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Murrayshall: Perthshire hotel awaits decision on £15m plan to double in size

Murrayshall Hotel exterior
Murrayshall House Hotel is adding luxury glamping pods to the mix.

A Perthshire hotel hopes a decision on £15 million expansion plans will be made before the end of the year.

Earlier this year, initial plans were revealed that include doubling the size of the hotel and launching a hub for outdoor pursuits.

The development could bring 250 jobs to the popular venue, almost quadrupling the current workforce.

The proposals include a spa facility, golf training, an indoor sports building, outdoor sports grounds and a campsite.

Murrayshall Country House Hotel and Golf Club, built in 1644, also hope to get permission for a range of new leisure facilities, holiday lodges and glamping pods.

General manager Gary Silcock hopes a decision on a pre-application notice will be made before the end of the year.

While they await a decision, Mr Silcock said work is continuing on detailed planning permission.

Murrayshall general manager Gary Silcock.

Murrayshall Country House at Scone has undergone a renovation of its existing 40 rooms, with more than £2.5 million invested over the past four years.

Part of that investment was a rebranding, complete with new website.

Mr Silcock said it is in aid of returning Murrayshall to the luxury market.

He added: “There has been a repositioning from our side. We’re moving ourselves into the luxury market.

“We’re hitting record rates of the hotel and we’re seeing a lot of volume.

“The golf course has done very well – it is up to 690 members, which is fantastic.

“We set the budget here back in December not knowing what January and February were going to give us.

Murrayshall Country House Hotel.

“We’ve hit all the rooms budgets every month since April that we had planned.”

The website rebranding was undertaken by digital agency Shine, who carried out similar work at the Torridon.

It is now one of the “go-to” places to visit in the Highlands, Mr Silcock said, and he hopes Murrayshall can follow suit in Perthshire.

He said: “Murrayshall has been a landmark on the Scottish landscape for centuries.

“The re-branding brings it right up-to-date while underlining it as a rural getaway.

“This is an important part of ambitious plans to transform the estate into one of Scotland’s prime visitor destinations and golfing centres.”

Murrayshall response to Covid-19

Mr Silcock has been pleased with the way the venue has responded to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said they had hit occupancy targets since lockdown restrictions began to ease in April.

The general manager was also pleased that no staff had been made redundant despite Murrayshall being unable to operate at its capacity for much of the past 18 months.

One of the 40 rooms at Murrayshall.

He said: “We’ve not made any redundancies. That is something we are very proud of.

“We obviously used furlough but we used the down time to keep investing and make the place better.”