Tourism prize for Dr Finlay’s B&B
Guest house featured in1960sTV classic
A Callander guesthouse – which was the location for the popular 1960s TV drama Dr Finlay’s casebook – has received a prestigious tourism award.
Dawn and Gary Pringle, originally from Edinburgh, who have been running Arden House since 2012, have been awarded a Visit Scotland four star gold Quality Assurance rating.
In the much-loved television series, the Victorian villa in Bracklinn Road served as the home of doctors Finlay and Cameron and their housekeeper Janet. The series was set in the fictional town of Tannochbrae in the 1920s.
Arden House features in VisitScotland’s TV set in Scotland guide and has rooms named after the show’s characters.
Dawn said yesterday (Thursday): “We don’t really remember Dr Finlay’s Casebook when it was on television, but we’re currently making our way through the DVDs.
“We love Callander, and before moving here we would come up regularly to do a bit of walking. We were aware of Arden House on the edge of the village.”
Dawn expressed delight at receiving the VisitScotland gong which has been presented for ‘striving to exceed customer expectations on an ongoing basis.’
The couple, who have three grown-up children, bought Arden House as a B&B, but have downsized from the previous owners.
Dawn explained: “It’s a family home as well as a B&B. The previous owners had six rooms. We have three letting rooms, but we only do two at any one time.
“The business has been going very well for us since we took over. We’ve been as fully booked as we want to be, which is a lovely position to be in.”
Dr Finlay’s Casebook was based on Scottish writer AJ Cronin’s ‘Adventures of a Black Bag.’
The BBC series comprised 180 original stories and was broadcast around the world including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden and The Netherlands.
The first programme was transmitted on August 16, 1962, and the last on January 3, 1971.
Dawn pointed out: “We do get a lot of guests who come because of the Dr Finlay connection – and we’ve had guests who were involved in the programme itself.
“They’re able to tell us things about the house we don’t know. Some guests have been coming to Arden House for 30 years and there are guests who come a couple of times a year. It’s that kind of place.
“We sometimes get people coming to the door asking if it’s the house in Dr Finlay’s Casebook. There’s certainly a lot of interest in Arden House.”