In Arbroath, on Scotland’s east coast, the painter Patrick Allan-Fraser and his wife Elizabeth turned a red sandstone house into a Gothic Revival mansion full of studios. When he died in 1890 he left it to art education; artists have worked there since 1902.
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First a summer school, then a postgraduate college that saw Joan Eardley and Will Maclean pass through, the house now hosts artist residencies. Caruso St John is restoring it in stages: in 2021 the Victorian fernery got its glass roof back and Nigel Dunnett replanted the walled garden. In 2026 Hospitalfield received the International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens.
The picture gallery, under its carved roof, can be hired for a plenary or a workshop, with the cedar gallery next door for breakout groups; the music room takes parties and meetings. The house also hosts residential retreats and seminars, on request. Arbroath is on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen line, with direct trains from London.
Photo credits : Ray Oaks (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) ; Tom Parnell (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
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