Castle hotels for families in the UK

Level 5 True Castle

Mingary Castle

Kilchoan, Ardnamurchan, Highland

A late 13th-century curtain-wall castle, restored between 2013 and around 2016. All four guest suites are inside the historic castle enclosure.

Sleep inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• EV charging

Guests 9.6/10

Level 5 True Castle

Menstrie Castle Stay

Menstrie, Clackmannanshire

A 17th-century courtyard house, Category A listed. All three self-catering apartments are inside the historic castle walls.

Sleep inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed

4-star · Guests 9.5/10

Level 5 True Castle

Thornbury Castle

Thornbury, South Gloucestershire

A Tudor castle begun around 1511 for Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham. Guests sleep in the historic inner court, including tower suites reached by the original spiral stair.

Sleep inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• Restaurant

5-star · Guests 9.5/10

Level 5 True Castle

Crossbasket Castle

High Blantyre, South Lanarkshire

A 16th-century tower with a 19th-century house added, category A listed. Some bedrooms are inside that historic fabric.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• Restaurant

5-star · Guests 9.2/10

Level 5 True Castle

Ballygally Castle

Ballygally, Larne, County Antrim

A 17th-century Scottish-style tower house, Grade A listed. Four Tower Rooms sit inside the original building; most rooms are in a later wing.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• EV charging
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 9.0/10

Level 5 True Castle

Langley Castle

Hexham, Northumberland

A mid-14th-century tower house, Grade I listed. Nine bedrooms are inside the castle itself; other rooms are in separate estate buildings.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• EV charging

4-star · Guests 9.0/10

Level 5 True Castle

Star Castle Hotel

Hugh Town, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly

An Elizabethan star-shaped fort built from 1593 under Francis Godolphin. Some bedrooms are inside the historic fort, others are in later garden buildings.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• Pool

4-star · Guests 8.8/10

Level 5 True Castle

Dalhousie Castle

Bonnyrigg, Midlothian

A stone keep built around 1450 within later curtain walls, Category A listed. Some rooms are inside the historic castle, others in a separate lodge.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 8.4/10

Level 5 True Castle

Dornoch Castle Hotel

Dornoch, Sutherland, Highland

A bishop's palace with a tower dating from around 1500, whose south wall survives at about nine feet thick. Nine of the 21 bedrooms are inside this historic tower.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• EV charging

3-star · Guests 8.3/10

Level 5 True Castle

Hazlewood Castle & Spa

Tadcaster, North Yorkshire

A castle built after a 1286 licence to crenellate. Nine of the 32 rooms are inside the historic castle, the rest in later courtyard buildings.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• Spa

4-star · Guests 7.9/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Branxholme Castle

Hawick, Scottish Borders

A category A listed 16th-century tower house heavily altered and incorporated into a later mansion remodelled in 1837. It is not confirmed which part the two guest suites are in.

• Family rooms

4-star · Guests 9.8/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Glenapp Castle

Ballantrae, South Ayrshire

Built in 1870 as a Scottish Baronial mansion by architect David Bryce, with no earlier defensive structure on the site. Guests sleep in the mansion or a garden cottage, not a medieval fortress.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• Spa

5-star · Guests 9.5/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Cringletie House

Peebles, Scottish Borders

Rebuilt around 1863 by architect David Bryce with corner turrets in his baronial style, replacing a 1666 house, with no defensive history. Most bedrooms are in this Victorian house.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• EV charging

4-star · Guests 9.3/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Augill Castle

Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria

A Grade II listed house in castellated Gothick style, started in 1841. It was built as a grand house, not a defensive castle, and guests sleep inside it.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• EV charging
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 9.2/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

The Culloden Estate and Spa

Holywood, County Down

Built in 1876 in Scottish Baronial style as a bishop's palace, not a defensive castle. Guests sleep in a hotel built around this 19th-century house.

• Family rooms
• Spa
• Pool

5-star · Guests 9.2/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Cornhill Castle

Coulter, near Biggar, South Lanarkshire

Built in 1871 by architect William Leiper for Alexander Kay in a French Chateau style, with no defensive history. Guests sleep in the Victorian mansion or in separate garden lodges.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 9.0/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Glengorm Castle

Tobermory, Isle of Mull

An 1860 Scots Baronial country house, category B listed, with no defensive history. Two of the three self-catering apartments are inside the historic castle.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms

4-star · Guests 8.8/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Inverlochy Castle Hotel

Torlundy, Fort William, Highland

A 19th-century Scottish castle, built as a private house rather than a fortification. Some rooms are inside the castle, others in a converted stable block nearby.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• Restaurant

5-star · Guests 8.8/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Stonefield Castle Hotel

Tarbert, Loch Fyne, Argyll and Bute

An 1837 Scottish Baronial mansion by architect William Playfair, category B listed, with no defensive history. Guests sleep in the historic house.

Sleep inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 8.8/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Swinton Park Hotel

Masham, North Yorkshire

A house begun in 1695 and remodelled in the 1820s with turrets, castellations and a round tower, without a real defensive history. Guests sleep in the main house and a separate Coach House.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• Spa

4-star · Guests 8.8/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Meldrum House Hotel Golf and Country Estate

Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire

A tower house begun about 1236, but rebuilt in 1836 and 1934. Manor House rooms sit within this later fabric rather than the medieval tower itself.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• EV charging

4-star · Guests 8.7/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Carberry Tower Mansion House and Estate

Musselburgh, East Lothian

A tower house completed by about 1500, enlarged into a large mansion from 1760 and again after 1861. Guests stay mostly in the later mansion, not confirmed to be inside the surviving tower fabric.

• Family rooms
• Restaurant

4-star · Guests 8.5/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Dalmunzie Castle Hotel

Spittal of Glenshee, Perthshire

The hotel's own site dates the building to 1510 as a Laird's mansion, now shown in Scots Baronial style with turrets, a look usually added later.

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• Restaurant

3-star · Guests 8.5/10

Level 4 Castle-Style Mansion

Fonab Castle Hotel

Pitlochry, Perthshire

A Scottish Baronial mansion built in 1892 as a private house. Some bedrooms are in the historic building, others in separate lodges.

Some rooms inside the walls

• Family rooms
• Dogs allowed
• Spa

5-star · Guests 8.5/10