Friars Carse Country House Hotel

Having read some other reviews of the hotel I am genuinely surprised it has such a high score on here. The hotel looks lovely outside and is in beautiful grounds . The staff at the hotel were fine so this is not a full reflection on them but this is possibly one of the worst country house hotels we have stayed in. When you imagine a country house hotel, you would sometimes expect slightly old fashioned but still comfortable and clean, or the other type which are luxury spa type escapes. Friars Carse is well below either of these. The room can only be described as barely habitable. The only thing that was clean was the bed…which was 2 singles pushed together, not even a zip linked bed. The carpet was wet and stained where the radiator had obviously been leaking for a considerable time judging by the rust all down the pipe. When my husband reported it he was told ‘we’re aware of it and the plumber was meant to be here last week but didn’t turn up’. No offer of anything else. There were 2 loose pieces of furniture edging with nails sticking out inside one of the drawers. These were from a cabinet next to the door and would have taken someone 5 minutes to repair. The ceiling lights were disgusting and covered in dead midges.The windows, when we opened them, had rotten ledges The bathroom sink plug hole was worn and dirty, there were cracked tiles on the floor, the grout was dirty on the shower walls. I ran a bath only to discover the water at full ‘hot’ was luke warm at best so I had a cold bath. There were single use toiletries, 2 of which were already used. There was a holder for a refillable hand wash bottle next to the sink which had nothing in it. Now to the food. The restaurant menu was a truly bizarre mixture of everything made from Wagyu beef, rice dishes, pasta and some seafood. I decided on scallops followed by a wagyu 5oz steak. The scallops arrived in tinfoil(?) and had so much garlic oil that I was actually eating pieces of garlic. The steak we asked for medium rare and supposedly came with 3 condiments (sauces). It was awful, overcooked, came with a handful of chips and a bit of broccoli …and the 3 things that came with it..3 little copper pots, 1 containing sea salt and peppercorns, 1 containing some sort of oil and 1 containing some sort of caramelised onion which was the only thing I put on the steak. We complained about the steak and the only thing we got was ‘oh sorry I’ll tell the chef. We still got fully charged £25 for each awful steak. Only after this bizarre dinner did my husband hear someone else complaining about it and they then were offered a more traditional menu. This menu is not mentioned at all, the only menu given is this weird Japanese/oriental/wagyu thing? The 2nd day we had booked for an afternoon tea (we had this as a package). Do not do this. I love an afternoon tea and I managed half a scone (had been warmed but tasted stale) the smoked salmon triangle sandwich was disgusting and my husband took one bite and said he couldn’t eat it, the other sandwiches were cheese and pickle/onion, cheap ham, egg. I didn’t eat the cake and cheesecake but I was hungry so ate the sandwiches. In the room we were in for this afternoon tea, there was also some guests luggage. So we felt like we’d just been shoved in a room. The food we’d experienced actually put us off having dinner the second evening and this place is nowhere within walking distance of anywhere else to eat, so if you do stay here and want to eat elsewhere be prepared to drive out. Then there was the bill. We had paid for a package of dinner, bed and breakfast and afternoon tea. We were not informed at any point that the dinner had omissions from the menu..so even though we also complained about the steak we were then charged £50 for the pleasure because it wasn’t included in the package. I gave 2 stars purely because of location and there seemed to be one member of staff run off her feet and doing everything. This place needs to have a huge amount of investment to bring up up to standard, a rethink of what customers are expecting and for the owners of how they would feel if they paid nearly £400 for a 2 night stay in somewhere where they couldn’t even expect a clean, dry room.

Staff lovely (aside from the duty manager with pony tail). Room clean but outdated. No hot water evening or morning (seems a common them). Food was overpriced for the quality. The menu is, with respect, bizarre. A fusion of wagyu inspired meat and fish - no cohesion to the menu, steak katsu was tough, burger has more avocado sauce than meat. Overall in need of some TLC.

Lovely hotel but a bit jaded. Staff and food were fabulous. Front door propped open woth fire extinguishers. Soft furnishings a bit grubby, carpet needed a hoover. Disabled room was not quite on mark. No room up side of the bed for a roller or wheelchair. Toilet handle in wrong place wasnt able to reach it as it was on the back of the door. Bit disappointing but it is nice place. If your not disabled it would be easier to mamage.