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

Dundee

Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...

 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 Flets", which in the old Scots

Scots language

Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...

 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

The Automobile Association

The Automobile Association , a British motoring association founded in 1905 was demutualised in 1999 to become a private limited company which currently provides car insurance, driving lessons, breakdown cover, loans and motoring advice, and other services...

 as one of the top 200 hotels in Britain since 1999.

The hotel has 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) of grounds and is located 1 miles (1.6 km) from the centre of St Andrews

St Andrews

St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....

, 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
• Four Gold Stars from Visit Scotland

In the press

In August 2006 the hotel's restaurant received press coverage with the launch of cosmeceutical

Cosmeceutical

Cosmeceuticals refers to the combination of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Cosmeceuticals are cosmetic products with biologically active ingredients purporting to have medical or drug-like benefits....

 enhanced menu which the restaurant claims contains "ingredients known for their anti-ageing properties to help diners to have longer, more youthful lives".

In February 2008 the hotel became Scotland's

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 first carbon neutral

Carbon neutral

Carbon neutrality, or having a net zero carbon footprint, refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset, or buying enough carbon credits to make up the difference...

 hotel as part of a sustainable tourism

Sustainable tourism

Sustainable tourism is tourism attempting to make a low impact on the environment and local culture, while helping to generate future employment for local people. The aim of sustainable tourism is to ensure that development brings a positive experience for local people, tourism companies and the...

 drive.

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 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

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

Group called 'Save Rufflets' Rufus Bear'.