Duns Castle can be booked on an exclusive-use basis for corporate functions, residential retreats, house parties and weddings, with dinners of up to 60 guests indoors, marquees for 500 people or more on the back lawn and 23 guests sleeping in the castle. The house stands on a 1,200-acre estate on the edge of Duns, a small market town in the Scottish Borders.
Seminars and company events
Every booking, however small, comes with exclusive use of the castle and its immediate grounds. That suits a board retreat or a leadership team that wants to meet, eat and sleep under one roof without other guests around. The castle offers breakout rooms for meetings, and the Dining Room is used for working sessions as well as for entertaining. The lawns can host activities run on the estate, such as clay pigeon shooting, falconry, archery, croquet and mini Highland games. A billiards room on the top floor, with a full-size table built in 1836, gives a group somewhere to gather in the evening.
Weddings and receptions
Ceremonies usually take place in the Drawing Room, a large Gothic room overlooking the lake, which seats 60 guests with an aisle and can take up to 80 chairs. Smaller ceremonies can be held in the Great Hall for up to 40 guests, and open-air ceremonies on the front lawn or by the lake. Churches in Duns, Swinton, Polwarth, Bonkyl and Gavinton are close by for a religious service. The Servants Hall downstairs is the space for a band, a DJ or a ceilidh. For a guest list larger than the house, the back lawn takes marquees for 500 people or more. Couples may bring their own suppliers, and the team can arrange a piper for the reception.
Rooms and capacities
The 14th Century Dining Room seats up to 60 for dinner. The Drawing Room takes 60 to 80 for a ceremony and the Great Hall up to 40. The Upper Hall, the main bedroom corridor, keeps its Georgian Gothic plasterwork. Outdoor options include the front lawn, the lakeside and the back lawn for marquees.
Accommodation
The castle sleeps 23 guests across 12 named bedrooms, from four-poster rooms in the 14th-century tower to twin rooms and two tower rooms reached by a spiral staircase. Two rooms on a mezzanine level suit guests who find stairs difficult. All bedrooms have tea and coffee facilities. Seven self-catering cottages on the estate sleep a further 33 people.
Catering
Meals are cooked in-house from local produce and served with butler service, alongside a wine list. Outside caterers are accepted by arrangement, and the venue can recommend and book them. The bar is fully licensed and can run on a cash, account or corkage basis.
History and setting
The Hay family has owned the estate since 1696. The castle grew around a 14th-century tower and was remodeled in the Gothic Revival style in the early 19th century. Duns Law, the hill within the grounds, was the site of the Covenanters' stand against King Charles I in 1639, when General Leslie quartered in the castle. The family's 18th-century landscaping created the Heron Pool and the Mill Dam, now a nature reserve set in a channel left by the last ice age.
Getting there
The castle sits on the outskirts of Duns. The nearest main-line station is Berwick-upon-Tweed on the East Coast line, and Edinburgh Airport is the closest international airport.
