Our Story
The remarkable history of Douneside House
Rooted in a remarkable legacy and surrounded by the landscape of Royal Deeside, Douneside is a place where history, hospitality, and purpose come together. We are owned and run by The MacRobert Trust, a grant making charity.
Why Douneside exists
More than a hotel.
A country house with purpose.
Most country house hotels are businesses first. Douneside is something rarer. It was the family home of the MacRoberts, and on Lady MacRobert’s wishes it was placed into the care of a charitable trust in the 1950s, in memory of a family she had lost. That is still how it works today. The welcome you feel here is the welcome of a place that exists to give something back, not simply to fill rooms. For us, our ethos centres around our guests, our team, our local community and preserving this special place.
The MacRoberts of Douneside
From a mill in Aberdeen
to a house in the hills
Sir Alexander MacRobert began life in Aberdeen in 1854 and left school early to work in a paper mill. He rose to build the British India Corporation and, in 1888, bought the Burnside Estate, the house now known as Douneside, first as a place for his parents to farm.
After the death of his first wife, Georgina, he married Rachel Workman, an American geologist from Massachusetts who became Lady MacRobert. Together they transformed the modest house into the Edwardian country home you see today, adding rooms, a tower and the gardens Lady MacRobert shaped with her own eye. They raised three sons here: Alasdair, Roderic and Iain.
A place of tranquillity and peace, where a remarkable legacy lives on.
The MacRobert Legacy
Loss, and a legacy
Three sons and a mother’s answer
Within a few short years, Lady MacRobert lost all three of her sons. Alasdair was killed in a flying accident in 1938. Roderic, a pilot in the RAF, was lost in action in 1941. Barely six weeks later, his younger brother Iain failed to return from a search and rescue flight over the North Sea. Both were just twenty-six.
Her response became famous. Rather than retreat into grief, she funded a bomber for the RAF, named MacRobert’s Reply, and travelled the country to lift wartime spirits. In her sons’ memory she established the charitable trust that still bears the family name, and left Douneside to it. The house was to remain, as she wished, a place of tranquillity and peace.
Lady Rachel MacRobert, chosen by Hayaatun Silem,
The MacRobert Trust
A legacy of service, still at work today
Douneside House is part of something much larger — a legacy established by Lady MacRobert in the 1940s and continued today by The MacRobert Trust, one of Scotland’s most respected grant-giving charities. What began as a family’s spirit of service and generosity now lives on through ongoing support for charitable work across the MacRobert Estate, the local community and beyond.
That legacy can be felt in the lives and places the Trust has supported:
✦ The MacRobert Building at the University of Aberdeen, advancing education and research
✦ The MacRobert Prize for Engineering, the UK’s longest-running and most prestigious engineering award
✦ Rachel House (CHAS children’s hospice in Kinross), named in memory of Lady Rachel MacRobert, offering care and comfort to children and families
✦ The MacRobert Arts Centre in Stirling, enriching cultural life and community connection
✦ The MacRobert Farming and Rural Skills Centre at Dumfries House, supporting future generations in land-based skills
✦ Alongside thousands of grants to charities, large and small, across the UK
Together, these reflect a simple but enduring idea: that generosity, once set in motion, continues to make a difference far beyond its origins. The story of Lady Rachel MacRobert was recently brought to life by BBC Radio 4’s Great Lives series, you can listen here.
Lady Rachel MacRobert, chosen by Hayaatun Silem,
Douneside exists because of generosity, sacrifice and service.
Every guest who comes here becomes part of that continuing story.
The MacRobert Legacy
Royal Deeside
A corner of Aberdeenshire worth the journey
Douneside sits near the village of Tarland, in the Howe o’ Cromar, on the eastern edge of the Cairngorms National Park. Balmoral lies twelve miles to the west, and the country around is thick with castles, distilleries, salmon rivers, hill walks and the slow rhythms of Highland village life.
It has stayed gloriously off the beaten track, which is rather the point. We are always happy to help you plan a day out, or a week of them.
Every stay supports something greater
Come and be part of the story
Every room booked, every dinner served and every cottage let helps the MacRobert Trust continue its charitable work across Scotland. The warmth you find here is not accidental.