I wrote “a review of our visit to Holy Island”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review?id=203615 yesterday, and said if I had the gumption I’ll also review the place we stayed in, which was “Belvue Guesthouse”:https://holy-island.uk I’ll do so. Well, the Mrs cooked lunch, and I’m ready to roll, as the youngsters say…
We found this guesthouse by chance. It is new (launched in 2019), but their website has more useful information about Holy Island than most others, so our Google searches landed us on theirs time and time again. I especially liked “the video about how to cross the causeway to Holy Island”:https://holy-island.uk/crossing-holy-islands-causeway-and-what-you-need-to-know/ and the “guide about getting to Lindisfarne on public transport.”:https://holy-island.uk/getting-holy-island-lindisfarne-public-transport/ which helped us get there by train.
The guesthouse has three rooms. We stayed in the Reiver Studio, which had a driftwood theme and felt spacious and meticulously clean. The bed is king size and very comfortable, there is a large flat screen TV and a kitchenette with fridge, microwave, kettle, toaster and crockery/cutlery, coffee and tea. The fittings are to luxury hotel standard, and there were plenty of little touches we really liked, including books and maps of the island and a Scrabble board that caused a huge domestic argument about the provenance of a noun originating from the French.
The en-suite has a posh walk-in rainfall shower and lots of fluffy towels. I’m aware I’m starting to sound like a brochure, so I’ll stop. The idea is that we were very pleased indeed, and absolutely loved this little gem of a guesthouse.
More useful information for those considering the place:
If you like chatty over-friendly B&B type hosts that become your best friends, this place isn’t for you. However, if you’re grumpy like me…
The hosts are unobtrusive, but very friendly and available if needed. Because the rooms are self-catering, there’s no need to make polite conversation in the morning. You get your key on arrival and drop it off in the key-box upon leaving. The front door has a code latch (you’re given the code), so you come and go as you please. I should imagine this would be a perfect place to stay in the post-Covid-19 days.
There is parking at the front (we didn’t use it, came by train) and free wifi, which we tried not to use, because the Island is lovely and we wanted to disconnect. There is also an outside seating area with tables at the front, where we took our sandwiches and sat in the afternoon sun for a bit of recuperation after our walk to the Castle.
The walk to cafes and pubs is an easy 4 minutes (2 minutes for the Mrs, she’ll have you know), and the castle is about 15 minutes walk away. If you come from a city, the silence at night is absolutely gobsmacking, though we did hear a weird wail, which we found out the next morning was the song of the seals.
Our favourite breakfast place was the Post Office Cafe, afternoon snacks and coffee was the Pilgrims Cafe. Our intelligence indicates the two pubs on the Island both serve good lunch and dinner (we tried the Ship Inn, and were pleased).
We look forward to going back to Holy Island, and to Belvue Guesthouse.
Web: “https://holy-island.uk”:https://holy-island.uk
Address: Chare Ends, Holy Island, TD15 2SE (a few houses after you pass the main village car park)
