Elegance and Gothic splendour on luxury getaway at North Berwick

The Marine North Berwick hotel behind the North Berwick Golf Club.

We arrive at the stroke of seven at the imposing medieval and Gothic hotel 50 minutes from Edinburgh. Outside, the rain lashes the building, coming in sideways, icy sheets of water that had threatened to drive us off the road from the capital.

But, inside, The Marine North Berwick is an oasis of calm. In truth, it is like stepping into a scene from a Wes Anderson film. The reception desk is all green leather and gold fixtures set in a perfectly symmetrical atrium filled with leather sofas, ornate lighting and heavy wooden coffee tables.

Hotels are increasingly trending towards an ultra-modern aesthetic, where every room is minimalist, every surface clean lines and, dare I say it, a little sterile. Not at Marine North Berwick. The hotel instantly puts you in mind of a country mansion. The vibe that the interiors and the staff give out is that we have been invited to spend the weekend with some rather wealthy friends at their rural retreat.

Indeed, every corner of this hotel could be the setting for a film or the inspiration for a novel. From the reception area, to the maximalist Bass Rock Bar that looks like it has leapt straight from the pages of The Great Gatsby, to The Lawn restaurant, with its sweeping circular corner bay windows where the tables have vivid green velvet seating, everything evokes an emotion and exudes style and class.

The theme continues in our room, a grand suite with a large circular bay window, that looks out on North Berwick Golf Club and further out to Bass Rock and the mouth of the Firth of Forth. The walls of the suite are covered in heavily patterned wallpaper and the bed is a huge four-poster, the wardrobe made of heavily glossed mahogany. In the bay window, a decadent chaise longue is placed to one side while, on the other, a large wooden writing desk dominates.

On the dark, stormy night we visit, the wind and rain is battering against the windows and I spend a moment looking out on the forbidding scene. It is easy to imagine a writer sitting at the desk and being inspired to pen a Gothic thriller.

The next morning, we took a stroll into the pretty town, which lies along the beach from the hotel. It was a fabulously refreshing walk along the seafront, where hardy golfers braved the chill winter air to ping balls into the wind for what seemed, to me at least, little gain.

In the town centre, the streets were packed with shoppers darting in and out of stores and mini supermarkets while locals piled into steamy coffee shops to chat and put the world to rights. Back at the Marine, we have a reservation at The Lawn for dinner so we get dressed in appropriately decadent attire and make our way to the restaurant. The Lawn has newly launched a dining concept that brings an Italian menu with a focus on the best of Scottish produce.

There is focaccia and olives to get you in the mood while starters include dishes such as grilled flatbread with hummus, labneh and taramasalata, and burrata with courgette and mint scapece.

For mains, there are classics like casarecce arrabbiata and a wild mushroom risotto, and of course excellent pizzas. The menu also has a fantastic meat section, where you can order grilled prawns, ribeye steak or go all out for the marvellous chateaubriand.

We enjoyed a fantastic ribeye which was cooked to perfection and well seasoned, as well as a fresh seafood spaghetti that was packed with flavour. We didn’t have room for dessert, but that didn’t stop us ordering them. The Caprese torte, dark chocolate with hazelnuts and cream, was an absolute high point of the meal.

After dinner we retired to the Bass Rock Bar and relaxed with a glass of champagne – it felt fitting because a stay at Marine North Berwick will always be reason to celebrate.