We stayed at the Claymore during the last week of April / early May. it wasn't our first choice of hotel in the area, but we are very glad that we ended up there.

The staff were extremely friendly, and allowed us to check in early (we had come up overnight from London on the Caledonian Sleeper Train). The room itself was spacious, with good sized beds, comfortable and clean. The shower room was generously proportioned as we had been allocated a wheelchair accessible room at the rear of the hotel (despite not needing one). There was no mini-bar in the room, but there was a thoughtfully provided (and altogether more useful) fridge which came with it's own bottle of proper milk, not those nasty UHT things you usually get in hotels. This was MUCH appreciated.

The room itself looses one point for the creak of the floor boards of the room upstairs when the occupants busied themselves for a day's golfing at 6.30am. But, such is the nature of the building and this certainly wouldn't detract from us staying in the same room.

The hotel bar itself is good, and even has one local real ale on (Cairngorm Trade Winds at the time of our visit). For real ale lovers, the hotel's sister, the Braeval Hotel has a Bandstand Bar which is currently CAMRA Highglands pub of the year 2009. This is only a 10 minute pleasant walk away.

Anyway, I digress. We dined from the bar menu once during our stay and were not disappointed. The lamb was moist and full of flavour, with the accompanying vegetables attractively presented and cooked to perfection. The lasagne was also good. Price-wise the food was towards the upper end of what you'd expect to pay for a bar meal, but was generally worth it.

The hotel itself is situated approxmately 3 minutes walk from the beach. The town centre is a comfortable 10 minute slow stroll away, as is the railway station. You could holiday here and rely on public transport. For those with cars, ample parking is provided.

And so to breakfast. We opted for the full Scottish on all but our last day of the stay. The breakfasts were of consistently excellent quality with an excellent selection of items well cooked and tasty. Health alternatives were also available. The hotel is certainly in the top 10% for cooked breakfasts!

From May onwards it looked as if the hotel becomes increasingly busy with golfers - Nairn being a bit of a golfing resort. Fortunately we were just outside this season, which mean we had a very quiet, relaxing break. The remainder of the residents at the hotel were certainly "maturer" as in 30+. No screaming hen nights here..

When we checked out there was a mistake with the bill. I didn't notice this until I was on the way back home but all credit to the hotel they acknowledged their error and returned the over-payment within minutes of me making contact with them. A text-book example of how to deal with things when they go wrong.

All in all, can't rate positively enough and an excellent time was had. Wouldn't hesitate to stay again.