Undiscovered Scotland

 

The Mountview Hotel stands in a raised location just to the north of the centre of the village of Nethy Bridge. You reach it up a drive that climbs steeply from the main road a couple of hundred yards north of the centre of the village. The hotel commands excellent views over Nethy Bridge. and the surrounding mountains: especially south towards the main Cairngorm plateau. You can read our dining review for Mountview Hotel here.

The hotel itself is built of attractive stone and comes with the deep eaves found on many traditional houses in and around the Cairngorms. The restaurant has been tastefully added to one side giving the hotel an interesting appearance and a lot of character.

The building was originally a private house built by the Fraser family in 1913. It was taken over by Kevin & Caryl Shaw in 1998, who completely renovated the hotel to provide accommodation for their rapidly expanding wildlife holiday business, Heatherlea. It continues to do so, but when combined with the outstanding restaurant is also an attractive option for those of us whose knowledge of birds is restricted to the number of wings each is supposed to have.

The public rooms comprise an excellent guest lounge, complete with an open fire on cold days. Here you can relax on the comfortable sofas while you enjoy a pre dinner drink and make your choice from the menu, or just take time out to enjoy the view. There is also a reading room, well stocked with books about the natural world, while beyond the lounge is the restaurant, awarded 2 Rosettes by the AA. There is also a separate dining room used for evening meals by those staying on all inclusive wildlife holidays, and for breakfast by all guests.

There are twelve guest rooms at the Mountview Hotel, eleven with en suite facilities and one with a private bathroom. One of the rooms is on the ground floor, while eight are on the first floor. The remaining three are on the hotel's second floor, making much of the character that comes with sloping eaves. The en suite shower rooms tend to be very compact, to maximise the size of the guest rooms themselves. The rooms make the most of the original features and offer a variety of decor, of window sizes and of views over the surrounding countryside. The latter are most spectacular to the south, towards the Cairngorm plateau, but this is a good place to begin to realise that Nethy Bridge. is almost surrounded by hills and mountains.

One room is a single, while the rest are either twins or zip-link doubles which can be converted into twins. The beds are particularly comfortable, something which is equally important whether you are staying for a week's birdwatching or simply passing by while touring the area. The Mountview Hotel also offers an adjacent self catering cottage capable of accommodating five people in three bedrooms.

A ramp is available to allow disabled access to the ground floor public rooms including the restaurant, but there is no disabled toilet. The ground floor guest room is ideal for the mobility impaired, but has not been adapted for wheelchair users.

The surrounding area is renowned for its wildlife, and in particular its birdlife. This is why the Mountview Hotel was chosen by Kevin & Caryl Shaw when they were looking to expand their Heathrlea birding and wildlife holiday business in 1998. Today Heatherlea offers a range of holidays, including week long all inclusive breaks based at the Mountview. Other guests at the hotel or in the adjacent self catering cottage can (subject to availability) sign up for day trips with Heatherlea during their stay.

Three elements of a stay at the Mountview Hotel help set it apart. The first is the quality of the service. The friendly and professional staff seem to be long established and are deeply committed to ensuring your stay is an enjoyable one: and this covers everything from the restaurant and breakfast service to the very high quality of the housekeeping. The second is the outstanding quality of the food. And the third is the unusual combination of hotel and wildlife holidays, which gives an interesting focus to the hotel, even for those staying on a more casual basis. You can read our dining review for Mountview Hotel here.