Welcome to Stately Homes

Dalmeny House, family home of the Earls of Rosebery, is set in parkland overlooking the Firth of Forth, just west of Edinburgh. When Dalmeny House was completed in 1817, it marked a great departure in Scottish architecture; its Tudor Gothic style, with its highly-decorated chimneys and crenellations, looked back toward fanciful 16th-century English mansions, such as Hampton Court.

The house was designed by a University friend of the 4th Earl of Rosebery, William Wilkins, who would go on to design the National Gallery in London and much of King's College, Cambridge - parts of which closely resemble Dalmeny.

With its Gothic Great Hall and corridor, its large, formal regency apartments and its sweeping views across the Firth of Forth, it is a house which combines comfort and romanticism, and which produced many imitations throughout Scotland.

Dalmeny contains Scotland’s best collection of eighteenth-century French furniture, porcelain and tapestries, assembled by Baron Meyer de Rothschild for his extraordinary home Mentmore Towers, which was inherited by his daughter Hannah, wife of the 5th Earl of Rosebery. The paintings include works by Gainsborough, Raeburn, Reynolds and Lawrence. There is also one of the world’s most important Napoleonic collections, assembled by the fifth Earl of Rosebery - Prime Minister, historian and owner of three Derby winners.

Corporate and Groups:

Dalmeny House, overlooking the Firth of Forth, rejoices in one of the most beautiful and unspoilt settings in Great Britain, yet is only seven miles from the centre of Edinburgh, fifteen minutes from Edinburgh Airport and less than an hour's drive from Glasgow.

Dalmeny combines a feeling of grandeur with a warm and welcoming Scottish ambience. Events can be tailored to suit any occasion: receptions and banquets, conferences, training and product launches and other business meetings. The House is set in over a thousand acres of delightful rolling parkland, woodlands, farmland and sandy beaches on the southern shores of the Firth of Forth. Several hundred acres of the grounds are available for outdoor events.

The House and grounds are available for use by corporate and private groups throughout the year. Since it is still a family home, Dalmeny House cannot offer overnight accomodation; however, Edinburgh benefits from a wide selection of hotels.

Receptions and Banquets:

Dalmeny House offers total exclusivity for dinners, receptions and produce launches. It is a world apart from the mass-produced big hotel blandness. Here discretion and individual attention follows a tradition stretching back over 180 years. The hall, library and dining room offer a sumptuous, yet comfortable setting, the food and wine suitably impressive and the service as unobtrusively efficient as you’d expect. At Dalmeny it goes without saying, you are not a customer to be processed but an individual guest to be cherished.

The dining room seats 30 at the main table, 50 with additional tables and up to 80 for a standing buffet. The surrounding parkland offers opportunities for a variety of outdoor activities and can be hired with the house or separately. There are eight miles of private metalled roads and four miles of unspoilt coastline along the shores of the Firth of Forth.

Opening Times - 2010:

June & July: Sunday - Tuesday, 2 - 5 pm
Entry by guided tour only at 2 & 3.30 pm
Closed: 6th June

Summer:
24th May - 28th July: Sunday - Tuesday, 2 - 5 pm
Guided tours only at 2.15 pm & 3.30 pm

Winter:
Open at other times by appointment only.

Admission Prices - 2010:

Adults - £6
Child (10-16) - £4
Senior - £5
Student - £5
Groups (20+) - £5

Parking is available in a designated area next to the house. In keeping with the natural surroundings, this is only roughly surfaced. Coach parking for group visits is available by prior arrangement. The main collection is all on the ground floor and is generally accessible. Disabled access and toilet facilities are next to the tearoom, which is separately accessible from the back of the house.