Despite being full of Victorian furniture this hotel was actually only built in the sixties to replace a previous one which had been the home of Henry Phipps and Sarah Ross. These two bought so many treasures during their world travels that they bought a town house in St Andrews to put them all. They were philanthropists who gave much to the local community. With a great wooden staircase and a well furnished room, we were very comfortable but there were surprising absences for a hotel of this standard. WiFi was a little spasmodic, There was no facility to make tea or coffee in the room. The bar was taken up with extra dining tables for the excellent restaurant and there was little alternative lounge space so guests congregated noisily on the landing. In room 25 we were woken before 7am and after midnight by people walking in the room above. Breakfast was adequate with a freshly prepared yogurt, oats and fruit dish and then the choice of egg and bacon or French toast with Maple syrup and fruit. Dinner was excellent, we chose a la carte one night and the tasting menu the other, reported separately. We enjoyed the walk up Chamcook Mountain, part of the 87 acre estate and saw the vegetable garden. An enjoyable stay but we departed after a robust discussion about gratuities.

Overall the grounds and rooms are very nice. Great to go out for a run in the morning only to return to find a couple of white tailed deer munching their breakfast on the front lawn of the property.

Whilst the rooms are very clean and comfortable we did find that the WiFi at times was particularly slow / not operational.

Unfortunately, we had room 25 on the second floor, the room in itself is fine, the problem is the noise. It is directly above the restaurant. This means that from 18:00 until restaurant close the noise in this room is way too loud (have never stayed anywhere which has such a noise problem). You can hear the noise from multiple conversations and every movement of chairs on the wooden flooring. The room and / or restaurant need better noise insulation.

If you want to eat in the restaurant, make sure you make a reservation well in advance. We stayed three nights and only managed to get a table at a push on the last night at 21:00. See restaurant review.

Overall, we liked they stay here, given a different room may have been a 5.