We had a meal - four of us, and it was all delightful, with the waiting staff very helpful, pleasant and skilled. We had a lovely evening, with a lovely relaxed atmosphere, log fires, drinks, 5 course meal including very well stocked cheese trolley. All cosy, friendly and super efficient service.

My husband and stayed for 2 nights in October. We had a great room with lovely views, the bed was hugh and room decorated tastefully. The bathroom was just okay but the shower was rubbish. The spa wasn't as good as I had expected. My husband and myself both had a treatment and they just didn't seem that well set up. Howerver the staff both in the hotel and the spa we're top class and couldn't have been nicer. Also the food was fantastic and the wine is good value. Overall we did enjoy our stay but felt that it is extreamly expensive, and not the best value for money.

We booked an amazing package through luxurylink.com and my husband and I were originally going to come here for a long romantic, weekend getaway. However, it eventually looked like we were going to try and organize a very small wedding ceremony here for 7 of our family members. While our stay was fantastic, let me start with the "bad" stuff first...

When calling the hotel to book our additional rooms for the family, I realized that this place is very strict on the "rules"! I asked the reservationist specifically if the rate she was quoting me was the absolute best and could not be bettered elsewhere. She said the room rates I were given were the best prices available, and because they were much higher than what we had paid, I decided to look online. I found prepaid rates on the hotel's websites that were substantially cheaper than what the reservationist had quoted and this was not a great first impression for the hotel, especially since I had asked her outright if these were the absolute best rates. Most hotels would tell you to check online and promote their internet specials, and I felt as if they were trying to get me to purposely book at a higher rate. I booked online for 3 additional rooms. Our package also included various spa treatments and dinners, so I exchanged emails in which the hotel wanted exact times for dinner reservations and spa treatments. I explained that our group was arriving in Aberdeen and we had to drive across the country to reach the hotel, so it was difficult for me to book exact times for the spa and dinner. The hotel informed us that they needed exact bookings for us...not a great start from the reservation and preplanning process, and I was nervous this place would be too inflexible to accommodate our group that is not great at planning.... but things get better!!

When we drove over the little wooden bridge to check into the property, we discovered my husband and I had been upgraded to a Spa Suite from our king room in the castle. We loved having the jacuzzi and a tiny bit of distance from our guests and this started the trip out on a great note. The ladies in our group arrived first and we managed to get all of our spa treatments in and highly enjoyed the spa, the therapists, and the experience. I was concerned about my facial being too abrasive for pictures the following morning, but the therapist did a wonderful job and I was left with radiant, glowing skin....exactly what you would want! My 84 year old grandma loved her massage, and we were all thoroughly impressed with the spa.

After our relaxation, we were called by the guys en route and told they wanted to join us for dinner....I was thinking, oh great, no way we can get our reservation changed to 7 people and pushed for 2 hours. But the staff was very accommodating and we were all able to eat together after everyone was checked in.

The rooms were well equipped, each with its own flair, and the hotel helped reassign my grandma to a ground level room floor because the stairs are quite old and not very conducive for elderly travel to and fro. Here again, they showed flexibility and accommodating service.

Our meals were AMAZING on all 3 evening and while I could rant about the incredible food, wine and unobtrusive service, just know that they dining experience was a highlight of all of our weekend and something we would love to go back and duplicate.

On the day of the wedding, I had another spa treatment and spoke briefly with the hotel to move our ceremony indoors since it looked like rain. Only major hiccup was hot water was not working on the upper floors of the hotel, so everyone took turns getting ready in grandma's room. Luckily, I was in our separate suite and blissfully unaware. Our group enjoyed casual lunch in the drawing room and in the afternoon we had a lovely, private ceremony by the dining area with the staff moving tables and helping set things up to accommodate us. They also did not charge us for the additional use of the space and again were quite helpful.

The dinner that evening was so wonderful, with the wait staff looking after each of us and we ended with great dessert wines and cheese cart that was the highlight of the dinner for my husband. We still talk about that evening and dinner and the amazing lamb a year later!

While I wouldn't say the service here is particularly "warm", (with the notable exception of the spa) it was much more accommodating and flexible than I was predicting. I would suggest staying here if you really want to get away from it all...no cell phone service, and can say they helped make our wedding ceremony truly memorable. Only regret was that I forgot to take my keepsake book from the resort with me and left it in our room upon check-out...

Locked into an empty, unfinished sports hall.
Jacuzzi fizzing with bleach.
Broken wooden steps to jacuzzi.
No wifi.
Noisy 'radiator pipes' preventing sleep.

Not the Greatest.