Cromlix House

This is a very charming large manor situated in a private 2000 acre estate near (but not too close too) the A9 past Stirling, The house itself is quite imposing as you approach from the long private road, however once inside it is a delight, a very traditional grand hunting style lodge packed full of antiques, dark oak panelling, large roaring fires and many curios and portraits from the 17th century onwards. This house used to be a land owning family’s home up until quite recently and this shows, it has real character and I spent over an hour wandering around the house exploring, then crashed out in front of a huge fireplace to read the papers and drink fine (but pricy!) malts.
The staff were very pleasant, friendly and efficient although a little hard to track down, we had to ring the attention bell whenever we wanted to speak to the staff at reception. We were upgraded (for free) to a suite which was a nice touch; the suites are huge and very well appointed with iced water and fresh fruit in the room and bathrobes in the bathroom to name the many small touches,

We did not eat in the hotel as this was a little out of our budget; there are some pretty reasonable restaurants within a 10 minute drive from the hotel in the nearby town of Bridge of Allan, avoid Dunblane as there is little other than basic pubs there.

As for the cost of the rooms; we booked out of season and got a good deal, coupled with the upgrade we did very well indeed for our money.

This house was about as far removed from a modem hotel you can get in terms of décor and ambience, if your idea of luxury is a designer bedroom with a clinical tiled bathroom then this is definitely not for you, it belongs in another age and it has clung on to many of its best attributes, very worthy of its STB five stars