Andrew and his brother stayed at the Lorimer Guest House in St. Andrews, Scotland for the entirety of their trip to the home of golf. Here is their review of the bed and breakfast located three blocks from the R&A Clubhouse which overlooks the first tee and 18th green of the Old Course.
About the Hotel
Operated by the amazing hosts Scott and Ashley Finlay, Lorimer Guest House is a B&B conveniently located in the town centre of St Andrews, Scotland. A short walk to a range of restaurants, shops, St Andrews University and the famous Old Course. This is an ideal stay for visitors and golfers and is also an authorized provider of Old Course tee times.
All their bedrooms have en-suite facilities, TVs, hospitality trays including tea/coffee and hairdryers. High speed internet is available in rooms and throughout the guest house. There is one guest room on the bottom floor, which happened to be ours, with the remaining rooms on the upper floors. The rest of the main floor is the dining room right off the entrance hallway. There is a rack for golf clubs near the front door so guests don’t have to take their clubs to their rooms.
We can’t speak to the exact cost since the accommodations were part of a larger golf package, but we can say it was about half the price of the more well known St. Andrews hotels adjacent to the Old Course.
Location
The Lorimer Guest House is located about three blocks behind the 1st tee of the Old Course on Murray Park which includes quite a few guest houses similar to Lorimer. It was about a five minute walk to the Old Course and the Dunvegan, and ten to the St. Andrews Clubhouse and Jigger Inn, and no more than 15 to the Driving Range adjacent to the 16th Hole of the Old Course. For those that need a kick in the morning, there is a really good coffee shop at the end of the street called Taste. Two blocks south is Market Street with a grocery store, liquor store, good restaurants, and plenty of other establishments.
There is plenty of street parking around Lorimer. Most days, we could have gotten something on Murray Park right in front of the Guest House. However, our rental car was sideswiped our first evening in St. Andrews so we opted to start parking on The Scores since it had head in parking and there was always availability. In just about every photo or painting of the R&A Clubhouse and the 18th green, there is a road in the background between the two; that is The Scores.
Front of the Lorimer Guest House.
Entrance hallway with the golf club rack.
Lorimer is about 2/3 the way down this street on the right.
Taste Coffee Shop
Our Room
Andrew and his brother shared a single room which was smaller than a typical hotel room. Andrew still had enough room to move around and stretch on the floor (needed to keep his back in good shape). Not having to store their clubs in the room made a big difference. Once we arrived, we were instructed to place our golf bags on the rack and leave our golf travel bags in the dining. Scott was kind enough to store them for us and return them the night before our departure.
As far as powering all our devices, the counter had two plugs (for those traveling across the pond, don’t forget your adaptors). There were also plugs and USB outlets next to each bed.
The bathroom was very small and the sink was actually in the bedroom but we didn’t really spend much time in the room so it wasn’t a big deal. The beds are also high enough that we could put our luggage underneath to save space.
Our guest room.
Our bathroom
Dining
Breakfast was served every morning in the dining room and the menu during our stay was:
Full Scottish Breakfast
Pancakes with Bacon
Scrambled Eggs with Salmon
Bagel with Cream Cheese
Porridge
Cereal
Fruit and Yogurt
There were a handful of juices, coffee, and tea. We ate here every morning except one because of a very early tee time. Between the two of us, we tried everything on the menu and enjoyed it all.
One of the best parts about breakfast was getting to meet folks from all over who were staying at the Lorimer Guest House. We met people from all over the United States and a few guests from Canada, all of which produced great conversations and one outstanding book recommendation (Tommy’s Honour). It was also great talking with Scott, the owner, every morning during breakfast.
Full Scottish Breakfast
Dining room on the bottom floor.
Pancakes and Bacon
Final Thoughts
We had an amazing stay at the Lorimer Guest House. This place has a charm and feel that is more connected to the town than the larger hotels along the course. Scott was great to talk to and provided quite a few good recommendations and stories about the town.
There is something amazing about waking up and being able to walk five minutes and be at the home of golf. St. Andrews is a fairly small town and we were able to walk everywhere fairly easily. If we ever get the chance to go back to St. Andrews, we will definitely look to stay at Lorimer Guest House again.