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Historic and secluded 17th Century Castle located in private Scottish estate

Photo gallery for Historic and secluded 17th Century Castle located in private Scottish estate

Exterior
Exterior
Property grounds
Private kitchen
Dining

Reviews

9.2 out of 10
Wonderful

Popular amenities

  • Pet-friendly
  • Parking available
  • Laundry room
AU$579
avg per night

Explore the area

View map
Castle Douglas, SCT
  • Place, Dalry Town Hall
    ‪14 min drive‬
  • Place, Galloway Activity Centre
    ‪14 min drive‬
  • Place, Galloway Forest Park
    ‪20 min drive‬

Rooms & beds

5 bedrooms (sleeps 9)

Bedroom 1

1 Double Bed

Bedroom 2

1 Double Bed

Bedroom 3

2 Single Beds

Bedroom 4

2 Single Beds

Bedroom 5

1 Single Bed

3 bathrooms

Bathroom 1

Bathroom 2

Bathroom 3

Spaces

Deck or patio
Garden
Dining area
The current price is AU$579
avg per night

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About the area

Castle Douglas

Castle Douglas is home to this castle. RSPB Ken-Dee Marshes Reserve and The Lane reflect the area's natural beauty and area attractions include Galloway Activity Centre and Cally Gardens. Looking to enjoy an event or a game while in town? See what's happening at Laggan Outdoor or Dumfries Ice Bowl. Discover the area's water adventures with waterskiing and windsurfing nearby, or enjoy the great outdoors with mountain biking and hiking/biking trails.
View more Castles in Castle DouglasOpens in a new window

What's nearby

  • Dalry Town Hall - 14 min drive - 9.9 km
  • Galloway Activity Centre - 14 min drive - 10.6 km
  • The Lane - 16 min drive - 8.0 km
  • Lock Ken - 19 min drive - 16.6 km
  • Galloway Forest Park - 20 min drive - 17.0 km

Getting around

  • Glasgow (PIK-Prestwick) - 83 min drive

Restaurants

  • ‪The Ken Bridge Hotel - ‬7 min drive
  • ‪The Smithy - ‬8 min drive
  • ‪The Clachan Inn - ‬10 min drive
  • ‪The Lochinvar - ‬10 min drive
  • ‪Cross Keys Hotel - ‬8 min drive

About this property

Historic and secluded 17th Century Castle located in private Scottish estate

Property Description:

Grade A listed Scottish tower house built in the mid Seventeenth century by William Maclellan.

The Castle offers comfortable accommodation for a group of up to 9 guests, with excellent westerly views of the rolling hills of the Glenkens across mature lawned gardens and beautiful surrounding countryside.

Furnished in a traditional country style, the Castle has a large kitchen family room on the ground floor, a Great Hall on the first floor and four bedrooms with two bathrooms (one en suite) on the second floor. There is also a bedroom with ensuite located above the entrance.

The Castle is quietly situated within Barscobe Estate, a privately owned 800 acre estate located about 1 mile from the village of Balmaclellan and 17 miles from the market town of Castle Douglas.

This secluded and historic estate also benefits from its own wild trout fishing on the picturesque Barscobe Loch, hills, ancient woodlands, river and waterfalls making it the perfect Scottish retreat.

There are also numerous other activities locally available within 5-10 minutes of the house including sailing, canoeing, water skiing on Loch Ken; hill walking and mountain biking in the Galloway Forest Park; and the local golf course in New Galloway. Barscobe House is also within easy distance of sandy beaches and a range of nationally famous country houses open to the public, such as Drumlanrig Castle and Dumfries House.

PRICING: Minimum stay is 3 nights. Nightly rates vary according to season. The VRBO system is unable to apply our discounts available on nightly rates. PLEASE CONTACT US for an exact quotation if you are interested in booking.

PLEASE NOTE: for families and couples only; stag parties, hen parties or the like are strictly forbidden and entry to the property will be refused.

Amenities

Pet-friendly
Parking available
Laundry

House Rules

Check in after 5:00 PM
Minimum age to rent: 30
Check out before 10:00 AM
default

Children

Children allowed: ages 0–17
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Events

No events allowed
default

Pets

Pets allowed: dogs (limit 2 total)
£20 per dog per stay (max 2)
default

Smoking

Smoking is not permitted

Important information

You need to know

Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card, debit card or cash deposit may be required at check-in for incidental charges
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges; special requests cannot be guaranteed
On-site parties or group events are strictly prohibited
Safety features at this property include a carbon monoxide detector, a fire extinguisher, a smoke detector and a first aid kit

Frequently asked questions

Is Historic and secluded 17th Century Castle located in private Scottish estate pet-friendly?

Yes, this castle allows dogs (limit 2 total).

How much does it cost to stay at Historic and secluded 17th Century Castle located in private Scottish estate?

As of 30 Mar 2026, prices found for a 1-night stay for 2 adults at Historic and secluded 17th Century Castle located in private Scottish estate on 6 Apr 2026 start from AU$579, including taxes and fees. This price is based on the lowest nightly price found in the last 24 hours for stays in the next 30 days. Prices are subject to change. Choose your dates for more accurate prices.

How much is parking at Historic and secluded 17th Century Castle located in private Scottish estate?

On-site parking is available at the property.

What time is check-in at Historic and secluded 17th Century Castle located in private Scottish estate?

Check-in begins at 5:00 PM.

What time is check-out at Historic and secluded 17th Century Castle located in private Scottish estate?

Checkout is at 10:00 AM.

Where is Historic and secluded 17th Century Castle located in private Scottish estate located?

Situated in Castle Douglas, this castle is within 6 miles (10 km) of The Lane, New Galloway Golf Club and Dalry Town Hall. Galloway Activity Centre and Loch Ken Marina are also within 9 miles (15 km).

Historic and secluded 17th Century Castle located in private Scottish estate Reviews

Reviews

9.2

Wonderful

Reviews are presented in chronological order, subject to a moderation process, and verified unless otherwise labelled.
Learn moreOpens in a new window
Rating 10 - Excellent. 32 out of 46 reviews
Rating 8 - Good. 10 out of 46 reviews
Rating 6 - Okay. 3 out of 46 reviews
Rating 4 - Poor. 0 out of 46 reviews
Rating 2 - Terrible. 1 out of 46 reviews

9.0/10

Cleanliness

9.4/10

Check-in

9.2/10

Communication

9.6/10

Location

9.4/10

Listing accuracy

Reviews

Verified

10/10 Excellent

Clarke M.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy
Beautiful property and conditions were excellent
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2025
Verified

10/10 Excellent

LeeAnn R.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy
Barscobe Castle did not disappoint! It was beautiful, comfortable and secluded. We absolutely loved our stay! Thank you.
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2025
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Christine C.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, location, listing accuracy
Just want to say that the entry details supplied by VBRO did not agree with the owners email. VBRO said keys were by the logs, whereas there was a locked box with a number which was supplied by the owner's email. However when arriving in the dark it was confusing
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2025
Verified

8/10 Good

Brook D.

Liked: Check-in, communication, listing accuracy
Memorable experience
Stayed 4 nights in Aug 2025
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Ashley L.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Festive Christmas Stay

We had a great family holiday and would highly recommend the property.
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2024
Verified

10/10 Excellent

laurie powell

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Fantastic location

Beautiful scenery and great walks
Stayed 5 nights in Apr 2023
Verified

8/10 Good

Rose B.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Retirement family get together

3rd time of staying at Barscobe with the family Magical place, homely and peaceful with beautiful gardens and waterfall, we never want to leave, and most certainly will return.
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2024
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Hal c.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Barscobe retreat

Wonderful bucolic retreat
Stayed 3 nights in May 2023
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Malcolm F.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Absolutely stunning!

We took the whole family and partners to Barscobe Castle and found both castle and area absolutely fabulous. The castle is so atmospheric and the area beautiful. Would definitely book again
Stayed 6 nights in May 2024
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Ann-Marie G.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Birthday weekend at Barscobe

Fantastic property and grounds. Made a special birthday extra special
Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2024
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Leana K.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Great Christmas and New Year

The whole family enjoyed our 2 week holiday at the Castle very much including our 2 dogs who enjoyed lovely walks every day.
Stayed 14 nights in Dec 2019
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Shawna H.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Lovely castle of our own

Gorgeous property and castle!! A bit remote— more accessible if you have a car, but doable with taxis (just book ahead!!).
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2023
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Jonathan B.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

One-of-a-kind location

The hosts were gracious and accommodating in every way. We had the most memorable experiences staying at this amazing home and exploring the southern regions of Scotland as a family. I cannot recommend it highly enough!
Stayed 5 nights in May 2023
Verified

6/10 Okay

Kenneth H.

Liked: Cleanliness, location, listing accuracy
Disliked: Check-in
The accomodation has both interest and character and is an excellent base for exploring this part of Scotland. It was let down however by a number of important points, for example:1. There was no facility to make fresh coffee during our stay, despite alerting the owner from the start.2. One shower only ran cold, the other flooded.3. The hot water thermostat was set dangerously high.4. The kitchen was inadequately resourced for a group of 9.I have been assured that each of these points will be addressed for future guests.
Stayed 7 nights in Aug 2025
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Rebecca S.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Fabulous Stay at Our Very Own Castle

This castle was a perfect place for our group of friends to reunite and spend time together. It comfortably slept 8 adults, and we loved being able to easily gather around the large table or upstairs in the great room. We had trouble with the WiFi (silly castles didn’t seem to be built for that modern technology!), and it certainly is fairly remote, but if that’s what you’re looking for, it was lovely.
Stayed 7 nights in Jun 2023
Verified

6/10 Okay

Heather W.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy
Lovely secluded historic property, enjoyable on the whole. However, some improvements would make the experience vastly better. Check in was good, we were lucky to be granted early access; after a trans Atlantic early morning flight we were grateful for that. The castle was very cold and damp on arrival, possibly after being unoccupied for a wee while. The kitchen could be better supplied - no coffee maker, very old scratched pans needing replacing and insufficient cutlery - previous guest has reviewed the same (after complaint to the host a set of 4 was dropped off by the lovely housekeeper - thank you Vicki).One was made to feel a little unwelcome by the lack of consumables provided, given the nearest supermarket is 30 mins away, we have stayed in many places all over the world and one would expect a couple of loo rolls could be supplied for the week, and at least a starter amount of laundry detergent. You are asked to sign the visitors book but there is not a pen, pencil, book or game in the building - this sums the place up. (DVD player but no DVDs)We bought some games and left them for the next guests. The leaving instructions are a little draconian for a 10am checkout, although we were given a generous extension; never been asked to clean a fire out before. I felt that the vibe was a little too thrifty and a little investment would achieve a reward of several magnitudes. A coat of paint can go a long way. Overall great castle, not achieving its full potential.
Stayed 7 nights in Dec 2025
Verified

8/10 Good

Colin T.

Liked: Cleanliness, location, listing accuracy
Disliked: Check-in

Unique experience.Great place to celebrate a special birthday with my close family

All the facilities were correct for what is a very special place, difficult to replicate anywhere else. Communication though needs to be more timely both from Vrbo (No communication between booking made and 3 days before with key instructions) and the proprietor who sent an email after we had left home
Stayed 7 nights in May 2024
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Nicki Z.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

A fabulous New Year away with extended family.

The most beautiful peaceful setting to relax & enjoy being together. We cooked, ate, danced, played games, walked, hiked, climbed, swam & read our way through the New Year break, just lovely. Alistair & the team looking after the castle could not have been more helpful.
Stayed 5 nights in Dec 2022
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Lesley W.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Wonderful stay

Spent Christmas week at Barscobe Castle with the family. Despite the weather, it was warm and comfortable with everything needed for preparing our Christmas celebrations. It was very special and we even had our own tree to decorate and to put the presents under. The area was stunning, amazing walking country and we were very sad to leave. Thank you for giving us such a memorable Christmas and a birthday celebration.
Stayed 7 nights in Dec 2022
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Laura M.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

King of the Castle

It was magical to have an actual castle all to ourselves! It was easy to imagine life back in the 1600’s. My favorite experience was waking up to lambs playing just outside our window. We loved hiking to the loch and to the waterfall. In addition to the castle, there was a ton of Scottish terrain to explore. This was one of my best vacations ever!
Stayed 5 nights in Apr 2023
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Amanda M.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Fairy Tale

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Barscobe Castle. It was like being in a real-life fairy tale. The property was absolutely breathtaking. We enjoyed our hikes to the falls and the loch as well as waking up to sheep frolicking in the fields. We live on a Ranch in Texas so although it rained most of our stay and the locals asked if the weather was being kind to us we couldn't have been happier to see rain!! The Castle was well equipped with everything we needed for a comfortable stay. I would definitely recommend this property to anyone wanting to visit Scotland and hope our travels bring us back one day. If I have one recommendation it would be to have a history book or wall or something about the castle and property. For something to have stood the test of time since 1648 it has to be rich in history, stories and memories. Also, we had the joy of chatting with Vicki several times. She is a sweetheart!
Stayed 5 nights in Sep 2023
Verified

8/10 Good

Heidi B.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Pretty good

We LOVED walking around the farmland and open areas--there's a small lake and lots of hills, most with a lot of sheep. It was relatively remote but the two houses of the people that work on the farm were pretty close; however, I only ever saw them twice in 4 days and just as we were driving by. The castle has all the conveniences and was very homey. However, the mildew and peeling paint here and there from all the moisture had me worrying about perhaps some being black mold. I'm sure it doesn't have it as the owner was very responsive and has clearly taken good care of it, but it was still a concern of mine. It has some funky, musty smells throughout, and the stairs were something you had to be very careful on as they're not really even or flat steps. It was only two of us, so we only needed one room and one bathroom. I think this would be a great place for a group as it was well set up w/multiple bedrooms and bathrooms and a large updated kitchen. I recommend it but with hesitation due to the moisture. I was happy with my stay but wouldn't stay there again. If you're looking for something, as I was, that is out in the country where you can roam freely without seeing people, this is great for that!
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2023
Verified

2/10 Terrible

Rebecca F.

Liked: Check-in, location
Disliked: Cleanliness, communication, listing accuracy

No running water for half the stay, nobody came out to check on us and no refund of any kind.

We booked a 3 night stay. On day 2 we went out and when we returned found that the water had stopped working. It took about 10 phone calls to find someone who would pick up our calls and then that's when the nightmare started. First, we were told that this had only ever happened after a long drought. An hour later they called to say everyone on the estate was out of water, this has never happened this time of year, and the caretaker was on his way to the water tanks to investigate. Meanwhile, we had no drinking water, couldn't flush toilets, do the dishes, couldn't bath or shower. We were all sweaty and grassy from playing out in the nice, weather on the fresh cut lawns and ended up having to climb into bed like that. I received a text message at 22:40 to say the water problem was unprecedented, that they would fill the tanks the next day but only use what we need to drink and flush loos, but not to bath for 24 hours!! The water still wasn't working then. No offer to bring us drinking water, no gesture of apology, nobody came to speak with us, no money back at all and a loud, whirring noise from the utility room went on through the night, keeping us awake. The next day we were told by text the caretaker would look into it, but we never saw him and the water was still not working fullywe had a trickle in the kitchen so we had to carry jugs upstairs and manually fill the cisterns to flush. On our last day wewent out to get away from it, and it was back on when we got in. Never
Stayed 3 nights in May 2023
Verified

10/10 Excellent

Charlotte J.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy
Second time visiting, and we will certainly come back again.
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2026
Verified

8/10 Good

Oliver K.

Liked: Check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Erholsame Tage in den Lowlands

Wir haben unsern Aufenthalt in Barscobe Castle sehr genossen. Die wunderschöne Natur, die Ruhe und die gemütlichen Stunden im Schloss waren genau das, was wir gesucht hatten.Vom Besitzer des Anwesens fühlten wir uns gut und freundlich unterstützt und die Infrastruktur bot alles, was man im Urlaub braucht (sogar einen 1. Hilfe-Koffer!).Die Sauberkeit in den Schlafzimmern und den Bädern war gut. Das Wohnzimmer war ebenso sauber, bis auf den großen Kamin. Dieser war sehr ungepflegt und teilweise unappetitlich schmutzig. Obwohl wir uns vor allem auf gemütliche Stunden vor einem Kamin gefreut hatten, konnten wir den Kamin nicht nutzen. Der Grund seien brütende Vögel, wurde uns gesagt. Das war natürlich sehr schade. Der Außenbereich bietet einen einfachen Unterstand und Rasenplätze, auf die wir den Gartentisch und Stühle stellen konnten. Alles in allem bleibt das Fazit sehr positiv und wir können die Ferienunterkunft Schottland-, Schloss-, Wander- und Naturfans nur empfehlen.
Stayed 7 nights in Jun 2025