• A magnificent country house hotel in the heart of Fife
• Stylish and enjoyable public rooms and comfortable guest rooms
• Superb dining in the 2 AA Rosette Orangery
• Outstanding levels of service and customer care
• A wedding venue par excellence

Intro

Balbirnie House Hotel is a magnificent country house hotel standing in 400 acres of parkland just to the north east of Glenrothes in Fife. The stylish public rooms perfectly suit a grand Georgian mansion, yet also have a surprisingly homely feel. The 30 individually designed guest rooms are comfortable and well appointed, and many offer views over the superb gardens. It comes as no surprise to find that the hotel itself has been awarded 4 AA Red Stars since 1995: while the excellent dining on offer in the Orangery has been awarded 2 AA Rosettes. Balbirnie's location, character and accommodation make it a very popular venue for weddings.

Character and setting/location

Balbirnie House was built in 1777 by the architect John Nisbet for the Balfour family, who had made their fortune through agricultural and mining interests in Fife. Between 1815 and 1819 it was substantially enlarged by Richard Crichton. The house became a hotel in 1989 and is now a Grade A listed building. It is therefore no surprise to find that the modern wing which accommodates, amongst other things, the Orangery and the Ballroom has been built with great sensitivity and complements the older parts of the house perfectly.

The surrounding 400 acre Balbirnie Park, once the private estate of the Balfour family, now helps separate Glenrothes from Markinch and is home to a 18 hole golf course as well as a craft centre and other attractions.

Public rooms/spaces

The impressive main entrance to the hotel brings you into the reception area, from which a set of stairs lead up to guest accommodation on the upper floors. You can think of the reception as forming the corner of a letter “L”. From here an impressive rage of public rooms extend back through the ground floor of the house, while another range including the modern extension extends off to the right.

Immediately beyond the reception is the long gallery, a beautiful room lit by high level arched windows which is a popular venue for wedding ceremonies. Meanwhile to the left of the reception is the first of a series of three public rooms which run along the south west front of the house, overlooking the garden. These can interconnect as needed and comprise a large function or private dining room; the superb library bar, complete with a real fire on cold days; and the Drawing Room. The bar also connects with the Long Gallery. Beyond the Drawing Room is what was once the main entrance to the hotel. Here you find a second grand staircase to the upper floors and the Garden Room, a smaller function or private dining room.

If you start again from the reception and this time head north east you pass through a large attractive lounge that once served as the hotel's dining room before moving through to the new wing which extends for some distance to the north east of the original house. At main floor level a corridor takes you past the rear of the Orangery, the beautiful main dining room. On the floor below is the hotel's second restaurant, the Brasserie, in the old kitchens of Balbirnie House, with a business centre and conference suite in the newer wing beyond. At the far end of the new wing is the large and extremely impressive Ballroom, capable of accommodating up to 250 in theatre style or over 200 for a banquet. To one side of the Ballroom is the Ballroom Foyer.

Guest bedrooms

There are 30 en-suite guest bedrooms at the Balbirnie House Hotel. Each has its own unique style and character, though all feel just right in their country house setting. The rooms can be found on the first and second floors of the main part of the house, and on the ground floor towards the rear of the hotel. Some of the ground floor rooms are adapted for disabled users and contribute to Balbirnie's impressive level of accessibility.

The hotel has a range of different grades of room. These vary in size, aspect, view and design, but all come with the same range of amenities and the same level of equipment. At the top of the range, Balbirnie offers two suites. There are then 9 deluxe rooms, most of which can be set up as twins or king size doubles. Two of the deluxe rooms come with four poster beds. There are additionally eight twin rooms; nine double rooms; and two singles.

Guest services

All guest rooms have an en-suite bathroom, some designed on quite a grand scale. Each room is equipped with bottled water; tea, coffee and hot chocolate making facilities; a phone; a fan; a trouser press; bathrobes; a hairdryer; and a hot water bottle. Additionally the large flat screen TVs receive a range of channels, and can also deliver paid for internet access and films. Some rooms on the first floor of the main house have fireplaces, which add greatly to the character. And many of the rooms, especially the deluxe rooms and suites, offer great views over the gardens.

More widely, the hotel provides the full range of services you would expect from such a accomplished operation, including a babysitting service; fax and photocopying; 24 hour room service; drying room; laundry service; shoe shining service; a library; and a helicopter landing pad. Oh, and possibly one or more ghosts.

Disabled access is good. There is dedicated parking, while a ramp gives visitors in wheelchairs access to the main entrance. The ground floor of the hotel, on which you find most of the pubic rooms, is all on one level, and there are disabled facilities. There is lift access to the ballroom and the lower floor of the modern wing of the hotel.

Restaurant and dining experience

Guests and others wishing to dine at Balbirnie House have a choice available to them. The Balbirnie Bistro is open for lunch and dinner seven days per week, and additionally for high teas at weekends. The Bistro has considerable charm and character, and is located in the old kitchens. The hotel describes it as “casual dining and fantastic value”, and a glance through the menu suggests a wide range of mouth watering options at very reasonable prices.

The hotel's main dining room is the Orangery, in the modern wing of the hotel. This is a beautiful room lit both through the arched windows that line two walls and through the ridged glass roof section. The Orangery is open from Wednesday to Sunday and serves lunches and dinners. Lunch can be chosen a la carte, or from a fixed price two or three course menu. A separate menu covers Sunday lunch.

Dinner in the Orangery is a superb experience and it is easy to see why the restaurant has been awarded its 2 AA Rosettes. You start in the drawing room or library bar with pre-dinner drinks and canapés while you choose from the menu. When we visited this was a fixed price three course menu plus coffee, at a price that was extremely reasonable for such high quality dining.

The food itself is a revelation. The hotel seems to have made a fine art out of doing apparently simple things very, very well. A starter of sweetcorn soup, for example, might sound ordinary: but try it at Balbirnie and it suddenly becomes extraordinary. Likewise a main course of roast chicken breast with mustard sauce, sautéed spinach and potato rosti. And perhaps most striking of all was a peppered Scotch fillet steak with duck fat chips and wild mushrooms. You have never had steak and chips until you have had Balbirnie's take on steak and chips. And the desserts were equally enticing.

For those wanting something rather different, Balbirnie also has the Orangery chef's table, a room with a one-way glass wall next to the kitchen in which 4 to 6 diners can enjoy a magnificent tasting menu while watching the kitchen at work.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served in the Orangery between 7am to 10am daily, or by arrangement. The main options for both the starter course and the hot main course are self served from buffets, though more bespoke possibilities such as eggs Benedict or cinnamon toast with caramelised apple and maple syrup are prepared to order.

A cold buffet for the starter course is the norm, and the cold buffet on offer at Balbirnie is outstanding, in terms of range, quality and presentation. It is less easy to successfully serve the hot course of a breakfast well from a buffet: yet Balbirnie shows just how it should be done. Everything is piping hot, fresh, and superbly tasty: and even the large pot of porridge produced something truly delicious. Add into this mix eggs sourced from Kingsbarns in Fife, bacon from Ayrshire, toast made from home made bread, and preserves that are also home made, and what you have is a breakfast to remember.

Meetings and events facilities

Balbirnie caters extremely well for functions, meetings and events of all types. There is a wide range of different sizes and styles of accommodation on offer and if you include the Bistro and Orangery there are ten rooms in all, some of which can be linked together to allow considerable flexibility. The ballroom, for example, can seat up to 250, while the neighbouring Ballroom Foyer can accommodate up to 50. The new Business Centre, comprising a Conference Room and a neighbouring Boardroom can also work together, and seat 40 and 24 respectively. At the other end of the scale, the beautiful Garden Room can accommodate between 14 and 20 depending on layout.

The hotel is also an extremely popular venue for weddings, which is perhaps no surprise given the range and scale of the accommodation on offer and the romantic setting and character.

Leisure

The hotel can help arrange a wide range of leisure pursuits. These range from croquet on the lawn to golf on the neighbouring Balbirnie Park golf course, complete with golf tuition if you require. Slightly further afield, leisure activities include clay pigeon shooting, archery, air rifle shooting, falconry and quad and off road driving. Even white water rafting in Perthshire is an option. For those wanting something a little more relaxing, the hotel has an aromatherapy room, or you can just put your feet up in the library with a good book.

Service highs/lows

From the moment you walk through the grand front entrance, you realise that Balbirnie House Hotel is somewhere rather special. Service is excellent, and provided by a team who seem to take great pride in doing a good job and ensuring each guest has the best possible stay. This shows through in things like the way you are greeted on arrival; the way dinner is served; and in the superb quality of housekeeping throughout the hotel.

Local points of interest

The parkland surroundings disguise the fact that Balbirnie is only a mile or so from the centre of Glenrothes; only about 20 miles from the Forth Road Bridge and a further 10 from Edinburgh; and only about 25 miles from Dundee via the Tay Road Bridge. Both road bridges are now toll free.

Scotland's cities have a great deal to offer the visitor, but in many ways the area's main attractions are all too easy to overlook. In an arc only twenty miles to the east is the coast of East Fife, including St Andrews in the north and a string of fishing villages in the “East Neuk of Fife” that many regard as being amongst the most beautiful villages in Scotland. Find out more from the Undiscovered Scotland guide to the St Andrews Area.

Target/ideal markets

Balbirnie's central location in Fife and its excellent road and rail links combine with its character, setting and facilities to mean that it appeals strongly to a number of different markets. On one level this is a business hotel, serving Fife's many visitors both in terms of its accommodation and its meeting and conference facilities. At another level this is a leisure hotel providing a get-away-from-it-all setting in a very convenient location. And for reasons already discussed, it is also a wedding venue par excellence.

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