The B&B Blog – The Ness Guest House | Inverness B&B Scotland

The Ness Guest House B&B | Inverness | Scottish Highlands

About Us

Post published:27 June, 2020
Post category:Guest House Information

Hello! This is a first for us – talking about ourselves! It’s not something we do often. We love meeting our guests from all over the world and hearing their stories. We talk to our guests about Scotland, the places, culture, the people and the weather! So we don’t really talk about ourselves much (honestly!). However, we thought maybe you would be interested to know a wee bit about your hosts. We are Richard and Susan Tocher, both born and raised in Edinburgh and moved to Inverness in 2012 to open our Bed and Breakfast. We both had professional careers and had never owned a hospitality business…

An irreverent potted history of Inverness Castle

Post published:22 August, 2023
Post category:Things To Do

There has been a castle, perched on the hill in Inverness since the 11th century! That’s over a thousand years – impressive!  Records show that Malcolm III of Scotland built the first castle but credit also goes to his son David - it's nice to think it was a family project then. Like a lot of castles in Scotland, it’s been raised and razed to the ground several times! It’s been a royal residence, a military garrison and a courthouse.   There's been a few 'celebrities' visited in the past too:  Robert the Bruce fancied his chances of occupying the castle…

Rick Steves Scotland

Post published:15 March, 2023
Post category:Guest House Information

Rick Steves is an American travel writer, author, and television personality known for his extensive travel experience and insightful guides. Steves has written numerous travel guides, including the popular "Rick Steves' Europe" series, which has become the go-to resource for millions of travellers. Born in 1955 in Edmonds, Washington, Rick Steves began travelling at an early age with his family. His passion for travel continued to grow, he worked as a tour guide, gave travel classes and he eventually started his own travel consultancy business. The business focused on providing travellers with a unique and authentic experience of Europe. Steves'…

The cupolas at Cardhu Distillery, Speyside

Scotch Whisky or Whiskey? Single Malt or Blend?

Post published:24 April, 2022
Post category:Things To Do

Why is Scottish whisky spelled without an ‘e’ and Irish whiskey with an ‘e’? Marketing! I know that’s probably not what you were expecting! But it was a move by Irish distillers in the 19th century to differentiate their product from Scottish distilleries also producing whisky. They put an ‘e’ in the word so that at a glance you’d know it was an Irish whiskey! Here’s an easy one… Why is it called Scotch? An abbreviation of Scottish Whisky. Strangely though, very few Scottish people ever call it Scotch. I love that the Scottish Gaelic for whisky is uisge-beatha -…