Seminars and company events
Auchen Castle at Beattock, near Moffat in Dumfriesshire, hosts conferences for up to 100 delegates and weddings with dining for 110 and dancing for 150, and has 26 en-suite bedrooms for groups that stay overnight. The castle sits on a country estate of 34 acres of private grounds in the hills of south-west Scotland, near the border with England and about an hour from Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The conference offer uses two main meeting rooms plus additional breakout rooms, with free Wi-Fi and parking for 30 cars. The day delegate package includes three tea and coffee breaks with a snack from the chef, a buffet lunch, water with cordial, stationery and sweets. The 24-hour package adds an overnight stay in single occupancy on a bed and breakfast basis and a three-course dinner. On request, the team adds archery, highland games or whisky tastings for team building, and the castle also runs murder mystery evenings and Christmas events that work for a company party.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings are the castle's main business. Ceremonies take place in the Ceremony Room, with its large fireplace and views over the gardens, or outdoors beside the Italianate fountain. The grand ballroom serves the wedding feast for up to 110 and the evening party for up to 150, and the Castle Bar stocks award-winning gins and whiskies. Exclusive-use weddings are offered, as are elopement weddings in the castle turrets. Gretna Green is about 30 minutes to the south.
Rooms and capacities
Grand ballroom: wedding dining for 110 and evening dancing for 150. Ceremony Room: ceremonies by the fireplace with views over the gardens. Meeting rooms: two main rooms plus breakout rooms for conferences of up to 100 delegates. Castle Bar: drinks and informal gatherings. Gardens: outdoor ceremonies beside the Italianate fountain.
Accommodation
The castle has 26 en-suite bedrooms that sleep 52 guests, including four honeymoon suites, along with dog-friendly and family rooms. A residential seminar of up to around 50 people can therefore stay on site, and the 24-hour delegate package is built around that.
Catering
Catering is in-house: a buffet lunch and three-course dinner for delegates, a wedding feast served in the ballroom, and the Castle Bar for drinks.
History and setting
Auchen Castle is a 19th-century country house built in castle style and listed in category B. It was built around 1849 to designs by the architect William Burn. The house is set in 34 acres of Italianate gardens in the Moffat hills, an area the castle describes as Rabbie Burns country, and its reception rooms, from the ballroom to the Ceremony Room, keep their period character.
Getting there
The castle is close to the A74(M) motorway at Beattock, on the main road between Glasgow and Carlisle. The nearest railway station is Lockerbie, on the West Coast Main Line, about 15 miles away. Glasgow and Edinburgh airports are both about an hour by road. The address is Beattock, near Moffat, DG10 9SH.
