The Old Rectory Suite was pretty amazing when we were shown it for the first time after checking in for a night's stay in July 2005. The bathroom was amazing - roll top bath for 2, with low lighting etc - very romantic. No separate shower, you could use the shower head that sat on top of the bath, but not great if it's too hot for a bath, and you just need to freshen up!

The room had tea/coffee making facilities including a large selection of teas and coffee including cafetiere as well as instant, which was nice. Champagne and still and sparkling water also came with the room - presented in a huge ice bucket, as well as fresh milk in the mini fridge rather than that longlife stuff, which was also a nice touch.

DVD player, BOSE CD player with a small selection of DVDs and CDs, so you could make use of them was also handy.

I found the room to be pretty spooky at night, lots of gargoyles and a Rams head on a bookshelf (??!!). The room had mannequins dressed in old tartans etc in most of the corners of the room, which at night looked like there were other people in the room besides us!!

Opted for the continental breakfast, as we fancied a romantic breakfast for two, but we were really disappointed. We got 3 pastries between us - 1 pain au chocolat, one croissant and one brioche, that were supposed to be fresh, but tasted pretty stale. Fresh fruit salad was also supplied, but this looked several days old, and there was only enough for one small bowlful. No yogurt was provided. Cereal and fresh milk were supplied, but no granulated sugar, so if you like sugar on your cornflakes - bring some sachets with you, as they only had sugar lumps! Apart from coffee, tea and orange juice, this is all that we got - which was very disappointing. All in all, we ate what we could for breakfast, but ended up going to one of the cafes on the Royal Mile for a proper breakfast. If you like something yummy when you're away, then either opt for the cooked breakfast in the Witchery restaurant, or go elsewhere!

If you're planning to stay between mid July into August, beware - as the workers preparing the Castle for the Tattoo drove past our room at 6am in their trucks and starting banging away putting the seating up at the Castle. Not long after that, the coaches with the tourists started arriving (8.30 onwards), and as the seating for the Tattoo takes up the car park, the coaches park outside the castle (right near the hotel) - keeping their engines running for the onboard Air Con!

The heating in the room seemed to be on all the time - it was belting out, when it was 24 degrees outside - we woke up loads in the night as we were so hot! There's no Air Con / temperature control (as it is a really old building) and keeping the windows open means loads of street noise late into the night - loads of drunk people and groups of girls or lads hanging about, and starting again early next morning with the tourists.

There is no room service, or turn down service, so if you've used the 2 coffee cups / bottles of water etc during the day, then you'd need to call reception for some more - same applies for fresh water etc, as the mini fridge only had 2 small bottles of milk in it! Considering that the fridge can hold much more, it seemed wierd that they didn't have a selection of drinks that you could pay for as well.

Dinner in the restaurant was fantastic, we've eaten in the Secret Garden 3 times before, and it's still as good - the puddings are fab!

Overall, I think the £275 a night charge is a little steep considering the poor breakfast and the heating issues, that are only small things, but really make a difference when the room charge is fairly high. Next time we visit, we'll stay somewhere else, but definitely eat at The Witchery.