Fonab Castle

Fonab Castle sits on the shore of Loch Faskally on the edge of Pitlochry, built in 1892 for Lieutenant Colonel George Glas Sandeman — a member of the Sandeman family whose port and sherry houses remain among the most recognisable names in fortified wine production. The Perth architect Andrew Heiton designed the original Scots Baronial mansion, and by a small coincidence of local architectural history, Heiton would later design Atholl Palace elsewhere in Pitlochry as well — the same town holding two substantial Heiton commissions from the same era, one now a luxury hotel and the other a grand Victorian hydropathic establishment turned hotel with its own museum.

The Sandeman family's tenure was followed by a series of institutional uses that took Fonab well away from its origins as a private country house. During the First World War the building served as a Red Cross hospital, treating wounded servicemen in a period when country houses across Britain were widely requisitioned for exactly this purpose. In the 1940s, Fonab took on an entirely different institutional role as the headquarters of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board — the public body responsible for bringing electricity generation and distribution to the Scottish Highlands, a transformative infrastructure project of the postwar decades. These intervening decades of public and medical use, rather than private occupation, are part of what distinguishes Fonab's history from many of the aristocratic country houses that make up most of Scotland's castle-hotel landscape.

The modern hotel dates to a 2002 purchase by the Clark family, who spent over a decade planning and executing the property's return to private hospitality use. Fonab reopened as a luxury hotel in 2013, with 21 rooms, 4 suites, and a Penthouse suite occupying the restored historic mansion and new construction around it. A further expansion in 2021 added 16 additional rooms, bringing the property's total room count to 42 and cementing its position as Pitlochry's only 5-star hotel — a rating confirmed directly by the hotel's own classification and reflected consistently across independent hotel guides.

Fonab's most distinctive feature for visitors who aren't staying overnight is the Woodland Spa, which operates day-spa packages open to non-residents. These range from straightforward spa-day access to the property's spa and leisure facilities to combined packages such as a spa day paired with afternoon tea — giving day visitors a genuine way to experience part of the hotel without booking a room, in a similar spirit to the restaurant-based day-visitor arrangements at other Scottish castle hotels, just built around wellness facilities rather than dining rooms. The loch-side setting on Loch Faskally, with views across the water and walking access to the wider Pitlochry area, is part of what the spa packages sell alongside the treatments themselves.

Pitlochry itself is one of highland Perthshire's principal tourist towns, known for its Victorian character, its salmon ladder and dam on the River Tummel, and its position as a gateway to the wider Highland Perthshire countryside. Fonab's loch-front position places it a short walk from the town centre, making it a practical base for visitors who want both the comfort of a 5-star property and easy access to Pitlochry's shops, theatre, and walking routes.