We spent 4 nights in late July in this beautiful building. The grounds are fantastic, peace and tranquility, with beautiful mature trees and the river running through where we regularly watched fish jumping during the early evening. The hotel itself, although clearly old, is generally well cared for and the rooms were comfortable. Our experiences in the restaurant were, unfortunately, like chalk and cheese, ranging from one excellent meal which could hardly be faulted to another which virtually rivalled Fawlty Towers. The staff were incredibly helpful and loyal and extremely polite, but unfortunately when you have waited over an hour for firstly the wrong meal and then a cold meal you do start to dispair; however, we were fortunate, at least we got fed, one poor couple were told that their order had been lost between the dining room and the kitchen and got nothing!! With a little more co-operation between the staff, and some clear guidance from the management, we are sure that, as shown on one occasion, this hotel could be good.

I came to the Hotel in special circumstances for a Folk Music Summer School for five nights. This made special demands on the staff, with people staying in the building all day playing and singing, and being joined by an equal number of guests who were lodged elsewhere. In spite of the extra work almost all the staff were helpful and affable almost all the time.
My room was airy, clean and comfortable with a fine view over the lawn to the River Nith.
What surprises me about the other reviews is that no-one says much about the hotel's setting in place and time. It nestles in a crook of the River Nith in spacious grounds with magnificent trees. The house has associations with Annie Laurie, famed in song, and with Robert Burns. It was the home of his friend and neighbour, Robert Riddell. Burns sat in the Hermitage in the grounds, recently restored, and wrote. It is only ten minutes' walk from there to Burns's farm of Ellisland, now a Visitor Centre. The walk takes you in the poet's footsteps through to fields now being left ungrazed and uncultivated for the return of wildlife. A walk along the Nith in the other direction and a short climb takes you to a stone circle erected by Robert Riddell on what he thought was a druidic site.
Staying in such a house provides an experience on which it is impossible to put a price.

Recently stayed here on a 2 night break. When we got there up the long bumpy drive we went to check in . The receptionist must of thought we had stayed here before as looked gone out at us when he handed the keys to us and expected to know where the bedrooms were !! Very breif welcome and up to the room we went. The room was nothing special and we were very glad we had paid no more than 60 pounds. Im sure if you are a member you would get a better room.
Breakfast was ok , seemed nice and fresh, except they wanted us to pay a supplement for beans !!
The plus side to the hotel is it stands in beautiful grounds and for the money we paid would of struggled to get grounds as nice and big.
Its not as bad as some of the reviews make out just dont go paying over a hundred to stay here otherwise you will be dissapointed.
Ps , watch out for the many rabbitts that inhabit the grounds !

We had a fabulous Burns Experience here in the hotel's Honeymoon suite, which was huge and really lovely. We booked at the last minute last year and got the very last room, which was adequate and clean but not the best, so booked early for this year to make sure we got nice rooms for us and our friends who came along. We've booked again for next year and this time there's 3 couples coming, so that's an indication as to how well we were looked after on our recent stay.

Beautiful old but cozy building in a lovely setting (bumpy track to hotel is to be re-done soon) close to loads of interesting places to visit.

Staff are great, food was really nice, prices for the wine/bar/accommodation are very reasonable.

There's a new manager who seems to have great plans to upgrade and improve the hotel. This should address some of the gripes that others have had, but we didn't see as a problem.

I just hope it doesn't end up out of our price range in the future!