My wife and I have been trying to plan a trip to Scotland later this year. The 'loose plan' is to fly into London, take the rail north and drive. There are many levels of thought on this (hers and mine!) but the "idea" is to house somewhere around Stirling and this would provide a chance to venture out each day from a central point.

Here are my questions:
1. How feasible would this be?
(we would love to travel up and around the entire country but we both know this would be hard in a 7 day trip)

2. Would the major sightseeing sites be easily reached (1 to 1 1/2 hours trip time) from this location?
(here in Texas this is a short commute!)

3. Does anyone know of a place (hotel, B&B or other location) that would be reasonable in cost, considering sleep and planning of the next day's journeys will be the main use.

4. Any other information, questions or insights would be helpful.

Thanks,
Richard-