Author Archive

Flying high at Carlowrie

Falconry in our walled garden is just one of the unique experiences we offer guests.  Get up close and personal with Hawks, Owls, Falcons, Kites and Eagles. Under our instructors watchful eye guests can handle and feed these incredible birds and enjoy a leisurely walk through the Estate as they fly high above.

Our 32 acre estate and stunning gardens are perfect for outdoor enthusiasts, and don’t forget to make time afterwards for a mouthwatering afternoon tea in our delightful Piano Lounge or Orangery.

For more information on falconry or our selection of bespoke experiences please get in touch here

Carlowrie – your new flexible friend

After the rigours of the festive season we started the year at Carlowrie with our first yoga retreat, joined by a select few from around Scotland on the mats in the Orangery. A luxury weekend of spiritual development and higher consciousness, not to mention fine healthy food and drinks with guidance, massage and therapies provided by our expert partners at Sonoyoga.

It proved the perfect setting, a world away from the bustle of daily life, and an inspiring start to 2019. However wellbeing is not just for Christmas, so if you are interested in a wellness retreat, or even just a session or package to add in to your own event at Carlowrie, please get in touch.

Striving for egg-sellence.

We are delighted to introduce our latest residents at the castle – 6 beautiful hens. The girls arrived at the weekend, and are settling into their coop and paddock at the far end of the walled garden. We have already had a couple of batches of eggs to sample for our breakfasts – there really is nothing like a free range egg straight from the chicken!

Our ladies are part of our continuing efforts to be more self-sufficient, and grow our ‘farm to fork’ policy. Our philosophy has always been ‘don’t bite the land that feeds you’ and we seek to minimise our environmental impact in every aspect of the business. From our biomass boilers fed with local wood chips that heat the castle, to our tree planting programme through the Woodland Trust. We source everything locally as far as possible for our menus, our excellent maintenance team repair before renewing.

Our head chef Iain has been working with Andrew our Gardener on ways that the castle can honour its strong botanical history (see Isobel Wylie Hutchison) and further introduce home grown produce through for catering. We already use herbs and botanicals grown in our restored Victorian hothouses, and have a planting schedule for the upcoming seasons to grow more of our own fruit and veg.

Our chickens don’t have to worry however – it’s only the eggs we’re after!

LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION!

This year so far has been a massive success with weddings full of many fantastic suppliers, one in which stood out.  We had the please of working alongside White Balloon Films and helping create spectacular memories for our bride & groom.  Alina and Stewart Carroll, the husband and wife team behind the White Balloon Films, continue to push the boundaries of what can be expected from a wedding film.  With a creative background stretching far beyond an education in film and animation at The University Of The Arts, London, White Balloon Film uses all the tools at its disposal to create cinematic wedding films with production vales not normally found in the kind of work.  Mindful that the videographer’s presence must be non-intrusive and discrete on the wedding day, White Balloon Films use state of the art equipment like a legal licensed drone for dramatic aerial footage and an electronic steadicam for truly cinematic shots of the couple and guests.  Excitingly, technology for film makers continues to move forward at a rate of knots, creating more and more opportunities to create stunning visuals previously only available to their Hollywood counterparts.  Embracing these opportunities, the future is bright for your White Balloon Film!

RELAX – ENJOY – UNWIND

At Carlowrie we are passionate about everything our clients encounter inside and outside the Castle, it goes without saying we are in love with our luxurious bathrooms.

You will even find one of our suites with two stunning bathrooms, for him and her.

Success is the luxury of being able to give yourself the time what you want to do.

Stay at Carlowrie and enjoy a long hot soapy bath with your head tilted back and your feet up high and relax in the comfort that the Carlowrie team are on hand to make your stay with us truly unforgettable.

UP FOR AN AWARD

As you all know Carlowrie Castle opened to the public in May 2015 and since then we have been over whelmed by the support and feedback we have received.  It has been such a big year for us and not only that we were nominated for an award ‘Scotland’s Smallest Venue.’  This Drum Scottish Event Awards is an annual award scheme providing the Scottish event industry a fantastic platform to demonstrate their talent and skills.   Although we did not win the award we feel honoured to have been the runner up in 2nd place and we celebrated in true Carlowrie Style at the Grand Central Hotel with our magical team of caterers by our side, Wilde Thyme.

A WARM WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST TEAM MEMBER

It gives us great pleasure in welcoming Caroline to our Carlowrie Team as Business Development Manager.

Already Caroline has settled in very well.  Caroline has a strong passion for luxury and independently owned properties, with an industry experience of over 30 years’ its clear to say that we are more than happy to have Caroline as part of the Carlowrie Team.

A big hello to our latest team member

We are very happy to announce that Tracey Smith has joined our team, coming on board as Director of Sales. She brings with her a wealth of experience from the industry and a huge passion for delivering the best service for all our clients at Carlowrie.

She has previously worked all round Scotland in 5 star Castles and hotels and resorts, so we are delighted she has joined us here and we look forward to working together.

Fun all round with Maximillion

Kilts, cocktails and canapes was the order of the day with our recent corporate fun day. Maximillion organised a fantastic fun day for a corporate client which got everyone competing in ‘clans’ on segways (pictured), quads and Highland games. The activities then culminated in a giant tug of war.

After all their hard work, our guests were rewarded with a relaxed BBQ and drinks in the sunshine, while they played giant games on our events lawn.

If you would like to arrange a corporate day with us, please email Angie Alexander, our Business Development Director, for more details.

High fashion with the Glasgow Herald

Bold spots and stripes was the order of the day with Eva Arrighi, Fashion Editor at the Glasgow Herald’s latest shoot at Carlowrie.

The team had a stunning array of the latest dresses and accessories for the summer season, all beautifully, but boldly combined, as in this feature shot.

Ewa Kepys was the model from Model Team, photography by Julie Howden and hair and make up by Ainslie Currie.

If you would like to book the Castle for a shoot, please contact Angie Alexander, our Business Development Director.