Self-catering, etc.

Things are progressing, and we have secured a booking at what looks to be a fabulous place, called 'Northcliff', across the Firth, from Edinburgh. We have it booked for a week, and that will allow us to venture out most days and do the sightseeing bit, and come home to the same comfortable place each night. 
You also get to have a few simpler meals, with your own stuff from supermarkets, etc, and that saves in not having to eat out most nights. Not that we don't intend trying out the local cuisine, but you have to pace yourselves, both in your diet and your money!

Also, it is just one lot of unpacking for a whole week!  It seems this place is very close to rail access into Edinburgh, so we intend doing that, and leave the car at the accommodation.
The other great thing is that it works out much cheaper than seven nights at a hotel in Edinburgh itself, so that's got to be a plus.

The other places we've selected for self-catering are a week down in St, Mawes in Cornwall, and another weeks' time-share in Aviemore in Scotland, near Inverness.
The time-share had never been a thing I would have chosen to be involved in, but we got the membership as a gift from my father-in-law, and it was greatly appreciated. However, I have never been really happy about the way it works, and any time I have tried to secure something, and search for an exchange property on-line, I come up a blank. It seems to me that you can select what looks like a fabulous place to stay, but you can never get it at the time you want it, even if you start looking months ahead!

The other thing too is that it isn't necessarily "cheaper", as you have to pay annual fees anyway, and there's no use paying your fees, and not using the system. Still, this time it has enabled us to have a week in what I believe is a very scenic area, and again we will have the base to allow us to go out exploring other parts of northern Scotland.

So, there's three weeks taken care of, and a lot of the other areas we are travelling to, we've done two & three night stops, if only because we have a few things to do in those areas, like adding to our family history knowledge base. I have relatives in both the Bristol and Nottingham areas, and we want to see them again, and perhaps ask more questions, and try to tie up a few loose ends in the family saga!