Knock Castle Luxury Spa Hotel in Scotland's Perthshire

Aug 6, 2010
Mike Gerrard

Knock Castle: Luxury Scotland Hotel and Spa - Donna Dailey

This historic accommodation is an easy drive from Glasgow and Edinburgh and has beautiful mature woodland gardens, a peaceful location and two restaurants.

Knock Castle looks suitably grand, with its turrets and imposing presence, and it was built in 1885 for a retired Glasgow merchant. It was later acquired by one of the famous Scottish MacBrayne shipping family, and was their private home until the 1970s. Only in the last few years has it been turned into the luxury spa hotel that it is today, having had millions of pounds spent on both transforming it into a contemporary luxury hotel while retaining and restoring the historic features that greet guests as they walk through the door.

Rooms at This Luxury Spa Hotel

As well as the double executive bedrooms, Knock Castle has three huge suites and five deluxe castle rooms for guests. The rooms are airy and spacious, with antique furniture blending with modern conveniences like TVs with DVD libraries and free wireless internet. Some rooms also have superb views of either the woodland and gardens or the gorgeous Perthshire countryside.

Knock Castle's Acclaimed Restaurants

Although it is quite an intimate hotel, Knock Castle has two acclaimed restaurants, well supported by local people as well as hotel guests. There are also lighter snacks available in the bar. The Oak Restaurant is a more classical and formal dining room, with a collar and tie dress code. Here starters might include a venison carpaccio with red currant sauce with rocket and Parmesan salad, while mains offer meat, fish and vegetarian options. The Oak Restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, seven days a week.

The more casual Stag's Restaurant is Knock Castle's fairly new rooftop restaurant, where a window table also provides diners with a countryside view. It's also where guests enjoy breakfast, as well as being open for lunch and dinner daily. There are two fixed-price lunch menus, and a fixed-price dinner menu of £30 for 3 courses, as well as a la carte in the evenings.

The cooking is slightly less elaborate than in the Oak Restaurant, but is still superb quality food with such dishes as wild sea bass fillet, sirloin steak, and vegetarian options like a wild mushroom and blue cheese tart. The dessert menu is also a highlight, and guests can round off the meal with a wee dram in the adjacent bar where the friendly barmen can advise on their range of malt whiskies – and on which are the best local distilleries to tour, as there are several in the area, with Glenturret being in Crieff itself.

Spa and Leisure in This Luxury Hotel in Scotland

One unusual feature of Knock Castle is the Egg. This is one of only a handful in the UK and is a self-contained massage and aromatherapy pod. Guests can step in, fully-clothed, and relax on the gently vibrating table for a 15-minute therapy and aromatherapy session. Leisure facilities also include a spa bath, sauna and steam room, as well as a heated indoor pool which looks out onto those lovely woodland gardens.

Location of Knock Castle

Knock Castle is on the edge of the little town of Crieff, set back on a small hill away from the traffic, with the mature woodlands around it providing a peaceful setting here in the Strathearn Valley. Despite this idyllic location it is only an hour's drive from Glasgow, and slightly more from Edinburgh, with many of the rooms and the rooftop restaurant having beautiful views of the Perthshire countryside.