Von Essen enters Scotland

Von Essen Hotels has bought its first property in Scotland.

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The privately owned hotel group has bought the Dalhousie Castle & Spa in Bonnyrigg, just outside Edinburgh, for a rumoured £10m.

The 32-bedroom hotel, formerly owned by Nexus Hotels, features a £2m health spa, which was one of the prime reasons for its purchase by Von Essen.

The group plans to incorporate spas into all of its hotels to complement those it already has at the Cliveden in Berkshire, Royal Crescent in Bath, and at Bishopstrow House in Wiltshire.

The acquisition takes the group's portfolio to 11 hotels.

Earlier this month Von Essen bought the nine-bedroom Lewtrenchard Manor near Dartmoor in Devon for an undisclosed amount.

The company, which hopes to grow to a group of 20 country house hotels, is close to buying another hotel in Scotland, two in the Lake District and is also looking at a hotel in the Cotswolds, rumoured to be the Savoy Group's Lygon Arms in Broadway, Worcestershire.

Christie & Co was the agent. Knight Frank acted for Von Essen.