Craigston castle. Experience our family home

Craigston is a magical old-fashioned place, well-equipped and clean. We got to live like Lairds for a week as the family opened up their home, complete with fascinating old magazines, artefacts and paintings. Everyone in our group (aged from 10-79) loved it. Thank you to our hosts and to Elisabetta for your kind hospitality.

Preparation until guests check-out, Elisabetta has done a wonderful job to create the family holiday. Guests stayed here have enjoyed their stay, and once in a life time memory created! Elisabetta was very honest around the children's safety with stairs near the room so suggested a better/safer room for them. Well looked after by lovely family at this castle :)

I have to admit that my very first instinct is to gatekeep the wonder that is Craigston Castle because it is such a jewel, but if others had done the same, I'd never have found it myself! My husband wanted to stay in a castle in Scotland for his 50th birthday. It's a relatively daunting process to evaluate all of your options when you're planning on taking a group of 12 from the States to partake. What if it doesn't measure up? What if its amenities are not as described? What if it feels too dilapidated/too modern/too stuffy/too anything and everyone's arrived and there's nothing you can do about it? I am here to say that Craigston is absolutely stunning and simply wonderful in every regard. It took us about a year to plan our trip. Elisabetta, our host, was extremely responsive throughout and gave us an amazing list of resources to make our trip memorable and smooth. (She's also just a lovely person). We were recommended to work with Alister and Daniel of ADR Hospitality Group and that was an excellent suggestion, too. Because VRBO wants me to be concise - I'm forced to bullet point from here on out:- The castle itself is unbelievably gorgeous, authentic, and comfortable. it is legitimately an historic family home with all that that entails, if that makes sense, and it makes all the difference.- The grounds are beyond compare.- It was amazing. - Just see the pics. - Can't wait to return.

We had an incredible time! As a family of 9 Urquhart's, the history of the castle was important for us. It meant the world to us to be able to experience it as a large group. The bathrooms were fully updated and functioning. The kitchen was fully stocked for large groups. We were able to cook several meals on our own, including the fresh haddock we caught in Macduff! The walled garden was a little piece of heaven to walk around in. We were able to enjoy fresh herbs/vegetable, offered by the wonderful house manager, Elisabetta. The kids would walk down to feed and be with the horses who lived next to the garden. We were able to plan clay pigeon shooting, which occurred on property. Was an absolute blast! Elisabetta was such a pleasure to work with and made our stay very easy. Looking forward to staying again in the future.

Our multigenerational family of 10 stayed at the castle for 3 nights and wished it were more. While the photos of the castle and surrounding property online are stunning, it is magical in person. The home feels inviting and every room is lovely. The beds are very comfortable and baths for everyone. We were busy on our 16 days in Scotland so intended just to relax and enjoy the castle and grounds. It did not disappoint! We did not have a car in Scotland to go into town so hired a chef recommended by our host, Elisabetta. The chef and food were beyond our expectations. Elisabetta has great communication and we enjoyed the tour of the castle during our stay. We will reminisce about this stay for years to come.

Wow wow wow! This is the stuff bucket list dreams are made of! For a milestone birthday, I always said I wanted to sleep in a real castle in Scotland. I have heritage there and wanted to connect with it by immersing myself in the history of a true castle. Craigston was the most perfect place to make this dream come true. My fiance and I along with 6 friends rented the castle for one week and used it as our home base to explore northern Scotland. Elizabetta, the property manager is such a lovely host! She was easy to talk with in advance of our stay. She helped me plan a full day of special experiences for my friends. She gave us a tour of the castle with all its history. We coordinated a chef to come cook dinner, clay shooting during the day and finally a story teller to come share some magical folklore of the Urquhart clan and its motto - Will. Well. The castle shows its age in the most charming ways! The bedrooms and bathrooms (too many to count) are comfortable and well appointed with family heirlooms. The drawing room and dinning rooms make you feel like royalty, yet have a cozy, family home vibe. The surrounding property is beautiful and offers lovely morning and evening walks to visit the horses, sheep and out laying buildings. While in a fairly remote location, we were able to easily plan day trips to Aberdeen, Inverness, Loch Ness, Speyside Whiskey region and some of Scotlands epic castles! Craigston was an experience beyond my wildest dreams!

The stay at Craigston Castle was amazing! Exploring the castle and the grounds was wonderfully beauty. We had a trap shoot on the grounds with Frank Henderson that was so castle-like! What a lovely man...and his charming grandson helped too. A grand meal in the grand dinning room was so much fun! Elisabetta was such a gracious host. So responsive and helpful...an absolute lovely soul! This made our trip so much more exciting and we hope to be back one day!

Beautifully unique property, excellent welcome from Elizabetta! Definitely worth the time to stay here! Side note: highly recommend booking Nelson to be your private chef during your stay. Ask Elizabetta for details!

The property and everything involved therein was exactly as described on vero. Beautiful out of the way Castle perfect for family time. Good for one day trips to the coast. Elisabetta was absolutely fantastic and a key part of our wonderful experience.

From the time we arrived, Craigston Castle felt like our Scottish home. Elisabetta was a great help and the staff was terrific. We came for our daughter’s wedding at Fyvie Castle and decided to have a family reunion too. I loved the castle and also the surrounding land. It was a true fairytale. We hope to return one day!!!