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Five star success for historic Blervie House


By SPP Reporter

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Blervie House
Blervie House

A HISTORIC country house has been awarded national five-star status.

Blervie House, near Rafford, received the accolade from VisitScotland under its Quality Assurance scheme at its first ever grading.

The 11-bedroomed Historic Environment Scotland-listed building is owned, and has been renovated, by Graham and Sheena Thompson.

Graham said: “We purchased Blervie House just over three years ago and fell in love with it but soon realised that such a beautiful house needed to be lived in and shared with our guests.”

The pair started trading as a guest house four months ago.

Sheena added: “We want to offer our guests a luxurious but relaxed stay in our home and hope people will arrive as guests but leave as friends. Part of staying at Blervie House means being introduced to this stunning part of Scotland and the endless activities and adventures available from the house. Since the grading visit we have now added beauty facilities and a formal dining option to the Blervie House experience.”

The house sits in nearly 300 acres of grounds and has extensive views over the Moray Firth. All bedrooms boast wonderful views and contain top-quality furnishings, many of which have an interesting story to tell.

Toiletries in the rooms are supplied by Ness Soaps, part of Calman Trust, a social enterprise helping young people in the Highlands – something important to Sheena and Graham and very relevant during Scotland’s Year of Young People.

While renovating, memorabilia was discovered indicating Blervie had been used during the Second World War for army training. Visitors can see many original features around the property – a dumb waiter, the original safe, ovens and servant’s bells. The house has five lounges and a full-sized billiard table - there is also a barbecue/picnic area and garden.

Regional director at VisitScotland, Jo Robinson, congratulated Sheena and Graham on their award and sympathetic renovation.

She said: “It really is a little bit of luxury away from home and five-star status shows visitors that they can expect a high quality experience.”



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