The manager of Andy Murray’s luxury hotel shares Dunblane destination’s exciting new plans
It’s going to be a busy couple of years for the hotel
Advantage Cromlix.
Not content with resting on its laurels, after winning the 2024 AA Award for Scottish Hotel of the Year, this luxury venue, owned by Andy Murray and Kim Sears Murray, has got some grand propositions for the coming years.
These include a new restaurant and kitchen extension, which will replace the hotel’s current dining space, The Glasshouse, and extend the amount of covers from 50 to 80. The work on this is expected to be complete in the spring of 2026. There will also be three new ground floor bedrooms and, in 2025, a Wellness Cottage, offering treatments from Edinburgh skincare brand MODM, and nine cabins around the loch.
We asked the hotel manager, Barry Makin, to tell us more.
Why does Cromlix need this new extension?
We’ve decided to prioritise the restaurant because we have such high demand for our current restaurant, The Glasshouse. It’s been really well supported by local people, and we wanted to make sure we always have the capacity to cater for them as well as hotel guests. We never want to be in a position where we are turning away local custom because it’s so important to maintaining a thriving hospitality business. It also means we can turn the current restaurant space into a dedicated venue for afternoon teas and special events.
Why did the hotel go for quite a contemporary look with the new extension?
We didn’t want to try to create something which looked Victorian but definitely wasn’t. We felt like the building could take a more modern extension, particularly if we incorporated elements like the garden wall into the design to tie it all together and if it was done sympathetically with planting and textures that fit into the surroundings. A lot of the building is glass so it will really tap into that theme we’ve followed all along about bringing the beautiful Scottish countryside into the hotel. Also, by having a more modern design we can make sure the restaurant utilises all of the most up to date sustainability systems and products and that’s important to us as we move forward.
What will the views be like?
Stunning. You will be able to look over the back lawn of the hotel which is a beautiful space in itself, but also down the valley and across much of the Cromlix estate in front of the hotel. The tables will be set up so that as many people as possible can appreciate the views.
