HOLIDAYS really are "home sweet home" for Radcliffe couple Stuart and Dorothy Fairclough.

For the 67-year-olds are such loyal customers at a luxury Scottish hotel that they have had their favourite room named after them!

The retired couple, who live on a farm off Bury Road, were delighted to discover that Room 71 at the Cally Palace Hotel in Gatehouse-of-Fleet in Kircudbrightshire had been renamed The Fairclough Suite in their honour. Management decided on the unusual "christening" because the couple have holidayed in the same room in the 18th Century mansion house for the last ten years.

They spend four days every month there and always take an annual ten-day break in the summer. "There's no place on earth like it," said Mr Fairclough. "I've never looked forward to going anywhere as much."

He added: "The plaque was a great surprise as we knew nothing about it. They just said they had changed the name of the room and showed us this plaque."

Ironically, Mr and Mrs Fairclough had not had a holiday in 30 years before they found the hotel of their dreams.

They discovered it by accident as they scouted the Border region for a bed and breakfast.

Instead they were captivated by the sight of the mansion at the end of a long tree-lined driveway.

Mr Fairclough said: "My wife said there was no way she could go in because she hadn't brought the clothes for it. But I went in anyway and it was the best move I've ever made."

Hotel manager Mr Douglas McDavid said: "The Faircloughs have become an institution at the hotel and we wouldn't have it any other way. They are as regular as clockwork and our best and most loyal customers by far.

"At the moment they are booked up in advance for the whole year. It is four days a month, ten days in the summer, same room, same table in the dining room, same wine with meals."