Dabton House, Dumfries & Galloway: we stay at luxury exclusive-use property, once the Duke of Buccleuch's family home

You can now take a holiday to the 11-bedroom venue

Dabton House exterior Pic: Walter Dalkeith

The Clan Douglas symbol is a crowned heart with wings.

You’ll see it everywhere at one of the Buccleuch family seats, Drumlanrig Castle, which the Dumfries & Galloway locals nickname the Pink Palace. This emblem is on ancient wallpaper, cornices, and carved into wood and stone.

However, there’s a more contemporary logo for the estate’s new exclusive-use property, Dabton House, which is just ten minutes away.

Drumlanrig Castle

Originally built in 1820 as a home for the Queensberry Estate’s factor, this house is where the current 10th Duke, Richard Scott, and the late duchess, Lady Elizabeth Kerr, brought up their four children.

Shielded from the road by its 27 acres of woodland, not many people, even those who live in the nearest village of Thornhill, know that this house even exists. After a restoration project that was completed in the summer, the estate is now letting it out as luxury accommodation, either self-catered, with some meals provided or full-board.

To reflect the building’s new purpose, they’ve gone for branding that includes an abstract image of a nuthatch. According to their general manager, Alasdair Knight, this was chosen as the little bird makes its home in other bird’s disused nests.

That’s what you can do, on a stay at this house. And what a nest.

Living room at Dabton House Pic: Alix McIntosh

It was too cold for us to play tennis on the outdoor court, or to hang around the gardens, which were glittering with frost in the low winter sun. These include an ornamental area, with a Japanese-style bridge and beautiful silver birches, as well as a kitchen garden where they grow produce to feature on menus.

Back inside and upstairs, there are 11 individually-designed bedrooms, all en-suite and with names including Boughton, Queensberry and Scott. We were in the buttercup-yellow-painted Buccleuch, with a huge bathroom that had a roll-top bath and products from Restoration Yard, made on the Duke’s Dalkeith Estate.

Downstairs, there’s the grand living room, with fireplace and piano.

There’s also a games room, with a pool table and telly; the dining room, with its hand-painted Chinoiserie-style wallpaper featuring orchids, Mandarin ducks, birds and butterflies, and a quiet library full of well-stuffed armchairs.

The Buccleuch bedroom at Dabton House Pic: Alix McIntosh

At the end of one corridor, you’ll find a sauna, and a treatment room for two, so you can book massages on your stay.

It’s early days for this property’s life as a luxury destination, and Alasdair has many other ambitious plans. In buildings including former stables and the gardener’s old house, he’s developing a steam room, yoga studio and gym, and they’ll soon produce their own gin.

They’ve already created their own excellent coffee, which we tried over a huge breakfast in the dining room.

We’d already had dinner in this space the night before. It had been whipped up by the duke’s private chef, the appropriately named Betty Cook. She’d done the prep, then left the capable Alasdair, and Joanne, who also works for the estate, to do the plating and serving.

The Clan Douglas emblem on the garden gates at Dabton House Pic: Walter Dalkeith

Anyway, she’s a culinary genius. There were three courses, starting with a Mull cheddar souffle followed by sea bass, then apple and frangipane tart with mango sorbet. It’s the sort of dinner that feels really special, yet is also something you could happily eat every night.

We felt that we deserved it, after a chilly fishing session on the nearby River Nith. This is one of the activities that can be organised, if you’re staying in the house. No salmon or sea trout was caught, though we were maybe a bit late in the season.

Despite the lack of a bite, we enjoyed learning Spey casting with Graeme, who had endless patience with our lack of coordination.

It would also seem a bit remiss, on a trip to this neck of the woods, not to also have a look round Drumlanrig Castle, so that’s how we round off our trip. We’re led by seasoned guide, Moira, who is totally encyclopedic in her knowledge of every historical detail and individual treasure.

Considering I struggle to remember the name of my own grandparents, never mind the greats or great-greats, my brain boggles at the Buccleuch’s recorded history. The palace is packed with portraits. I lose track of who’s who, halfway through.

However, perhaps preempting that, Moira, who reveals that the castle was recently featured in current Sky period drama, The Buccaneers as well as Outlander, keeps it entertaining and never bombards us with names and dates.

She’s also good at mentioning significant women, and not just focusing on the heirs.

Towards the end of the tour, we hear about the theft and eventual return of Leonardo da Vinci’s Madonna of the Yarnwinder, which hung by the wooden staircase. We also enjoyed the 18th-century family portrait of boys with a strange-looking oversized monkey. According to Moira, the artist had shoe-horned this furry subject in later, presumably because the children were annoyed about their unusual pet being excluded.

In a quiet study, which is decorated in a Dutch style, you’ll find the Rembrandt painting, An Old Woman Reading, with its magical chiaroscuro effect, hanging above the fireplace.

I especially enjoy the story of Neil Armstrong, who visited the castle at the height of his moon-walking fame. He insisted on sleeping in one of the oldest bedrooms, which features a tiny four-poster and is lined with tapestries. However, his wife refused to sleep there with him. In the end, the ancient horse-hair-stuffed mattress was so hard and lumpy – worse, presumably, than sleeping onboard Apollo 11 - that Armstrong was found wandering the corridors lost at night, trying to join his other half in her cosier boudoir.

He might have been even more comfortable down the road, at Dabton House.

Prices start from £2500 a night at Dabton House, Thornhill, Dumfries & Galloway (07552 736 599, www.dabtonhouse.co.uk)