A Visit To The Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club Near Edinburgh
Published On Sunday 2 Feb 2025 by Sticky Beak
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Even before we’d crossed over the threshold at Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club, it felt like the familiar comfort of home; and the reason? Dan and Keith, two of the staff on site that had been answering our plethora of pre-arrival queries; from booking in fitness classes, making table reservations in the hotel’s restaurants and recommending eateries further afield, they had been absolute superstar. Turning off the main road, you head up a beautiful sweeping driveway and cross over the bridge, which then leads up to the [more than] ample car park, where we found a spot to park the jalopy and headed into reception. Looking like the proverbial new kids in class, we were both gawping at the impressive original building that houses the main reception – honestly, Dalmahoy Hotel couldn’t have more kerb appeal if it tried!
The reception area is huge, and I noted the numerous sofas in nooks and crannies that would provide perfect spots for me to type (or read a book) in during the week whilst The Man was out doing his day job in Glasgow, Stirling and Edinburgh. Check-in was smoother than smooth and the concierge on duty, John, was incredibly helpful; not only did he source a trolley for us to load baggage and work kit on to, he offered to bring it up to our room and helped unload. How lovely was that? Mind you, it is a bit of a rabbit warren, the first few times you work out the quirky lift system and navigate the corridors, so we were glad of the escort!
So eager were we to get settled in after a long journey, we set-to unpacking and freshening up before realising that we hadn’t actually taken any photos of our ‘home for the week’! Rookie error, or what – just call us amateurs!! Thankfully, Keith came to the rescue and let us in to an unoccupied room to take those all-important piccies. After downing a cuppa from the well stocked hostess tray, we made the decision to have a session in the Spa; well it would be rude not to make full use of the facilities, no?!
With it not being a destination Spa, per se, we didn’t don the fluffy robes and slippers that had been provided in our room. Instead we took our swimwear with us and changed in the well-appointed changing rooms in the Spa and Gym complex. At the Spa reception, we were handed towels to use and given directions for our respective changing areas. Meeting poolside, His Nibs and I smiled happily; the pool was large and had a roped off area for lane swimming, as well as a semi-circle ‘chill out’ area on each side of the pool (which was nice and warm, FYI). Both the Sauna and Steam Room were a good size and there was a water station located close by, with paper cups to fill with chilled water as and when needed. Time flies when you’re chillaxing, and before we knew it a couple of hours had flown by! I took full advantage of the nifty spinner that dries your swimmies in double-jig time and popped my almost fully dry cossie in a bag to come back to the room.
We’d booked to go out for dinner and no-one wants to have the faint whiff of Chlorine lingering on their body, so we jumped into the shower back in our room; there are showers in the changing rooms too, though. Whenever we go away, there’s always something I forget to pack (for which I am going to blame my hormones!), and on this occasion it was shampoo. Doh! Thankfully, Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club uses toiletries from The Scottish Fine Soap Company, and I had the Sea Kelp range of Hair and Body Wash, Conditioner, Body Moisturiser, and Hand Wash all at close-hand to keep me squeaky clean and fragrant for the duration of our stay.
Dinner at The Bridge Inn, Ratho was delicious, and there’s a separate review for you to get all the deets from here, if you’re so inclined. Returning back to the hotel after our dinner, we skipped back into reception to see if we could grab some more teas, coffees and milk: we drink a ridiculous amount, and two each of tea and coffee had soon seen the supplies off! The evenings’ Concierge was utterly bonkers: more energy than Tigger, a disarming smile, unstintingly helpful attitude and the gift of the gab; this chap had it all!! I don’t mind admitting that I was a little bit in love after meeting him! Whilst he was getting the extra beverage supplies out for us, we also learned that we didn’t have to book a slot for breakfast; served from 7am-11am every day, you can just rock up to the restaurant whenever you manage to roll your body out of your wonderfully comfy bed. Unusually, both of us slept like babies, which is testament to the level of comfort here at Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club.
The next morning, we mosied down to the restaurant and were greeted warmly by the maitre d’ and invited to sit at a table of our choosing. We picked a spot on the higher level...it was closer to the counters that were laden with every hot and cold item your heart could desire! Porridge, Omelettes and Poached Eggs could be ordered from the kitchen if required; Scrambled Eggs came as standard on the hot breakfast counter. On serving duty was a pair of incredibly sweet, polite young men who soon got us sorted with tea and coffee, informing us where all the various breakfast elements could be found.
I helped myself to some Natural Yoghurt and then piled fresh Melon on top, sprinkling Pumpkin Seeds, Granola, and dried Fruits on top of that. Pretty? Yes, and incredibly tasty, too! His Nibs got some Crunchy Nut Cornflakes to go with his Natural Yoghurt, and we soon sat happily, munching away. I ordered some Porridge from the kitchen, and The Man requested two Poached Eggs to go with the Haggis, Sausage, Bacon, Beans and Potato Scone that he planned to go and get. All the breakfast items were hot and tasty, and regularly replenished by Chef. You really can’t beat a good brekkie – it just sets you up for the day, and I was going to need all my energy for the Body Pump and Core Conditioning classes in the following couple of hours!
Like a good wifey, I helped His Nibs pack his days’ kit up and kissed him bye-bye. Soon after, it was my turn to leave the comfort of our room and head off to the Spa and Gym building. The previous day, the young lady on Spa reception had told me where the gym and class studios were located, so I went upstairs and got the kit out that I knew I needed for Body Pump. One by one, other ladies came in and said hello to me [which is always nice if you’re a newbie] and then the instructor came over to introduce herself and ascertain my level of skill in this class and what injuries I’d got, if any, that she needed to be aware of. I’ve been a gym member at my local centre for a few years now, and had classes with many instructors, and I have to say that this lady was up there with the best of ‘em: she’d got humour, motivation and kept prompting us on technique. For a hotel set-up, I was more than happy with the equipment; the steps may not be LM ones (the weights and bar were), but they did the job perfectly. I worked up a sweat and had fun, which is what fitness should be all about, so another tick of satisfaction for the Dalmahoy team.
Tomorrow I’m heading to the gym/fitness suite itself, so hopefully that’ll be equally as good as the other facilities we’ve experienced so far - I’ll keep you posted, don’t worry .......
Well here I am, post-workout, and I have to say that the gym was far more ‘extra’ that it looked from the corridor. In the cardio section were banks of ellipticals, bikes, rowers and treadmills. The treadmill was fabulous! I’m not the world’s biggest fan of cardio equipment, but I absolutely loved the display that was taking me on a woodland walk; I ended up doing a far longer warm-up than I normally would, thanks to the pleasing distraction. The free-weight section was neat and ordered; the weights were all stacked in weight order on their rack and a trio of adjustable benches were available to perform your exercises on.
Life Fitness was the brand of the weight machines, and these were also in fantastic working order. I particularly loved the integral timers on each station, they let me accurately monitor my rest period between exercise sets. They also counted the reps I’d done; I don’t know about you, but I’m terrible at keeping count - it takes all my effort to just survive a workout! There was a lovely, friendly atmosphere in the fitness suite; if I wasn’t verbally greeted, I got a nod of the head or a smile of acknowledgement from the other users.
I came back to the room and had a [well deserved, in my opinion!] bath, and this afternoon I plan on wandering down to the lounge to read a book. It would seem that I wasn’t the only person to have thought that the lounges would be perfect for working/reading/listening to music or a podcast in, and several of the seats and sofas were taken. You can order hot drinks and light bites to savour whilst you’re in the lounges, but I wasn’t bothered on this occasion.
The Man Bird returned from a successful days’ work, and we headed back to our room to freshen up for dinner, this time at Bistro 19 in Livingston (a stones’ throw away from our hotel). This was another pleasant experience, and you can read about it here.
Our next couple of days passed in the same routine: he’d go off to work whilst I typed out my reviews or went to the gym. I even did a Pilates class! Again, everyone took the time to integrate me into their number and the time flew by – thank goodness, my aching muscles thought!!
On those evenings we dined in both The Brasserie and The Pentland Restaurant
Friday was originally planned as the day we’d travel back home, but incoming storm Eowyn had other ideas! Scotland hasn’t had a Red Weather/Storm Warning since 2012, so we took heed and decided to stay an extra night. Once again, Dan and Keith swooped in like proverbial knights in shining armour to save the day and got us sorted out in a flash; thank you for taking the stress out of the situation, guys. Turns out that Eowyn was a bit of a monster and staying put had been absolutely the right decision; instead of potentially putting ourselves in unnecessary danger on the roads, we sipped cocktails in the Cocktail Bar instead! For our unexpected, bonus night at Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club, we ate our evening meal in the Brasserie; the Nachos and my Prawn Linguine (with less Chilli in, as requested) were as tasty as before, and The Man said that his Beef Ragu with Conchiglie was just as scrummy.
It was with a bit of a heavy heart that we checked out on Saturday morning, though the reception team were again seamless. If ever we find ourselves in this particular area of Scotland again (Kirknewton), we‘ll certainly pay our new friends another visit; Hot Wings very happily awarded to Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club!!
To book your stay, either call the team directly on 0131 3331845 or head to the website www.dalmahoyhotelandcountryclub.co.uk and book online.
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