Orkney Guest House

Convenient location, friendly location

Booked here for 3 nights room cluttered and untidy. Cobwebs everywhere room not ready when we checked in so left bags and went out to eat. Bathroom was disgusting. After an unsettled itchy night went down to a cluttered dining room which the owner was using as a laundry room to be served with an inedible breakfast. Left that evening as myself and husband had numerous bite on legs and body. Travelled two hours home to have a shower and wash all clothing we had taken with us as could not consider spending another night in such accomadation. This place should be closed down

I booked this as everywhere was full and unfortunately I didn’t read these reviews !! On arrival , note on door back soon But Helen was in and showed us to our room , hall very cluttered with bed linen Our room. Looked bright , but very cluttered with random pictures , small unplugged fridge stuffed in corner. Thread bare carpets with dangerous rugs on top Bathroom old , didn’t have a shower in room as she took away but didn’t update the website. Filled bath and couldn’t get the plug out so both of us had to use the same water to clean ourselves which wasn’t really a problem but unnecessary, had to just leave water in bath!!! Under the sink was thick with grim and the sink itself was filthy. On leaving to go out our bedroom door wouldn’t lock and we told Helen who said she would have a look at it. Returning back in the evening , couldn’t get in as key wouldn’t open the door that we entered initially. There was a side door which we tried the key and it opened it!!! On entering she said I had told you to use the side door !! No she had not. The living room was very cluttered snd the kitchen was very dirty looking as I went down to try snd get a glass. In the morning, again we had to fill the bath and use together As the plug stuck again. , was pleasantly surprised that the table was set for breakfast snd she cooked and catered well for me as I’m vegan. I also found the bed very comfortable , but duvet too small as it was just a double and not a kingside that would have suited the bed. Overall it was not value for money , although central it was not acceptable and had it not been that everywhere was booked I would have left. I honestly don’t like giving bad reviews , but I wouldn’t want anyone to waste their money as we had.

This is rather a difficult review to write. There are many positives about the property so I'll list those first: The location is fabulous. There is parking outside the front door, the town walls are about a minutes walk and the town hall and high street maybe two minutes. Helen is a wonderful host, chatty and knowledgeable. The other side of the coin is that the property is run down, untidy and in severe need of maintenance and updating. I can imagine it is a struggle running a property such as this but if you are going to advertise it as a guesthouse then that's what it needs to be, not a dosshouse. There are other people staying there, and I can imagine the income is a life saver, but they really had no idea how to interact with paying customers. One of them was washing in the sink when we came downstairs and then walk to his room just in his boxers. Not a big issue but again it comes down to which income stream is more important. The house has the potential to be a fabulous boutique B&B but to do so would need a lot of investment. It's not there at the moment.

The whole house was filthy, cluttered and run down. The rooms had no locks on the doors and my husband had to help the host install one. The bathroom was filthy, with plain evidence of the previous peoples use(to put it politely). The cold tap on the basin did not work and the shower had thick black mould round it. The breakfast room was quite clearly used as the living room of the owners and was full of clutter and laundry, with just a space cleared for us to eat. No choice given at breakfast, we had what the host decided on. Lucky we were happy with fried egg and bacon.