History of Knockomie Country House Hotel in Scotland

 In 1812 a villa was built which is where the Cockburn Room will be situated. The house was run by a Miss Smith who ran it as a house for visiting judges, such as Lord Cockburn on his circuit journeys in the 1840’s. Miss Smith was a very keen gardener who started what became one of the most glorious in the region.

In the late 1800’s the property changed hands from the Earl of Moray to the Fraser family whose wealth came from tea plantations in India. In 1914 plans were drawn up to extend the house by WH Woodruffe to create an Arts and Crafts House. The plans for this can be viewed in the corridor next to the Restaurant.

You will notice several changes from the plans including the lack of a cast iron fireplace for the Front Hall. This was not built due to all efforts turning to the 1914 war.

The Frasers were keen gardeners and employed some 9 full time gardeners between the wars. The Luftwaffa took several photographs of the site in the late 30’s and some 12 Greenhouses could be identified.  Mr Frasers daughter married Mr Webster and lived in the country house until 1985 when she died.

Radio Programmes were recorded in the gardens and broadcast throughout the land. This was due to the reputation of Mr Websters cultivation of heathers and daffodils, both of which have varieties called Knockomie.

In late 1986 the country house was sold to open as a hotel and in November 1987 the Ellis Family purchased the hotel, which at that stage had 7 bedrooms.   Since then it has been developed slowly and in 1993 a new extension was built on providing another 9 bedrooms.