// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Cromlix House say to its friend? "You're a suite friend.
Cromlix is a hotel near Kinbuck, Stirlingshire, Scotland. It was originally constructed as a Victorian mansion, then first operated as a hotel from the early 1980s to 2012.
It was bought by tennis player Andy Murray and the hotel re-opened in April 2014, being managed by ICMI management group until December 2022. The hotel was brought into self-management from January 2023 by the Murrays and was refurbished.
History
[edit]There are records of Cromlix from the 1500s, when the Bishop of Dunblane sold the lands of Cromlix to his brother, Robert Chisholm.[citation needed] A house was built on the site in 1874 as a family residence in the time of Captain Arthur Drummond Hay, but was destroyed by fire in 1878. It was replaced in 1880 by Cromlix House.[1][unreliable source] Cromlix House was built for Arthur Hay-Drummond, son of the 11th Earl of Kinnoull. King Edward VII visited in September 1908.[2] The house remained a family home for the Hay-Drummonds until the 1971 death of Evelyn Hay-Drummond,[3] who had married Terence Eden (8th Lord Auckland).[4]
Cromlix House was converted in May 1981 from the Eden family home, and retained much of the original furniture and family portraits. It also contains Cromlix Chapel, a consecrated Episcopalian Church in the diocese of Dunblane dating from 1874[5] which was opened by reverend Charles Wordsworth of Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane. The church's reredos were carved by Alexander MacDonald, a sculptor who lived in Rome.[1][unreliable source]
The house sits on a 2,000-acre (810 ha) estate and occupies approximately 34 acres (14 ha) of parkland, forestry and four fishing lochs,[6] as well as two mineral springs.
Between the 1980s and its closure on 16 February 2012, it was run as a four-star country house hotel, with 14 bedrooms including eight suites.[7][8]
In 2006 Cromlix House – including the game larder, ancillary building, gatepiers and garden boundary walls – was designated as a Category C listed building.[9] An obelisk sundial in the garden is Category A listed.[10]
In October 2010, it served as the wedding venue for tennis player Jamie Murray and Alejandra Murray (née Gutierrez).[8][11][12]
The hotel closed in 2011 and again in early 2013. In February 2013, it was confirmed that Andy Murray had bought the property for £1.8 million.[13] It opened as a 15-room five-star hotel in April 2014.[14] In April 2015, Cromlix was the venue for the wedding reception of tennis player Andy Murray and his wife Kim,[15] and the following year Murray's father and partner Sam Watson were married at the hotel.[16]
In January 2023, the Murrays moved to self-management of the hotel and closed the hotel for a total refurbishment.[citation needed] All of the hotel's bedrooms and bathrooms were renovated as well as the restaurant, the bar and all common areas of the hotel.[17]
A further bedroom (Dahlia) was added in 2025.[18]
In January 2026, the hotel closed again for further alterations.[19] They include the construction of a new, glass fronted restaurant on the main lawn, a new, intimate, fine-dining restaurant inside the main building, three new bedrooms including an accessible, ground-floor suite, a one-person treatement space in the woodland and an extensive, state of the art kitchen serving all of the restaurants at the hotel. The Glasshouse will become a dedicated afternoon tea and events space, and a new private event room (The Library) will open on the first floor.
Awards
[edit]Cromlix has won the following awards:
- AA Hotel of the Year, Scotland 2024–25[20]
- AA Notable Wine List 2024
- MICHELIN key, MICHELIN Guide 2024[21]
- Rural Hotel of the Year, Food & Travel Reader Awards 2024
- Scottish Excellence Awards – Chef of the Year and Independent Hotel of the Year 2024[22]
- Best Hotel Experience, Scottish Thistle Awards 2023[23]
- AA 5 Red Stars, AA Inspectors' Choice in Britain & Ireland 2023
- AA 3 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence, AA Inspectors' Choice in Britain & Ireland 2023
- Winner of the "Best for Walkies", Pets Pyjamas Travel Awards 2023[24]
- Conde Nast Traveller Readers' Choice – Top 30 Hotels in the United Kingdom 2021[25]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Eden, Ronald. The Story of Cromlix. Private.
- ↑ "Sotheby's catalogue:A set of twelve mahogany chairs early 20th century". Sotheby's. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
- ↑ "Cromlix, Dunblane FK15 Commercial Property for Sale - Primelocation". www.primelocation.com.
- ↑ "History of Cromlix". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
- ↑ "Cromlix Hotel Wedding Brochure" (PDF). Retrieved 25 March 2012.[dead link]
- ↑ "Scottish Cottages". Retrieved 25 March 2012.
- ↑ "Cromlix Hotel". Retrieved 25 March 2012.
- 1 2 Jody Harrison (20 February 2012). "Famous country house hotel closes". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
- ↑ "Cromlix House Including Game Larder, Ancillary Building, Gatepiers And Garden Boundary Walls. LB50619". portal.historicenvironment.scot. Historic Environment Scotland. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
- ↑ "Cromlix House, Sundial And Flanking Pair Of Gatepiers (Formerly Fireplace Jambs). LB3997". portal.historicenvironment.scot. Historic Environment Scotland. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
- ↑ "Wimbledon champ Jamie Murray ties the knot with fiancée Alejandra Gutierrez". The Daily Record. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
- ↑ "Jamie Murray marries girlfriend". BBC News. 28 October 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
- ↑ "Andy Murray buys £1.8 million Cromlix House Hotel". Sky News. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
- ↑ "Hotel bought by Wimbledon champion Andy Murray opens". BBC News. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- ↑ "Andy Murray marries girlfriend Kim Sears in Dunblane". BBC News. 6 November 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
- ↑ "Andy Murray concerned about father's wedding, not knighthood or Spoty title". The Guardian. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
- ↑ Barr, Selena (22 February 2024). "New walls, please! Andy Murray's hotel gets a funky makeover". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- ↑ https://homesandinteriorsscotland.com/2025/08/kim-murray-on-designing-the-elegant-dahlia-suite-at-cromlix-hotel/
- ↑ https://www.thecaterer.com/news/andy-and-kim-murrays-cromlix-begins-work-on-new-80-cover-restaurant
- ↑ https://aahospitalityawards.com/aahospitalityawards2025/en/page/aa-hotel-of-the-year-scotland-
- ↑ https://guide.michelin.com/gb/en/hotels-stays/Stirlingshire/cromlix-hotel-7681?arr=2026-03-02&dep=2026-03-03&nA=1&nC=0&nR=1
- ↑ https://www.thenational.scot/news/24206099.scotland-hotel-owned-andy-murray-wins-top-awards/
- ↑ "And the winners are… - News | VisitScotland.org". www.visitscotland.org. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- ↑ Elphick, Denise (21 December 2023). "PetsPyjamas Announces the Winners of the 2023 Travel Awards". PetsPyjamas. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- ↑ "Readers' Choice Awards 2021: All the winners". CN Traveller. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2024.