Hospitality for Former Beltane Queens was “Assured” as Tontine Hotel has Joint Celebration

The Tontine Hotel celebrated a double celebration last month – as well as hosting a reunion tea party for thirty five former Beltane Queens – ranging from the Beltane Queen from 1935 to the current 2009 Beltane Queen – the Peebles Hotel became the first in the Scottish Borders to achieve the prestigious Hospitality Assured benchmark.

Hospitality Assured is an important service sector framework which supports business sustainability and creates a service culture to improve customer experience across the board.

Said Kate Innes of The Tontine Hotel who owns and runs the Hotel with husband Gordon: ”We certainly had a very busy and eventful Beltane Saturday – our Tea Party for former Beltane Queens attracted thirty five former Queens. We were really pleased with the turnout and everyone had a wonderful time. It was well supported locally too I believe as the Sense Charity shop just a few doors down won first prize for their window display depicting the Beltane Queen tea party!”

“I want to take this opportunity to thank all the former Queens for coming as well as this year’s Queen Rosie Bowick,” she said.

Said Gordon Innes: We are also delighted to secure Hospitality Assured and it’s even better that we are the first Hotel in the Borders to have done so. We have always taken great pride in our service culture – our promise to guests is that we go the extra mile in ensuring that they have a first rate experience with us – and we found that working towards HA provided us with a real framework in which to focus our attention as a team on the customer and how we could add value to their customer experience.”

“We also found that as a unit our staff morale was given a boost – running a Hotel is very much a people industry and we wanted our staff to feel valued and properly supported by us. The Tontine is extremely well known in Peebles, it’s very much the focus for a number of annual community events and we are proud to put it further on the map in this way,” said Gordon.


Seen as a way to benchmark a company against the best in its class as well as increase profitability, Hospitality Assured is endorsed by the British Quality Foundation and Quality Scotland Foundation.

Riddell Graham, Director of Communications and Strategy for Visit Scotland said:
“As an organisation which is also Hospitality Assured, I would like to applaud The Tontine Hotel for this achievement – they have an extremely customer focused approach and ensure that customer service goes hand in hand with everything they do.“

Lazy Days - the Foodie Trail

A treat for the tastebuds! This trail gives you a real flavour of the Tweed Valley and highlights a selection of local restaurants, cafés and independent food suppliers which all provide the very best of local produce.

Try the famous Caldwells Ice Cream in Innerleithen and for locally produced beers you can sample Broughton Ale throughout the area or Jacobite Ale from Traquair, Scotland's longest continually inhabited house which has its own Brewery. Ask our barman for Cuddy Bridge Apple Juice, hand pressed juice made in Innerleithen, or try your hand at making delicious chocolates and truffles at the Cocoa Black Chocolate School in Peebles.

As well as The Tontine for tasty lunches, leisurely dinners and daytime light snacks and refreshments (we use local produce wherever possible), the Foodie Trail recommends local restaurants such as The Sunflower in Peebles; the Horseshoe Inn at Eddleston and Osso Restaurant in Peebles on Innerleithen Road.

Forsyths the Butchers & Bakers in Peebles is a Peebles landmark and the place to go for cold meats and pies for picnics. For the perfect accompaniment to all of this delicious local food a visit to Villeneuve Wines is a must, they are one of the leading fine wine and whisky retailers in the U.K. and currently list over 2000 wines from all around the world and over 150 malt whiskies. You will be spoilt for choice!

Whitmuir Farm at West Linton is highly recommended for organic produce and supply everything from fresh soft fruits, organic eggs and meat. Also Bonnington Farm is known for their organic eggs both chicken and on the odd occasion duck.

There's more ideas on the Tontine website.

Lazy Days - Mountain Biking Trail

Follow the Green Route at world class Glentress - Scotland's biggest and most popular mountain bike centre - just three miles away from The Tontine. It is a 4.5 km route suitable for beginners or families with young children. Linked to the Skills Loop next to the Buzzard's Nest car park, the Trail is one of the first in the UK to comprise mainly of tailor made single track rather than just simply forest road. This Lazy Days Mountain Bike Trail is a gentle up and down route with no scary bits! It is suitable for most people in good health so an ideal introduction to Mountain Biking if you have never tried it before.

For the committed Mountain Bikers Glentress offers some of the top mountain bike routes in Great Britain. Considered by many biking journalists as one of the best dedicated mountain bike centres in Britain, Glentress is suitable for year round use (one of the requirements of the Forestry Commission was that not only should they be rideable in all weather, they should also have a working life of 20-25 years for conservation reasons). Special mention needs to go the Helly Hansen V Trail which is a 19-mile monster of a ride with everything from killer climbs, rocky chutes, drop offs, technical singletrack and blindingly fast descents with berms to whip you round corners.

Call us now on 01721 720892 or fill in our reservation form to enquire about availability.

Lazy Days at the Tontine

As a hotel known as Everything an Active Break Should Be we were keen to make sure that we were offering something of interest for all our guests. That's why we have launched "Lazy Days" which offers a choice of themed itineraries for visitors who want to spend a little longer savouring their time in the beautiful Tweed Valley.

We have made the most of the most popular activities and attractions the area is known for - Cycling, Golf and Walking. "Lazy Days" goes several steps further in offering ready made active trails with all new opportunities for guests which are both relaxing and enlightening - allowing for gentle exercise but nothing too strenuous.

Over the next few weeks we'll feature different breaks - starting with the Fully Flexible Go Golfing Trail.

If you want to concentrate on the courses local to Peebles itself namely - Peebles Golf Course, Innerleithen Course, Championship Cardrona and West Linton, our Flexible Go Golfing Trail could be the answer. Enjoy either 6 rounds of golf including 3 nights dinner, bed and breakfast at The Tontine Hotel from just £268 per person or 10 rounds with 5 nights dinner, bed & breakfast from £420 per person

Find out more on the website.