Directly across the road from the pristine waters of the Firth of Clyde lies this immaculately maintained bed and breakfast. Nary a complaint could be muttered within our three night stay at the Douglas Park Guest House. To the contrary, we couldn't have been happier.
The building is a Victorian-era home with a large communal study, a dining room in which to congregate in the mornings, and a courtyard area with Adirondack chairs and a table.. Or perhaps, you'll go across the way and sit on a shoreside bench watching the boats in sail. Tilly, the little family dog waits to greet you at the front step.
Serenity is paramount here at Douglas Park.
We styayed in guest room #1 which is on the ground floor, with a view of the rear of the property. This room has a detached bathroom, but private only to guests of this room. Bathrobes are provided for the walk across the hallway. Our bathroom was clean, spacious and the shower provided excellent temperature and pressure.
The bedroom was of reasonable size for an older space. For privacy and also for a good night's sleep, blackout curtains can be pulled the length of the window. Our queen size bed was adorned with four posts and brought dreams of quiet getaways in this quaint resort town. There is a decent sized desk and closet for the room, with enough convenient electrical outlets. Some have USB ports as well. Television is wall mounted and out of the way. Nights can be cold outside, but inside the heat was always efficient and the room was surprisingly not drafty as some older B&B's can be. Wi-Fi was fast and covered the whole of the property.
If you've read about Kenny on these reviews, it's for good reason. He's as good an innkeeper as they come. Period. He's even a bit of a local celebrity as we ran into several people in town who knew him! He took in two weary travellers from America and offered them every comfort while making us feel at home. As we were in town for a wedding, we had much of our visit already planned, but he was able to fill our downtime by making dinner reservations and assisting with cabs during our stay.
We can't forget the breakfast! You can choose a slot between 7 and 9am. We chose 8:45am every morning because sleeping in was too good to resist in such a nice room! Tea or coffee, Kenny's homemade marmalade, a selection of fruits and breads and a choice of mains that included haggis one morning and delicious salmon on the other. Eggs are fresh and prepared to perfection. So filling was breakfast that we skipped lunch in town on multiple occasions!
Despite not being in the main area of Dunoon, we found the guest house easy enough to access by transit. Coming from Glasgow by rail, we journeyed in on the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry from Gourock and hopped on the 489 bus right to the front door. The same bus also goes to the Western Ferries terminal out of Hunters Quay. For 3.50 you can buy a day pass and go anywhere from Ardentinny to Toward, which was helpful to us as that not only takes you into the town center, but it was the destination of our friend's wedding on Toward Point. Some tourists will be wise to know there are no app-hailed rideshares available on the peninsula, but just like we used to do it, cabs are available by phone and a ride into town is about five pounds.
We do hope to make it back on another occassion!