Cally Palace Hotel & Golf Course

Had a lovely weekend at this Hotel for Valentine's day. Beautiful hotel, very clean and the staff couldn't have been better. Thanks to the whole team at the Cally Palace!

Hotel is down a single track road through the woods, close to the lovely village of Gatehouse of fleet which is well worth a visit.
The hotel is a grand affair, with huge reception rooms and huge bedrooms. It is very well kept and full of history. The pool area needs some TLC but perfectly usable, with a new hot tub just fitted.
Bedrooms are massive, very clean and were very warm, had to open the windows to cool the rooms we had to cooldown. 3 rooms booked, 2 with walk in showers were the accessible room and the deluxe double. The other types of room only have a bath/shower combo. The showers were hot and strong flow. The deluxe double was on 3rd floor but had a lift to it, not all rooms can be accessed by the lift so be careful if stairs are a problem.
Found the rooms quiet and comfortable, tea/coffee making facilities in the rooms.
Reception has a dozen steps to the ground floor, a ramp is at the rear of the hotel, round to the right, a few hundred meters walk.
If dinning with your pet, you can eat in the conservatory with your dog, dinner is table service, for breakfast you go to the buffet and walk the 50 meters back with your food. The conservatory was lovely and warm in the winter.
Breakfast is worth it, Dinner was not, some was overcooked rubbery, some burnt and the rest had no flavour, huge disappointment.
The staff were mainly great, a couple went above and beyond, most very friendly and helpful with a couple having a bad day, but in no way rude.
Highly recommend the hotel for staying and breakfast, give dinner a miss and go to the village for far better quality, we will definitely be back to see what its like in the summer.

Beautiful old hotel with super helpful staff, excellent food and brilliant facilities. We used the hotel pool, jacuzzi and sauna each day and had fluffy robes provided. Such a lovely atmosphere and the log fires each night - fantastic. We ate out a couple of nights and wished we had stayed at hotel, lovely food and amazing breakfast. Our room was HUGE and really warm (no 43) Couldn’t ask for more, reading other reviews I would say some people have just been unlucky! Highly recommend

Thank you so much to everyone at Cally Palace for looking after us so well on our Christmas break. We stayed for the 4 night Christmas break and everything was superb. The food was delicious (and plentiful), the staff were brilliant, there was so much to do. Even the weather was great so we could get a couple of rounds of golf in! Definitely recommend 💖

We have just left The Cally Palace after a wonderful 4 night stay over Christmas. We loved everything! The food was delicious, great pool, huge room and the whole place is kept so clean. The staff were all so helpful and friendly too! Thank you to Steven, both Barry's, Dave, Margaret, Ebony, Peter and Pam who all worked so hard to give all the guests an amazing Christmas! We have already recommended The Cally Palace to friends!

Came here for a birthday celebration. The two rooms we had were lovely. The pool was fab. We did however have issues with the barman who is believed to be a manager in the evening, extremely rude to myself and my family and totally uncalled for with rude inappropriate remarks. He said it was his ‘sense of humour’ after we brought it up with reception. I had a look at other reviews to see if anyone else has had issues with this same man and there are quite a few, he did ruin our evening sadly!

All the staff smiled. And were very friendly. The location was beautiful and peaceful. Ideally located to explore Dumfries & Galloway. Food was excellent (freshly cooked meals). Pool, sauna, hot tub, gym. Red squirrels and deer on the golf course at dawn.
Very large bedroom.
Just beautiful.

Overall very disappointing. It is in a lovely location, the swimming pool is fine apart from clumps of grass walked in from the golf course. The food is not inspired but not bad, though items on the main menu were sometimes not available. Apart from that our three night stay was not good. Booked a ‘delux’ room in the old house. The lift was not working, so climbed the stairs with our suitcases. There was a hoover, left in the middle of the room which was a surprise, however the worst thing was that the window in our room was covered by, and I don't exaggerate, hundreds of houseflies. After a liberal application of fly spray by housekeeping the room was still unusable. After a delay an alternative was found on the ground floor. We very nearly left after the first night.
The whole place is in need of investment. Lift and sauna broken, fixtures and fittings worn, areas of one of the main lounges cordoned off due to water coming through the ceiling. Staff in the dining room were casual, bordering on rude. The dining room is very large, on the first night, with only four couples in the room, they were 'Not sure if we can seat you"! It was a Faulty Towers experience writ large. The one exception was the lady in the bar who was very competent and highly professional.

It was well below the standard you might reasonably expect from a four start hotel at this price point.

It looks grand from the outside and certain aspects of the interior still are, but it's all downhill after that!
We asked for an accessible room and were given a room up several flights of stairs. The lift was out of order. The lounge areas on the first floor only have one toilet/baby change and it's at the furthest end of the building.
We called several days before arrival to ask about facilities and were told the part we wanted to use was out of order.
It was functioning when we arrived, but we didn't bring swimwear after being wrongly informed.
To say our room was dated is an understatement, the furniture and fittings must be from the 1930's! There are no plug points for electronics.
We were in a family group and several points were raised over food quality. We had to pre order food 6 days in advance, probably to make sure 3663 had stock, and some of it wasn't available on the night!
I left my main course of risotto as it tasted of being over salted.
My wife and I didn't have breakfast.
On arrival Dave and the lovely young lady serving the bar ( sorry I can't remember your name ) were extremely chatty, polite and helpful.
The barman at night was bad mannered to the point of being downright rude. Overall, not a good experience and we won't return.

The hotel is in a lovely setting and looks nice from the outside.
The receptionist on arrival was helpful and took care of our requests.
The pool is nice and the jacuzzi hot. Towels were provided as we were using facilities prior to check in.
We were advised that the sauna wasn't working before our arrival but once inside the pool area, we found it was.
The hotel is tired and needs a good overhaul. Squeaky floor boards. The bedroom doors were loud when closing. Could hear people in their rooms opposite.
Bar staff not always pleasant.
Some waiting staff were good, others not so. It all seemed a bit disjointed and not at all what we were expecting for our weekend away.
We were asked to preorder our meals prior to arriving at the hotel, then advised on the evening that there was no cheesecake! That's not acceptable considering we were the first in the dining area for dinner service. The meals were nice but very overpriced imo.
The rooms were large and clean but, again tired. Only one usable plug socket next to the door and not near the mirror at the desk to be able to use straighteners. No usb sockets. Complimentary white company toiletries available for use.
Breakfast was buffet style although there was a menu you could ask for other items at an extra cost.

One of those old mansions that used to be converted to training centres or hotels once the previous owner could no longer afford it.
We enjoyed our stay, in a very large room with a small balcony overlooking part of the garden. Well enough equipped, although an in-room iron/board would have come in useful.
Breakfasts were plentiful, including a to-order section, and good.
Friendly and accommodating staff team.
Overall an nice relaxing experience.

For the price, I would rather stay here than in a boring corporate hotel.

God this was awful food wise. My husband had a round of golf here and I met him for lunch after it. My parents used to go here regularly with their friends back in the day, it is a big old place and sadly showing its age now. I did start with an excellently made Mojito and then our food arrived. I had the ploughman's salad, I couldn't eat it, the elements on the plate looked as though they had come from the convenience store down the road. Cheap white bread, anaemic pre formed ham, tiny slice of cheap cheddar, sad looking shiny coleslaw, no salad etc etc, my husband had the soup and a sandwich made with the same bread and cheapest ham - he eats pretty much anything and was hungry so ate his. The waiter was so good, he refunded my meal including the Mojito, which he didn't have to do, without a quibble. We left as soon as we could embarrassed, my first experience of declining a meal somewhere. Husband also didn't enjoy the golf course, he is an avid golfer though, he thought it was in very poor condition and played badly. I thought the course looked interesting but I am no golfer!

This is a strange one. It could be an absolutely beautiful hotel but it is just a bit dated. The common areas are all gorgeous, it is well maintained and you can see the original splendour it once had. The bedroom though was very dated. It was still in very good order, well maintained and very clean but very old. I wouldn’t say tired because it has been looked after - but in this day, it’s probably not what people would expect. The bar area is lovely and the pool looks lovely too. Breakfast was a hot and cold buffet which is always our preference but quite hard to find these days. The staff were all excellent with only one notable exception, but we can all have an off day so I’ll not dwell on that. Would I return, yes, would I recommend it possibly not as everyone’s expectations are different. I understand it’s up for sale, I hope the new owners overhaul the bedrooms and make it into the hotel it could and deserves to be.

Having stayed at this hotel over many years, we have noticed the decline in services and increase in prices since Bespoke Hotels took over. On our latest stay, one of the receptionists was admonished by the other in our presence which was a bit awkward for us. The same thing happened in August with the same two receptists. Our balcony room had biscuit crumbs all over the floor, there was no bottled water provided and the balcony door lock was broken. As we were on the ground floor, it gave easy access to our room at any time. We stayed in a different room in August and the door lock was broken there too. We've also noticed when checking out, the staff never ask how our stay was. Perhaps they're worried to ask! It's a shame that things are steadily going downhill as it's such a lovely building and surrounds.

First the positive aspects- the hotel is set in beautiful grounds and we stayed in a deluxe room on the ground floor. The room and bathroom were extremely spacious and very clean. The bed was extra large and very comfortable. The hotel has a lovely 15 metre swimming pool and I swam twice there and found it to be very relaxing.
The waiting staff at the restaurant both at evening service and breakfast were very helpful and friendly.
Now for the less positive aspects- there was a poor welcome from reception on our arrival and no information given apart from where our room was. The sauna in the leisure suite was out of order and the water in the supposed hot tub was not warm. The restaurant has no atmosphere and it feels more like a canteen. The food was very disappointing and expensive. I ordered the duck and it was overcooked and served with one large roast potato rather than fondant potato - I complained and it was taken off the bill. My husband’s venison pie was ok and was supposed to come with fries, but they did not arrive until he had eaten half of it.
It’s a shame that both the food and reception service let the hotel down. The management really needs to sort these things out as you want to feel welcome when you arrive somewhere for the night after a long journey and you also want to enjoy your meal without having to complain.

Its a lovely old property on fantastic grounds. As expected, the internal decor needs some rejuvenation but it is clean. The dinner option was very good, and the wait service by Barry was great!

Beautiful situation

Great staff. Very big room. Amazing breakfast. Nice pool and hot tub. Sauna was broken though.

Staff were very helpful and the setting and grounds are beautiful.
However the hotel itself is run down. Sauna and lift not working. The shower temperature would not stay constant. Carpet in our room was threadbear. The toilet in the public area was filthy had no toilet paper and was like this for 2days. Clearly it had not been checked.
The bar did not do food after 8 pm and had closed early. The restaurant food was overcooked and our made to order breakfast lacked some key components.
The beds were comfortable and staff responded when we raised issues
We would not stay here again unless it has major renovation

Staff couldn’t be praised enough. Helpful and friendly. Beautiful grounds and building. Room was big and spotlessly clean. Robes & towels provided. Pool towels too. Evening meal and breakfast were very good. Fresh food and great service. Dog friendly too. We will definitely return.