Ritz-Carlton is to open a new hotel in a converted castle at a championship golf course being built in Ayrshire, Scotland.
The hotel will include 120 bedrooms and 40 timeshare-style vacation homes. Golf star Jack Nicklaus has designed the course, which will be set in the 300 acres surrounding Dalquharran Castle.
Ritz-Carlton has been working on the project with civil engineering consultant Bill Wright since Wright bought the land in 2000.
Wright's firm Kezia DCM will spend £50m refurbishing and extending the derelict castle. "Scotland badly needs good-quality hotel accommodation," he said.
The extension will house an upmarket 80-seat restaurant, with the castle itself providing a 40-seat private dining room catering for "small" occasions. There will be a grill in the clubhouse.
The course should open in 2007.
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 23 September 2004