Douneside House

Setting and Environment: Many users praised the hotel's beautiful setting, often mentioning its stunning views and meticulously maintained gardens. The countryside location and proximity to attractions such as Tarland and Balmoral are highlighted as advantages.

We had another lovely lunch at Douneside, whilst staying in the area. The food was delicious and beautifully presented, and the service was excellent. We enjoyed a walk around the gardens beforehand. We only wish we lived nearer and could come more often!

Arrived for a midweek break in March. Lovely entranceway and decor in main building and restaurants and the girl on reception was welcoming and lovely as were almost all staff. Stayed in casa 23: immaculate with lovely log fire, well stocked with logs, has a small bedroom and note the shower is really small. Parking excellent. 4 options on the dinner menu with one daily specialboth nights. The pheasant and pork belly were very difficult to cut but were tasty plates of food. Desserts were average and one in particular i did not like even though I usually love those ingredients. Breakfasts were the not what we expected. Service good on first day, however on the 2nd day was poor. The poorest and most unappetising continental 'buffet' I've ever seen. I pointed out to the waiter the sliced cheese and processed cheese that were curled up and dried at the edges. The waiter was somewhat huffy about that Nd we felt somewhat awkward. There were a couple of unappetising cereals and plain old apples and oranges with mini croissant. Nothing there that I would find a nice treat to eat in a hotel. I tried the eggs benedict...tasteless. Service quite slow eg you will finish a pot of lukewarm tea or weak coffee, the toast arrived 15 minutes later. No offer of fresh coffee or tea. The 2nd day we had to physically go twice looking for a waiter to get sugar. I ordered some egg, tomatoe and acone for breakfast. My pet hate is half raw cold egg running onto my plate and porage with salt in (which wasnt in it the day before). Then the staff seemed to disappear for a while and the breakfast diners eventually saw themselves out. Would be a lovely hotel to visit if they improved the breakfast food in particular. We did mention these comments on checkout. We still cannot find anywhere like for like who can beat the all round service, food, accommodation, staff and grounds at Dumfries House.