes.

For the most part there are 2 units sharing a wall, not terribly secluded, but not right on top of one another either (you can see a little bit of example in the photos below)

The cottage we stayed in – a Courtyard Cottage - has a front door and a back door, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and a sofa bed in the living room.

As a ‘self-catering’ cottage we had a kitchen …. with a little dorm fridge, an oven/stove, microwave and (Andrew’s favorite) a French Press.

So, we learned how to use a French Press that week! Fun adventure

(image below looks out the back door, onto our little patio table set and the field beyond. Of course at the crest of the hill is a road, and then the field continues, but still… )

In the photo below: Standing in the living room, shooting toward the kitchen.

That window looks out to the front yard/driveway.

To the left of this photo, just out of frame is the little dining room (another window), and farther left beyond that is the master bedroom with adjoining (full) bath.

To the right in this photo, through that doorway, is the entrance hall. Also, just off the entrance hall, is a 3/4 bathroom (which Andrew and I shared with Kevin and Chelsea) and a second smaller bedroom (where K&C slept).

The photo below, shot from the kitchen toward the living room. To the right of this photo is the master bedroom, to the left the entrance hall.

That couch on the right in this photo turns into a sofa bed, but after the first night, Andrew and I ended up just pulling that mattress onto the floor and sleeping on that.

Some weird quirky things about staying in Scotland and about Moness in particular :

We were billed for the electricity we used
We had to keep the water heater turned on with a little switch in the kitchen
We ran out of toilet paper after a few days, and when we called the lobby for more they brought us 2 rolls. For 6 people.
Similarly, they only gave us 1 towel each – which would be find except got mildewy in the damp weather and they charged for replacements – and I think only 1 or 2 trash bags. For 6 people. For a week.
The internet was charged on an hourly basis, and we had to plug in an ethernet cord to the wall, and then to the computer to use it.

All just strange little details …. Nothing deal-breaking, of course. Just different than what we are used to. I don’t know if these are Scotland things or European or just this Moness Resort …. but it all certainly made American lodging feel magnanimous and generous!

All in all, the Moness Resort was a good place for base camp since we were traveling all over the country that week, but I certainly wouldn’t stay there for any kind of luxury close-to-home vacation (which is, I think, what they advertise themselves as within Scotland).

More next week about our REAL adventures in Scotland …