Gala dinners, award ceremonies, drinks receptions, private parties and weddings take place at Gosford House on an exclusive-use basis, with up to 120 guests seated in the Saloon, 300 at a reception across the main rooms and up to 600 in a glass marquee on the lawns. The house stands near Longniddry, in East Lothian, close to Edinburgh, and is the seat of the Earls of Wemyss and March.
Seminars and company events
Gosford's corporate program centers on hospitality rather than daily training: gala dinners from black tie to informal, award ceremonies, drinks receptions with canapés or finger food, and summer barbecues for several hundred people. Because the house is booked by one client at a time, guests can move between the Marble Hall, the galleries, the billiard room and the dining rooms during the evening, and dancing can follow dinner. The estate is also used for filming and photo shoots.
Weddings and receptions
Gosford hosts a limited number of wedding receptions each year, always with exclusive use of the house. Ceremonies can take place in the two-tier Marble Hall with its balconies, or outdoors. Dinner is served in the Dining Room for up to 100 guests, with the adjoining Octagon Room seating another 48, and the Saloon is used for dancing. When numbers go beyond 150, a marquee is built on the rear lawn. Photography on the estate is reserved for couples who marry at Gosford.
Rooms and capacities
The Marble Hall holds 200 standing for a drinks reception. The Dining Room seats 100 at round tables, 60 at two banquet tables or 30 at one long table. The Octagon Room seats 48 at round tables or 20 banquet style. The Saloon seats 120 at round tables or up to 102 banquet style, depending on the setup. Across the house, a reception can welcome up to 300 guests.
Outside, lawns at the front and back open from the sea-facing West balcony and the East balcony. They are hired only together with the house. Glass marquees take up to 600 guests for award ceremonies and dinners, traditional marquees take several hundred for dinner and dancing, and a marquee is needed for any dinner of more than 100 guests in a single space.
Accommodation
Overnight guests can stay at the 25-bedroom four-star lodge of Craigielaw Golf Club, one of the golf courses on the estate.
History and setting
Gosford was one of Robert Adam's last great commissions. The shell was finished in 1800 and the interior in 1808, and the seventh Earl of Wemyss lived in it for only 12 days before his death. The tenth Earl asked the architect William Young to recreate the original wings, completed in 1891. The British army occupied the house during World War II, and it was damaged. Its doors reopened to guests in 2010. The house sits on about 5,000 acres of coast and parkland, and the West lawn faces the sea.
Getting there
Gosford House is on the East Lothian coast east of Edinburgh, with the postal address Longniddry, EH32 0PX. Longniddry station, on the line from Edinburgh, is the nearest railway station, and Edinburgh Airport is the nearest airport.
