Glenskirlie Castle in the village of Banknock in Stirlingshire, the heart of Scotland, has the distinction of being the first new castle to be built in Scotland in the 21st century. This new exclusive boutique hotel has been built adjacent to the Glenskirlie House restaurant which has been open for the past 25 years and won many awards.
The new hotel is now going to capitalise on the success of the restaurant and its romantic setting by providing a superior location for weddings and honeymoons. The hotel, which opened in July 2007, has 15 individually themed bedrooms including two luxurious 100m² suites. Rooms have been named after roses with the floral theme carried on throughout the castle’s interior design features. Room names include New Dawn, Cupid, Sexy Rexy, Maiden’s Blush and Bourbon Queen.
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The names were selected with input from the UK’s leading rose expert Peter Beales. Glenskirlie Castle is set in its own extensive grounds is owned and operated by the Macaloney family. The hotel cost over £2.5m to construct and outfit. The hotel employs an additional 55 people in addition to the restaurant, bringing the total Glenskirlie workforce to 120. Glenskirlie Castle is 25 minutes from Glasgow and 40 minutes from Edinburgh.
HOTEL FEATURES
The castle’s honeymoon suites feature four poster beds, turreted bathrooms (ensuite bathrooms are situated in the turrets) with sunken Jacuzzi baths, separate dressing rooms and walk-in wardrobes, lounge, dining areas and superb views over the surrounding countryside. Bespoke designed stained glass windows and doors feature in the castle’s new bar-grill restaurant which offers a relaxed evening dining option (Glenskirlie Castle grill restaurant).
For fine dining guests are able to use the adjacent Glenskirlie House restaurant. The castle is also offering wedding reception facilities with a purpose-designed function suite seating up to 120 guests. The bar-grill restaurant doubles as the ceremony room making the bespoke designed stained glass windows the ideal photo backdrop when couples elect to marry at the hotel. Room rates start at £145 per night with suites running at £295 per night.
CONTRACTORS
The hotel ‘castle’ was designed by Heinz Voigt of the Voigt Partnership in Arbroath in the style of a Scottish 16th Century castle with a turret and ‘impenetrable’ walls. The design accentuates the romance of the setting, making the hotel a truly desirable location. With its impressive towers and turrets, its roaring open fires, oak features and slate and wooden floors, the new venue has all the trappings of an historic building.
The solid hardwood flooring in the hotel was supplied and installed by McKay flooring Ltd. The new grill restaurant/ceremony room features a custom designed stained glass window; this was designed, constructed and installed by Artisan Glass of Perthshire. The project managers for the hotel project were Stark Associates and the providers of building services were Enconsult of Dunfermline. The builder provided the building with energy efficient systems and the building was carried out in a sustainable manner.
GLENSKIRLIE RESTAURANT
The original Glenskirlie building houses a 64 seat restaurant, a bar and a purpose-built function suite which currently hosts more than 130 weddings a year. The restaurant was opened in September 1982. In 2003 it was named Scotland’s Glayva Restaurant of the Year, beating stiff competition from city-based establishments.
