Meetings, conferences, retreats, workshops, study groups, parties and a small number of weddings take place at Hospitalfield House, an arts center set in a 19th-century house with Arts and Crafts interiors, walled gardens and courtyards. Room capacities are not published, so the team confirms numbers with each enquiry. The house is in Arbroath, on the Angus coast of Scotland, within reach of Dundee and Aberdeen by road and rail.
Seminars and company events
Hospitalfield offers day and residential hire for meetings, conferences, retreats and workshops. The Study Room, a bright room in the center of the first floor with a wood-burning stove, suits business meetings, presentations, workshops and staff or client development sessions. The Dining Room, which overlooks the gardens, works for formal meetings and celebration dinners, and the adjoining Drawing Room is best used with it. The Music Room on the ground floor is the large flexible function room, with a full bar, space for dancing and live music, used for networking events as well as workshops.
Groups can also come for a day or stay on site for conferences, study days, research retreats, professional network meetings, rehearsals, reading weeks and creative workshops. The Artists' Studios, a group of buildings at the heart of the residency program, can be used by groups too. The Garden Café can be booked for exclusive use, together with the Walled Garden and the Fernery, for an event, a meeting or a celebration.
Weddings and receptions
Hospitalfield takes a very small number of weddings each year, to protect the house and its collections, and designs each one around the couple. The setting combines the 19th-century rooms with the grounds, the walled gardens and sheltered courtyards. Private celebrations, parties, ceilidhs and gigs are welcome as well, and the team suggests creative uses of the rooms.
Rooms and capacities
The Picture Gallery, Cedar Gallery and Ante Room work as one sequence: the gallery is entered through the Ante Room and has a carved interior, a fireplace, a hammer-beam ceiling and works from the collection. The Drawing Room has ceiling carvings of the plants and animals of Angus and historic furniture.
Accommodation
Residential stays are offered for research retreats, development weekends, academic group meetings and study groups. The number of bedrooms is not published, so ask when you enquire.
Catering
Hospitalfield caters for meals and refreshments in-house, and the Music Room has a full bar. For weddings, food and drink are part of the tailored service.
History and setting
Patrick Allan Fraser and his wife Elizabeth shaped Hospitalfield in the mid-19th century, and the core of its collection is the paintings and sculptures they commissioned. Under their bequest the house has been a place of learning for artists since 1902, first as a residential academy and from 1938 as a postgraduate painting school. Today it is a contemporary arts organization with residencies, a public program and a café. Tours of the house, garden and Memorial Chapel run from April to October; otherwise the house is closed to the public. The garden is the subject of the 2026 International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens.
Getting there
Arbroath station is about 25 minutes on foot or 5 minutes by taxi. By road, the house is on Westway, just off the A92 from Dundee. Dundee airport has a direct flight from London City. Disabled parking is by the Garden Gate entrance to the Walled Garden.
