house of dun

Plenty of car parking spaces, large open gardens with beautiful grounds to sit and enjoy. The gardens alone are worth the visit even if you don't visit the house (which you should). The Erskine family, well the last daughter, left the house to the National Trust for Scotland. It had been used as a hotel for around 45 years before this. The gardens are used for different things throughout the year and also the house. Really is well worth a visit.

What an afternoon I had here, I arrived about 14.30, not another car in the car-park, I even wondered if it was open. After taking a few pictures I made my way to the shop to buy a few things and go home. The girl on duty asked if I would like a tour of the house, I was so chuffed. It was a wonderful tour I really enjoyed it, it was practically an all access tour, except I was not allowed to take pictures inside, pretty special to get round the house all by myself. The house was designed by William Adam for David Erskine who had obtained great wealth as a judge of the Scottish Court of Session. Interestingly the house was for a period of time some 45 years a hotel until it was bequeathed to the National Trust for Scotland. It was an eighty mile round trip from Aberdeen and certainly worth it.It should be noted that if like me you are a member of the National Trust you gain free access to this property. The gardens were very nice for a wander liked the Crown shaped sitting area. Come the end of October I was not expecting to see too many flowers in the garden. There were a few dahlias it was a real joy to admire them and get right up close to them. Some had not yet bloomed, this one looked pretty mature and perfectly formed. It was just beginning to rain as I took this picture but it was not heavy.

This was our first visit to House of Dun to see Santa. The staff in the main house were very friendly and welcoming and the event was really well organised and well worth the £5. Our little girl loved the experience. Went to the café after to have some lunch - some customer training could be done for the front of house staff - lacking somewhat.

I am really sorry you decided to leave without visiting the interior of the house, I can assure it is as impressive as the grounds.Again sorry if you felt the guide had overstepped the mark.If you had read the visitor guide to Scottish properties or on the website you would see the availability of opening times and indeed the dates when we open the house to the public to wander at leisure throughout the house, I dont understand your comments about photography as this is standard throughout the NTS properties and likewise the requirment for both cards to be shown which is clearly stated on the reverse of the card. The guide was absolutely correct in asking for both cards, she was protecting your membership and helping to keep the costs down through fraudulent use of cards, my apologies if you felt offended.I hope you do return at another time when we offer open access to the property and now understand the rationalle behind our protecting our members and revenue to support these great properties for future generations to enjoy

We dropped on the House of Duns whilst in the area. We had a wonderful tour of the house by an amusing knowledgeable gentleman who obviously enjoyed his job. No pressure re the tickets although it did make sense to join the trust in order to keep these wonderfulPlaces accessible to all . I would certainly recommend a visit.

House of Dun is an excellent place to visit. There are normally tours but the day we went, we were able to walk around on our own. There were guides available who could answer questions. This place had been recommended to me and now that I have been I can understand why. Definitely an interesting place to visit.

Many thanks for your review and compliments about the house and collection.Our sincere apologies about the cafe not being open, it was the intention to have it open for this season, but with the challenges of a grade "A" listed building and archeological issues sadly was not to be!!The photography I fully agree with and I know that the trust is working towards permission for photographyI hope when you visit the next time our cafe will be fully functional and our new visitor reception will be up and running.Once again thank you for your review

I am sorry that your reception was not up to your standards and the general presentation of the property was also agreeable.Unfortunately and to bring balance to this review I have to say it is contraray to almost very other review and feed back we receive.The property a couple of years ago was the subject of targeted thefts which initiated the safe locker in the reception for your use.The promotion of membership I feel no apology is required as we are a stand alone charity and survive on admissions donations and membership to protect and present the collection for future generations to enjoy.The promotion of membership crosses all countries, we often find visitors when we tell them about membership take up the offer as it only takes about five visits to properties to recover the membership fee, so good value and even better from the free car parking as a member, and three times a year an award winning magazine form the NTS.I hope on reading this it brings a balance to your comments

The House of Dun stands overlooking the Montrose basin, the work of William Adam, father of the more-famous Robert. It is charming 18th century house, immaculately maintained, with domestic sized rooms and such features as the spectacular plasterwork in the saloon. The marriage of one of the Erskine family to the illegitimate daughter of William IV,adds an unusual twist to the history of the house, and incidentally, some handsome objects, notably a beautiful porcelain service. Upstairs in the Old Library is a totally unexpected collection of Scottish colourists , as well as sensational furniture loaned by Lady Stirling and on top of that a collection of spectacular lustreware from the Royal Lancastrian Pottery, an off-shoot of Pilkingtons glass makers. Unfortunately the latter is badly displayed so that the lustrous glazes cannot be appreciated. Outside is a beautiful walled garden, again splendidly maintained. This house is an unsung treasure and people should beat a path to its (architecturally very interesting) door.Unfortunately the delight of this place is marred by the inadequacy of the guides. Our guide, lacked all confidence and did not have a grasp of the history of many of the objects (the royal service was described as Staffordshire pottery) and a portrait of Princess Charlotte and her husband Leopold, was described as "Charlotte and George". their association with the house thus completely missed. The lustreware collection was attributed to "pinkertons" and nothing was said about the wonderful Scottish Colourists, much less the furniture. But do visit this wonderful house.....but make sure the guide is better informed than the ones we experienced.

This is a lovely old house that has been wonderfully restored back to its original splendour - it is worth seeing the plaster designs on the ceiling in the first room on the ground floor. Kids were well occupied with the find-the-fairy task! Walled garden is also lovely!

a great experience. The house" lives and breathes" You can feel the presence of the various people who have lived in it. The restoration has been exceptionally good and sympathetic. A wonderful experience. The guide was superb.

We enjoyed the hour-long tour given by the informative guide, Rudi, when we visited. It was not too in-depth, which suited our tastes. The only issue was the poor surface on the access road. Thank goodness we were members otherwise we would have had to have paid £10.50 each!

Many thanks for your kind review.I am delighted you enjoyed your visit to the property and the house.I will pass on your comments to the staffLook forward to seeing you at Dun in the future.

We were pleased to see how carefully the house had been restored. Plaster work in one of the rooms was particularly interesting. Walled garden was imaginatively designed, matching the symmetery which was a particular feature of the design of the house.

Who wouldn't love a 'fruitful salad' and lots of 'tickle pickle?' I do hope that after its refurbishment the café opens with Janet in situ. The house and grounds are beautiful but there is added comedy genius watching the café staff cower under the watchful eye of the house's real 'treasure' Janet.