Dumfries House — Attraction in Scotland

Many thanks and 100% plaudits to the guides and staff, in particular the three young male kitchen waiters/ assistants at Dumfries House in Cumnock, Ayrshire for making my/our visit yesterday, (Sat 11th October) a day to remember. I, myself am an Edinburgh guide based at The Georgian House and the above visit was booked as one of our day's out. On behalf of the volunteers, including myself from TGH I was delighted by the guides but in particular the teenage kitchen assistants. You were great guys, attentive, polite and considerate. It was honestly very pleasant to be waited upon for the first time in my life. Unfortunately I feel deeply saddened by two certain females at my table, (NOT guides from The Georgian House I hasten to add but Newhailes House itself) who took it upon themselves to disrupt the lovely soup & sandwiches with a constant barrage of paltry complaints and in turn upsetting the young table waiters into the bargain! You KNOW who you are ill-mannered ladies and ought to be downright ashamed of goading and grouching over a minor glitch easily remedied, but also keeping up the tirade when we returned for shortbread and coffee too! You appeared to enjoy the dismayed reaction from these waiters! You ought to apologise profusely for such childish and nasty behaviour, two foolish women in their mid sixties acting like fools! I am glad I do not know you personally but hope you realise you have given all of us volunteers inc; The Georgian House contingent a bad name! Eventually I moved tables and spoke to one of the three waiters apologising on your behalf. You two women ruined my day, and also the staff from this fine house! Thanks...

I have, for many months run through the Dumfries Estate en route from Cumnock to Ochiltree with my dogs - always sticking to the paths and staying away from the gardens that are on this side of the river. Both have excellent recall and stay close to me. They live on a working farm and are trained not to chase anything. Today while running up the Avenue I stopped by the side of the road and both dogs were sitting at my feet to allow a car past. The person in the car - an employee of the estate rudely and aggressively yelled at me to put my dogs on leads. When I said ‘it’s ok, we’ll just leave’ he said ‘pardon? What did you say to me?’ And then put his car in reverse as if to chase me. As I was a lone woman, and feared for my safety, I cut my run short and left as quickly as I could. To confirm, my dogs were SITTING AT MY FEET and according to the website dogs DO NOT have to be on leads if they stay close at heel. I’ve run through this estate twice a week for three years and have never had a problem. Most staff are very friendly and stop and chat to me and my dogs. But this one employee scared me with his aggression. I would of course abide by on lead rules if they were published or there was signage or my dogs weren’t as well trained as they are. For any other lone women out there - be aware! I’m not sure this employee would have been this aggressive to a man. Have attached the dog policy as published on...

A fantastic day out if you have the weather for it. We loved it when we went but we're not able to explore everywhere due to the heavy rain. Despite this we would still really recommend it but bring waterproofs and an umbrella just in case.

The gardens we saw were really good, well planted and well tended. The paths were clear and easy to walk even with a buggy, however there are a number of steps that are not suitable to buggies or wheelchairs however there are alternative routes in most of these areas but may take a longer detour. We would have loved to have spent more time exploring the gardens and will return if possible.

The architecture and sulpture work scattered around was well worth a look and you could spend a long time exploring and finding all of the gems hidden on the various trails.

The cafe was really nice and the food was lovely. They cater well for kids and have a good range of free from and vegan food for those that need it.

The maze was a lot of fun for the children and we spent a long time finding all of the marker posts and the centre of the maze. Alongside it is the children's adventure play area which is very good, a huge treetop climbing area with slides as well as the usual play equipment. We were a little disappointed that the zipline was out of action but it didn't stop us having fun.

TL:DR very good and...