Rufflets Hotel

Rufflets Country House Hotel
General information
Location Strathkinness Low Road
St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland
KY16 9TX
Coordinates 56°20′01″N 2°50′25″W / 56.3336°N 2.8404°W / 56.3336; -2.8404Coordinates: 56°20′01″N 2°50′25″W / 56.3336°N 2.8404°W / 56.3336; -2.8404
Opening 1952
Other information
Number of rooms 24
Number of suites 2
Number of restaurants 1
Website
Rufflets.co.uk

Rufflets Hotel is a 4 star hotel near St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland.

History

Rufflets House 1924–1952

Rufflets House itself was built in 1924 as a private home for Mrs Anne Brydon Gilroy, the widow of a prominent Dundee jute baron, and was designed by Dundee architect Donald Mills. Local records going back as far as 1642 indicate that the land was owned by the Priory of St Andrews as part of the Priory Acres and it was known as the "Ruch (pronounced "ruff") Flets", which in the old Scots tongue, meant "rough, flat lands."

Rufflets Hotel 1952 to date

The hotel was bought George and Margaret Cook and Anna & James Meldrum in 1952 and turned into one of the UK's first country house hotels. The hotel is still in the same family and has been rated by The Automobile Association as one of the top 200 hotels in Britain since 1999.

The hotel has 10 acres (40,000 m2) of grounds and is located 1-mile (1.6 km) from the centre of St Andrews, along the B939 road. The hotel has modern conference hosting facilities.

Awards

Rufflets holds many awards including:

  • Four AA Red Stars and Two AA Red Rosettes[1]
  • Four Gold Stars from Visit Scotland[2]

In the press

In August 2006 the hotel's restaurant received press coverage with the launch of cosmeceutical enhanced menu which the restaurant claims contains "ingredients known for their anti-ageing properties to help diners to have longer, more youthful lives".[3]

In February 2008 the hotel became Scotland's first carbon neutral hotel[4] as part of a sustainable tourism drive.[5]

Rufus Bear

Since 1997, Rufflets has had a teddy bear in residence, Rufus. One Rufus per room was used as the equivalent of a Do Not Disturb sign. Once a room was cleaned, guests would return to find Rufus apparently making himself at home amongst their other possessions, for example, sitting at their laptop. The Rufus bears are a favourite of young children staying at the hotel and are available to buy.

Scrapping the Bear controversy

In 2008, Rufflets were advised that Rufus was not in keeping with the image of a modern hotel and recommended that he be scrapped. The hotel placed a poll on their website[6] to determine if guests agreed.

The news of Rufus' possible sacking produced an overwhelming backlash in favour of keeping the Bear. The website poll showed an overwhelming 96% were in favour of Rufus staying. The hotel have published several photos, sent in by guests, of Rufus apparently on tour around the world as well as a series of comments from users in support of Rufus. The affair has even provoked the creation of a Facebook Group[7] called 'Save Rufflets' Rufus Bear'.

References

  1. ↑ "Rufflets on the AA". The AA Website. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  2. ↑ "Rufflets on Visit Scotland". visitscotland.com. Retrieved 2010-09-13.
  3. ↑ John Naish (August 12, 2006). "Eat yourself beautiful?". The Times. Retrieved 2006-08-12.
  4. ↑ Mark Forrester (June 1, 2007). "Rufflets Country House Hotel to Become First CarbonNeutral Hotel in Scotland". PR Web. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
  5. ↑ Mark Forrester (February 23, 2008). "Sustainable Tourism Short Break - Rufflets Country House". PR Web. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
  6. ↑ "Save Rufus poll". Rufflets Website. Archived from the original on 2009-03-03. Retrieved 2009-02-11.
  7. ↑ "Save Rufus Facebook Group". Facebook. Retrieved 2009-02-11.
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