Glenapp Castle

Ballantrae, United Kingdom. Located on the Ayrshire coast near Ballantrae, overlooking the sea.

Glenapp CastleBallantrae, United Kingdom

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Practical information

17 bedrooms and suites, including a four-bedroom Castle Penthouse Suite.
Castle dining, The Azalea restaurant, afternoon tea and private dining; one Michelin Key.
Gardens attributed to Gertrude Jekyll, sea safaris, golf, whisky and gin tastings.
Located on the Ayrshire coast near Ballantrae, overlooking the sea.

7 dates, written by Grand Hotels of the World from the sources below.

1870
Industrialist James Hunter, later Deputy Lord Lieutenant, has David Bryce design a Scottish Baronial castle on the estate.
1917
The castle passes to James Lyle Mackay, later 1st Earl of Inchcape and chairman of P&O; his family keeps it until the early 1980s.
1928
His daughter Elsie Mackay, actress and aviator, disappears while attempting a transatlantic flight.
1994
Hoteliers the McMillan family buy the neglected castle; Fay and Graham Cowan spend six years restoring it.
2000
Glenapp Castle opens as a country-house hotel, joining Relais & Châteaux in 2001.
2015
Paul and Poppy Szkiler acquire the castle.
2023
The hotel features in BBC Two’s Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby.