Machermore Castle — Hotel in Great Britain

Car park not fit for cars- Excuse being, its grade 3 gravel! This means nothing to me and doesn't explain the chips/ scratches to my car mix up with the rooms- Excuse being, we was told where we should be! Yes but I had two contradicting messages as to where we should be staying, plus it didn't help that the code for each room was the same and also didn't help my utter embarrassment as I entered an already occupied room. maybe it would have helped if we was told we wasn't even staying in the castle its self. Untidy lodge- Excuse being, why was we expecting 5 but not at a 5 price! sorry I didn't know that cleaning bird poo off filthy windows and moving just utter junk out of the utility room, propping wobbly beds up with random bits of wood would warrant a 5 rating. I am no snob but when its not safe for my children to play in the garden because there was glass all over the decking and an old large discarded spiky TV Aerial on the grass I cant help but get frustrated, I even tried to clean it up myself with what utilities I could find though the aerial was just too heavy to be moved by hand. A good days work could have made all the difference. so now you can now imagine my joys while heating up the oven to use, if I would have predicted the scene that this simple task created I wouldn't have bothered, put it this way at least we knew the smoke alarms worked (that's your whole 3*s right there guys) Looking back on other reviews this issue had already been brought to Colin's attention to which he replied 'oven replaced'... this is a blatant lie!! like I say I found it all so disappointing, as it was just lack of attention to detail that you would naturally expect, just to stay in a safe, clean, relaxing environment. Bringing theses simple fixable issues to the attention of staff resulted in us receiving an awful review. Even thought we left the place as found (beds tidy, bathroom clean) he messaged us to ask why had we spilt sugar on the floor? We did not take any sugar with us as nobody from our party uses it, though if we did would this really warrant us to be 'disgusting'? and FYI I have only ever received nice reviews welcoming us back any time....isn't that funny!! *The whole place was a building site. I will leave the Excuse till the end!! so unbeknown to us there was a lot of work going on in and around the grounds, the place was not fit for guests. So work seemed to start at 8AM on the Saturday morning. Wasn't quite sure what was going on but then when taking my children to play in the communal gardens I realised this was not a safe place for them to be. Diggers, reversing road rollers, tools for example a pick axe just thrown and discarded. not only was it an accident waiting to happen, I felt like us being there was a total inconvenience to the extremely rude and aggressive builders. Excuse being- why aren't you supervising your children? After all this my biggest annoyance was the attitude of the host. His excuses if not lies where pathetic and shouldn't ever make me feel like questioning my parenting skills as all I wanted to do was give my family was a lovely relaxing holiday. To me this place seems like a hobby that they are not very good at but the sad fact is that its at the expense of innocent people.

PS the one star is for Newton Steward as when leaving Machermore Castle this area of Scotland...

We stayed in the main castle for a week at the end of August 2024 - it was filthy, unsafe, poorly equipped, facilities missing (as posted on website) and did not reflect what is advertised.||This was booked this for a special family holiday for 14 people. For the money for the week I feel aggrieved at the standard of accommodation provided. I will detail specifics as follows:||Safety concerns:|| - the fire exit door did not close properly, leaving belongings vulnerable and the whole property |- gaps in the door in the flat, if it had been colder this would have been unbearable as there was no heating in the flat throughout the stay|- light on entry to the flat had wires exposed|- on the lower floor, the door into what I can only describe as a 'building site' on way to the bedrooms was unlocked - very unsafe and dangerous, we had young children staying - how was this not locked? Dust all over the carpet from work boots on entry to the downstairs area - unacceptable as people had to walk through this dust to get to their rooms.|- Carabiner used to secure a main door|- cracks in the fire surround, so log burner potentially not safe||Provision of utensils and everyday objects:||- limited lighting in the living room area, either the main light or 2 lights provided as 1 light was not working - very dark!|- not enough cups and they were chipped and no wine glasses ||Decor:||- very poor overall, curtains were not hanging correctly in the living room and it was not clean throughout the castle||Cleanliness was absolutely appalling:||- kitchen was disgustingly filthy - we had to clean the cooker on arrival, 2 small fridges provided were old, filthy and had rust on them|- cooker - unable to close the doors fully, gas hobs - the flames were not able to be controlled on the hob and they were too fierce|- shelves were dirty in the kitchen|- egg cups were full of flies on arrival|- kitchen floor was absolutely filthy|- bar area - all glasses had to be cleaned before use|- first room upstairs had a foul aroma, we had to purchase an air freshener and open windows on arrival|- sofa in the 'ballroom' area was disgusting underneath, dirty with lots of detritus, when you raised the seated you could see underneath so hard to miss - awful!|- some toilets were filthy in en suites, we had to purchase bleach to clean stains which were visible on several toilets, mould in the showers||Showers were freezing if used in the early morning.|Gym not provided as stated on the website and expected by all of us, this was not communicated prior to arrival.||Residents staying in the lodge could be heard as there was a door with gaps separating the castle and lodge - this was very noisy and caused disturbance late at night.||Overall I am very upset at the standard of accommodation, we had to work hard to make some areas liveable on arrival - unacceptable! The castle was absolutely filthy, smelly, with 'tired' decor, unsafe and not secure. I have stayed in better...

ng apart. All the windows looked in need of replacing and from what we could see inside, it was a mess. Like an abandoned building. Add the odd looking cream coloured extension and the rusty shed placed on the main grounds and you have a recipe for a bad experience. Had we known we would be staying in an out building, we would have just went to a campsite. This was how underwhelming it was. Inside the extension, the corridor had what looked like dry cement on the floor. The carpets further on were clean though. The rooms themselves are depressing, as basic as it gets. It appears the rooms are named after clan families (I could be wrong). Why not have some kind of tartan, pictures or a crest, a backstory to theme the rooms up a bit. Otherwise, you may as well just call it Room 1, 2, 3 and so on. An effort was certainly made to sanitise the room however it could have been cleaner as we found dust and hair in a lot of places. No bin liner in the bin, luckily we had a spare bag in the car. The walls are wafer thin and you could here everything going on in the hall and the room across from us. The bathroom is in need of attention, grout was stained, cracks on the wall, just really worn all round. You only get around 5 mins of luke warm water so 2 people trying to have a shower is difficult as you have to be quick before it turns too cold. In a place where there are no nature walks or anything to do, the rooms should at least have a TV. We spent all day out, discovering the surrounding areas so when you return in the evening a TV would provide a bit of entertainment, rather than just staring at the same dull 4 walls of the room. (Luckily, we brought a laptop with us). The grounds were a mess. It does appear like some work is being carried out somewhere in the grounds but that is no excuse to leave plastic sheeting lying around which becomes noisy when its raining. Rubbish was lying around in parts. At least cut the grass and tidy the weeds growing around the edges. The car park is not great as you still need to walk a few minutes to get to the side door of the castle. 2 or 3 trips if you have a few bags. This was made out to be private parking, giving the impression that you could park beside the castle. Not the case. The gates were locked, giving no access. It's overall so frustrating, this castle is beautiful with bags of potential to make it a great experience. The basics aren't even being done. If you own or managed this place, you'd be appreciative. With appreciation comes care. Unfortunately, none of this came across. For the price and visual aspect, you would be better staying at one of the many lodges, glamping pod, camp sites in the area. Fact of the matter is, if the castle was open for business as usual, and money is being taken from customers, then high standards should...