Name: Melville Castle
Address: Melville Castle, Eskbank, Eskbank, Eskbank, EH18 1AP, United Kingdom
Rating: 8

Elevator/lift

Smoke-free property

Heating

Garden

All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)

Reception desk

General

Non-smoking rooms

Room service

Bathtub

Rooms

Accessibility features

Wheelchair Accessible

Wheelchair access to restaurant

Accessibility

Breakfast

Restaurant

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

In-room internet

Billiards

Sun Deck

Recreation

Free parking

Free Parking on Premises

Parking

Event facilities

Fax machine

Conference Hall

Business

Personal protection equipment for staff

Extra decontamination measures

Personal protection equipment for guests

Contactless check-in and/or check-out

Additional measures against COVID-19

Health and Safety Measures

Location

At the hotel

Melville Golf Centre

Holyrood Park

Arthur's Seat

Our Dynamic Earth

Palace of Holyroodhouse

National Museum of Scotland

St. Giles' Cathedral

Calton Hill

Edinburgh Dungeon

Museum on the Mound

Camera Obscura and World of Illusions

Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre

Edinburgh Castle

National Gallery of Scotland

Scott Monument

Princes Street Gardens

Royal Scottish Academy Art Gallery

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Royal Botanic Garden

Royal Yacht Britannia

Edinburgh Zoo

Edinburgh Airport

Celtic Park

Melville Castle

Eskbank

Myself and my partner booked a 3 night stay here as we are getting married and looking for a venue for ourselves as well as 200 guests. After seeing the photos on the website we were in love with the place, it looked perfect with luxurious rooms and beautiful grounds. 

However the actual hotel is not true to the photos depicted on the website. The room we stayed in, although mostly clean and comfortable, was in no way as luxurious as we had been led to believe. Furniture was damaged and tatty, wonky lamp shades, broken window with lots of condensation, cracked bathroom tiles, dust in between small places on furniture, marks and scratches on the wallpaper and the card key stopped working every day after house keeping had been, meaning me or my disabled partner had to wander to reception constantly to get a new key. 

Staff for the most part were friendly and accommodating. There was one lady at breakfast who looked very miserable and disinterested and forgot to bring us the toast we had requested. Breakfast was adequate, tasty and hot but nothing special. 

Although we enjoyed our stay, it wasn't worth the £380 for 3 nights in January due to the tired look of the rooms, especially as it markets itself as 4 star. The prices in summer are over double that and I would begrudge paying it for what's on offer. We won't be holding our wedding here due to the points raised above as we feel disappointed that we were promised a 4 star luxurious stay in a castle and didn't receive that. Perhaps if the tired and rundown rooms were refurbished and given some tlc I would return but until then I wouldn't. 

This isn't a bad hotel but it certainly needs to be more honest with guests about what to expect and how the rooms really are, especially when charging a higher end price for tired and damaged décor. 

Average, not 4* so won't be hosting our wedding here.

I have attached photos, is this what you expect from a 4 star hotel? Damp everywhere, not great for my asthma. The main room was not as advertised, you complain and it's ignored. I have emailed with no reply, I can not believe how disappointed I am. Clearly I got the dump room that was not refurbished, but they still charged me a high price and reception were no help whatsoever. Trust me stay elsewhere!!

Disgustedly Poor - I want my money back!

My husband and I got married here in Jan 2023 and we were so overjoyed with our experience. We booked everything from the other side of the world and were amazed by how easy it was. Communication was excellent. Then, upon arrival, everyone was so kind and helpful. Our room was lovely, as were those of our families. We loved that every room had its own character. Come the wedding day, the Melville team were incredible. They were so accommodating and we could not fault them. Our photographers were late and we hadn't heard anything from them, so the Melville team organised amongst themselves to locate our photographers, find a local photographer ASAP, and in the meantime, all the staff had their phones out ready to capture our big day. Thankfully, none of that was needed in the end, but they made it truly magical. And, to top it all off, they sent us a Christmas card almost a year later wishing us all the best. AMAZING. If you're planning a wedding, event, or just a little getaway, I cannot recommend Melville highly enough. We loved Melville and it will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Incredible Small Wedding Destination

The location is lovely and our room was nice. The wifi (although free) was useless. We had requested a ground floor room when we booked but on arrival was told that we were on second floor (not grreat when you arre registered disabled). The receptionist just said that we were close to a lift so would be okay! The room was very clean. Dinner service was like something from Fawlty Towers - the dining room wasnt busy but we were put at a table that was crazy wobbly. Rather than move us (which would have been the obvious thing to do) the server said it was the old floor and then proceeded to lift the table and kind of dance with it into various less wobble positions; this was fine but then meant my husband chair was on the wobble. The food was nice enough but a bit over priced for the small portions. Breakfast the next day was another pantomime. On arriving the server huffed to us that "everyone arrived at the same time" - well they will do if you only give a limited serving time! There were no side plates. It took 35 minutes for 2 poached eggs to arrive. Tables were dirty. We coudl hear other diners also complaining. We decided to leave after the one night as tbh another night would just have annoyed me.  Such a shame as housekeeping and location is excellent. The hotel itself is lovely but food and service let this place down very badly.

Disappointing

I really wanted to love the castle, but i really think some of the staff let the place down.  Most of the staff are pretty young and just don't seem to care. Especially the receptionist on arrival. We got stuck for 8 hrs in a snow blizzard on the A9 and she just wasn't very helpful or empathetic. We were forced to have dinner as soon as we arrived (our booking was for 7pm, we couldn't change it) as there was no later slots available. Which was absurd as there was plenty of space in the restaurant. To add injury to insult, it took 20min for someone to take our drinks order and a hour to get our food. The Wild boar burger was an interesting meal (wouldn't recommend, but it was the only burger available), but the fish curry was amazing. 

I must give a shout out to the barman who was friendly and amazing (apologies, cant recall his name). Also a shout out to the receptionist the following morning. She was also extremely helpful and friendly.

But saying all of this, the castle and grounds are absolutely beautiful. In the morning we went for a walk around the grounds with a coffee in our hands, and it was truly magical. Sammy the grumpy horse was a great character. 
If the customer relations could be improved at Mellville, it could easily be a 4 or 5 star review.

Could've been better

We purchased 2 vouchers on the hotel website for “dinner,bed and breakfast + bottle of wine each night” at a significantly lower cost than the usual room price. If we had paid full price for the room, we would have been incredibly disappointed. 

The castle and surrounding grounds are truly beautiful and we received warm and friendly greetings on arrival at 12pm. As our assigned room had already been cleaned, we were lucky enough to be able to check in earlier than usual. We stayed in room 003 (junior suite) for 2 nights, which we felt that for the usual price, had a number of cosmetic issues:

Pros of room: 
- very spacious room
- Comfy large bed 

Cons of room:
- missing headboard
- Ripped curtains
- Missing curtain pelmet with a strip of Velcro where  pelmet should have been
- Paint peeling in bathroom behind radiator
- Paint splatter on staircase in room
- Broken artwork behind sofa 
- Dated bathroom in need of modernisation
- No fridge in room

Evening meals were good, but the service in the restaurant needs improving. The staff were all very friendly but appeared to lack direction and service felt chaotic and disorganised. We were initially given “the wrong menu” for the d,b&b offer and this error was only picked up after we had ordered starters. Stuff were very apologetic and advised that we wouldn’t need to change our choice of starters but that there would be surcharge for ribeye steak (£20pp.) Mistakes happen and we were very understanding of this.

On check-out at roughly 10am, as there was no one on reception, I had to hunt down a member of staff in the very busy breakfast room (I would advise you breakfast as early as possible to avoid the later rush). The general manager then appeared in a very flustered state to check us out. He handed over an invoice for £116, which was obviously a surprise to me (we were only expecting to pay the £40 for the steaks). I asked the manager to help me understand where these charges had come from and he was unable to do so. He just kept saying he would “look into it, investigate, and call me later” to discuss. I politely explained that I wanted to settle the matter before I left and I queried that perhaps the menu confusion had caused the unexpected charges? The manager then laughed out loud and then stated “this is not a surprise, they keep doing this..” Those words from the general manager speak volumes in my opinion. I left after paying the £40 as expected, but am still clueless as to why they tried to charge £116.

All in all, we had a pleasant stay for what we paid. The hotel itself has great potential, but for a 4 star hotel, we do feel that improvements need to be made. Unlikely to return in future.

Mixed experience

After reading the reviews we were looking forward to spending my birthday weekend here. The castle/hotel was lovely. Room very clean & authentic. We went for our complimentary drinks in the library bar, this was nice and the room was cosy.  There wasn't a bar tender and you had to ask the reception lady each time you wanted a drink. The bar was littered with empty unwashed glasses ? We went for our evening meal.....the young waiter started to tell us what the specials of the day were but he admitted he couldn't pronounce one of them - so still don't know what it was ! We ordered a nice bottle of wine....waited asked again...when the young waiter eventually brought it he slammed it on the table....how unprofessional. Our food was very nice but the service was very poor. My hubby did mention it to a waitress who came at the end of our meal. She was very apologetic and said she wouldn't charge for the wine which was a nice gesture. Breakfast time we were asked for our room number and we waited to be asked if we wanted tea/coffee/toast....no we were invisible......waiter kept walking past and we couldn't get his attention. We left..... A lovely venue but the service certainly let's it down.....a few table manners/training required without a doubt. We won't be returning.

A bit of a Birthday let down

Beautiful Castle In Stunning Grounds . 

Check in was very welcoming and smooth ( by the assistant manager who’s name escapes me) just the correct amount off information given for our visit without being overwhelmed. 
Room was as expected, true old castle style. Lovely and clean . Beautifully warm and cozy. Didn’t eat in the Castle as we were meeting friends close by. 
Had a night-cap in the incredibly well stocked bar which was exactly what we needed at the end of the day. 
Had a fabulous nights sleep and then enjoyed a hearty perfectly cooked breakfast. The young chap who looked after us was very attentive and had a great sense of humour which we appreciated. 
Check out was , like check in, extremely smooth preformed by Emma who again like the assistant manager was a pleasure to deal with . 
Would definitely recommend this stunningly beautiful Castle .

FELT LIKE A KING AND QUEEN FOR THE NIGHT

Had a lovley stay beautiful castle and stunning views, we were very lucky to be upgraded, very clean, staff friendly would love to visit again, maybe hire a car next time, we got the bus at the top of the drive number 3 bus only about 20 minutes away £1.80 each way they come very often Monday to Sunday. 

Excellent 

An exceptional stay at Melville Castle.Very friendly and helpful staff.. Check in and out simple and efficient.Well stocked bar open 24 hours. The food was first class, our evening meal was amazing as was breakfast with fresh produce and danish pastries .So much history in the castle.We had the allegedly haunted room 108 , the room was clean and the huge bed was very comfortable. I would highly recommend staying here 

Melville Castle

Main amenities of the castle

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