The Witchery by the Castle

A former Satanists’ meeting-place, this hotel has been given a memorable makeover. The metropolitan downtown sister hotel to Prestonfield, it is just as quirky and calculatedly OTT (over the top). Opened by acclaimed chef and bon viveur James Thompson, it is self-consciously decadent and gloriously Gothic. It is self-styled surreal, the epitome of quirkiness, and definitively kitsch.

The former merchant’s house dates to 1595 and has seven suites. All are idiosyncratically and eccentrically furnished. One has a double bed with an organ pipe headboard, another is leather-panelled, and there are velvet and damask curtains everywhere. You can spend the night in the “Guardroom” or the “Armoury”, as well as the library. You can bathe in the chapel. Prior to a good night’s rest, go on one of the hotel’s supernatural tours, and explore the grisly and sadist side of the medieval burgh of Edinburgh, as you follow the trail of ghouls, grave robbers and stranglers. Your escort gives you his business card. He is called the Chief-In_Spectre. The Witchery is not for the faint-hearted, or those into subdued décor, and all things conventional. And normal. It’s great fun.