Crieff Hydro

I am here overnight for a conference.

This shot is taken of one of the hotel public rooms - for one thing it was impossible to venture outside for an exterior shot because it has been pelting down.

The hotel was built in 1868 as the "Strathearn Hydropathic Establishment, Crieff" and took less than £18,000 to build.

It is an enormous, spacious place where people came to take water cures. In true Victorian style, this room even had a pipe organ installed.

When I first used to come here for meetings, the hotel was still teetotal. Not so today - magnficent surroundings for lovely food and wine. A number of little old ladies used to sit at single tables round the dining room. Quite rich, instead of going to an old people's home they just moved in here and lived out their lives in comparative luxury.

Back to Edinburgh tomorrow...