Dundas Castle

We are very pleased to be supporting this event in association with Queensferry Care in the Community...

Hopefully by now you will have seen our Dundas take on the 12 Days of Christmas. We wanted to give you a peek at how the video came together. The day started bright and early at 7.15am with Rachel, our marketing assistant, and Luke and Simon...

Dundas Loch for swwimmingHere at Dundas Castle we have always been proud supporters of health and wellbeing in society. One such example of our support was announced this morning.  In light of the major sporting events taking place in Scotland this summer, Dundas was asked to play host to future sporting disciplines right here on the estate.  These are to include judo, synchronised swimming and dressage.
Courtyard Cottage area pre-refurbishment‘Dundas Castle’ has seen some spectacular events since the Auld Keep was built in 1416. When a new member of the team joins us, Sir Jack takes them on a history tour of the Auld Keep and Castle.  It is from this tour that we each learn about some of the major events in the Castle’s past and also some stories from Sir Jack’s family who have owned the Estate since 1899. Before Sir Jack took over the Estate upon the death of his mother in 1997, the Castle was divided and let out as apartments.  We had the absolute pleasure of being contacted by Nigel Hilton, who stayed here in what is now the Courtyard Cottage bedroom area of the Castle as a young man from 1976-1979.
Here at the Castle we enjoy supporting different charities throughout the year.  In the past we’ve made a little Princess’ dream come true with Make-A-Wish and even ‘launched’ a new boat for the RNLI.  The most recent charity we supported is one that’s close to our hearts and is the topic of this ‘C’ blog…  Comic Relief.
Nestled on the side of its own private loch, our Boathouse has been providing utter tranquillity and peace for honeymooners, anniversary couples, or those who simply want to get away from it all, since it opened it’s doors to the public over a decade ago. The charms of the Boathouse have gained it a large and ever growing following, but few know of its interesting history...
Starting today, we take you behind the scenes and under the skin of Dundas, with our new 'A to Z' series, highlighting the remarkable, the ancient, the unexpected and the overlooked aspects of this historic venue. We begin the series with 'A' -for 'Apollo'. Apollo was the mythical Greek god of music, poetry and the sun, amongst many other things. One of his more obscure areas of responsibility was over herds and flocks, which is perhaps why this name was chosen for our Apollo, the senior male in our twenty strong flock of Llamas! To find out more about these curious creatures, and how they came to make the elegant surroundings of Dundas Castle their home, read on..
Regular followers of this blog will know that here at Dundas we are always up for a challenge! So when Disney contacted us and said they wanted to promote soon to be released  ‘Brave’ by filming four TV specials here, featuring four different casts of international teen stars, in three different languages, and all in three days, we naturally jumped at the chance! To find out what happened, read on..

Here at Dundas we take great pride in being involved in the final menu options that our fantastic chefs propose each year.  We take each and every dish, accompaniment and condiment very seriously – even the jam is tasted by the team so that we are safe in the knowledge that our guests enjoy only the very best when they dine here at the Castle.

We’ve had a day of culinary delights here at Dundas! From delivering freshly made pancakes and lemon curd to clients, to making delicious raspberry jam, to enjoying some homemade pancakes and chocolate cake we’ve certainly been busy...

Today is Shrove Tuesday and Frances delighted some of her sales appointments with a gift of fresh pancakes and homemade lemon curd.  They went down so well that we thought we would share our Executive Head Chef Trevor's recipe so that you can enjoy your own!

Rudolph has contracted the cervine strain of the terrifying man flu and may be unable to fulfil his duties this Christmas.  Luckily, Dundas Castle has stepped in to ensure that children across the world will still get their well earned presents this year.

In August 2011 we were delighted to welcome HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to the Castle for a very special occasion.  Volunteers from the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) met at the Castle to witness the naming ceremony of Scotland’s newest RNLI boat.  The Atlantic 85 boat was named ‘Jimmie Cairncross’ after the Perth jeweller who was a Life Governer of the RNLI whose trust donated the funds that were required to buy the boat.

There has been a lot of activity on the estate this summer – literally. The combination of the wonderful weather, our new outdoor BBQ and buffet menus and the fantastic team building companies that we work with have led to many successful corporate and private activity days.

We were delighted when Make-A-Wish UK approached us to help make the wish of 4 year old Victoria Stewart come true. She has the life threatening Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia and was fortunate enough to be part of the Make-a-Wish Foundation charity. Her wish was to be a Princess for the day and to dance with a Prince.

At Dundas we like to ‘tick boxes’.   If you were to ask the Dundas team members which boxes the installation of our new minstrels' gallery would ‘tick’ you’d get a few different answers…

The Croquet Match by Sir John Lavery, 1893... I’m something of an art fan and in particular have always been enthralled by 19th century portraits and landscapes. The Castle has an impressive collection and at every turn there is another beautiful picture to enjoy. My favourites include ‘The Orchard’ hung in the Summer Bedroom, the Portrait of Sir Jack’s Sister, ‘Norina’ which you can see in the Drawing Room and of course ‘The Croquet Match’ painted by Sir John Lavery, which is on display in the Dining Room.

The Ivories catch Jill's eye...  As a young girl I enjoyed tinkling on our family piano and when I was aged 8, my parents encouraged me to have piano lessons.  From there it became a dream of mine to play on a grand piano.  Aside from the stunning surroundings and wonderful interiors, one of the first things to catch my eye when I joined Dundas Castle, was the beautiful grand piano in the Drawing Room.  I was simply itching to play it!

WW2 leaves its mark on Dundas...   There is one part of the castle that has always enthralled me and that is the roof of the Auld Keep.  The Auld Keep was built in 1416 by James Dundas as granted by Scotland’s effective ruler at the time, the Duke of Albany.  Because the Auld Keep is very much the way that it was when it was built, you really feel as though you are part of the history and can easily envisage what it must have been like to live in the medieval tower when it was built.

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