Expanding its portfolio of boutique hotels, the family-owned Sonas Collection has announced the relaunch of Knipoch House Hotel, a country house hotel near Oban, on Scotland’s West Coast.
The 26-bedroom hotel marks the fourth property for the collection, which is now both its largest hotel and its first outside of the Isle of Skye.
Sonas was founded on Skye by Anne Gracie-Gunn and her late husband Ken, arising from their passion for sailing and desire to showcase the beauty of the Hebridean waters, the Gaelic language and culture through ‘exceptional’ hospitality.
Over the past nine months, Sonas has invested over £1 million to reinvent the Oban venue with a complete renovation to the bedrooms, the bathrooms, dining rooms, bar, and lounge, to create an ‘’elegant and relaxing experience for guests, with a firelit lounge, three atmospheric dining rooms, and panoramic views of Loch Feochan.
Dating back to the 1600s, the hotel retains its historic charm with original fireplaces, stone walls and wood panelling, paired with modern comforts likef super-king-sized beds, and amenities like a private hot tub and walking paths through nature from the hotel.
Additional offerings are planned to further improve the guest experience, together with an outdoor terrace barbecue and dining area currently underway to make the most of the spring and summer weather in the hotel’s scenic setting.
Knipoch House also offers high-end, modern Scottish dining in its onsite restaurants, headed by Chef Andrew Engledow, who has joined the Oban venue from his previous position at the group’s Duisdale House Hotel.
Andrew has a focus on locally sourced ingredients from Argyll and seasonal flavours that ‘reflect the natural beauty of the surrounding area whilst introducing a unique twist’.
Owner and director Mrs Gracie-Gunn said: “I, together with my highly skilled team at Sonas are truly delighted to be relaunching this wonderful property which I have admired from afar for many years. It is a perfect fit for our Skye-based collection and will enable us to offer our guests yet another location to explore under the Sonas brand.
“It has been a great pleasure to have worked alongside each of our skilled tradespeople to develop this well-known venue in Argyll. Our guests, from near and far, can now enjoy our sympathetic designs, our Hebridean hospitality, our freshly prepared locally sourced menus and drinks selection under the close eye of our group general manager Andreas Maszczyk.”
Maszczyk commented: “I am honoured and so delighted having the opportunity to expand with Anne the Sonas Hotel Collection Group from the Isle of Skye to the mainland of Scotland. It’s a real privilege for our whole team at the Sonas Hotel Collection to be welcoming the Knipoch House Hotel into our collection.
“Since we took over, the hotel has been awarded a rising star hotel award and it is wonderful to get to work with the team to relaunch the ‘sleeping beauty’. The Knipoch House Hotel is an iconic country house hotel. The investment already completed has created the most beautiful new rooms, and the hotel is perfectly located for leisure and business.”
The Sonas Collection began in 2003 with the intimate Skye gem, Toravaig. The owners initially operated the hotel as a companion to the adventures they offered on their yacht Solus. As demand grew, Anne and Ken added Duisdale House to their portfolio in 2007, just three miles from Toravaig, renovating the Victorian mansion into the much-loved hotel it is today.
Eight years later, the collection expanded with the addition of Skeabost, just north of Portree. At that time, Anne’s daughter, Jen and her family joined the business.
