Douneside House

Douneside House, the MacRobert family home until Lady MacRobert’s death in 1954, is now our flagship property and takes pride of place at the heart of the estate and its operations.

Just 30 miles east of Aberdeen and set in 17 acres of beautifully kept sweeping lawns and gardens, including a children’s playpark and an 18-hole mini-golf pitch and putt, Douneside lies within the MacRobert estate and within sight of the Cairngorms National Park. There are beautiful views of the surrounding hills (Clachnaben, Mount Keen and Lochnagar) from the house gardens.

From May until mid-October (and during Christmas, Easter and selected winter weekends), Douneside House acts as a subsidised country guesthouse for serving and retired commissioned officers of the armed services and their families.

Many serving officers use the house prior to, or following, operational deployments where they often have to spend long periods apart from their families in dangerous environments, saving lives, resolving conflicts and protecting human rights.

We are pleased to offer the respite and tranquility of Douneside House as a place to rest, recuperate and spend much-needed time with loved ones.

For the rest of the year, except when it is used for the meetings of the Trustees, the house is available to hire as a day or residential conference and event centre, and for other charitable activities that enhance education, training, citizenship and community development.

In keeping with our ethos, charitable organisations are given favourable rates and we are delighted that many large charities choose Douneside annually as a venue for fundraising events.

A highlight of each year is the awarding of the Lady MacRobert Trophy, when winning and supporting cadet units of the North East Scotland Air Training Corps use the grounds for a spectacular parade day with music supplied by a local pipe band.

Each July, visitors can explore the grounds on a gardens open day, part of Scotland’s Gardens Scheme. The small entrance fee and all funds raised from refreshments served in the house go to the Scotland’s Garden Scheme and to Perennial, the gardeners’ charity. Proceeds from a raffle are donated to local charities. Find out more at www.gardensofscotland.org

Douneside House also has a well-equipped leisure centre, which is open to the local community through a club membership scheme and provides facilities for the general public, local groups such as special needs groups, pensioners, and parents and toddler groups. Local school and nursery children learn to swim in the pool and supervised aqua therapy is available to people recovering from operations or simply wishing to improve fitness.

Find out more about the house at www.dounesidehouse.co.uk