A country house with a flying past.
Adamton House was built in 1885 for John George Alexander Baird, an iron and coal master who went on to be an MP for Glasgow, to designs by the Glasgow architects William Clarke and George Bell. It's red sandstone and Jacobean Revival, all Dutch gables and clustered chimneys, and it stands on a raised site in about 19 acres at Monkton, just outside Prestwick. I married a couple here on a Friday in June 2026.
Air force, then flying school
Its twentieth century was not a quiet one. The house was requisitioned for the war effort in 1942, and from 1951 until around 1967 it was an officers' club for the United States Air Force, which was stationed at Prestwick. In 1987 British Aerospace bought it for a flying training school, and it became a hotel in 2002. Historic Environment Scotland lists it at Category B, and inside there's a lot of carved timber panelling and a large oak imperial staircase at the heart of the house.
It's one of the Britannia hotels now, and the hotel puts it a ten-minute drive from Prestwick Airport, which is handy if some of your guests are flying in.
The ceremony room
The hotel says its function room holds up to 150, and that you can take your vows and carry on celebrating without changing venue. Ours was a one o'clock ceremony in a big cream room under a gold chandelier, with a white aisle runner scattered with petals, an arch of greenery at the front, and the signing table set against tall windows hung with sheer curtains. We had a handfasting, a full room and a big bridal party, and the signing table in that window got the best of the light.
What I'd ask first
The house sits up on its rise with stone balustrades and steps, so ask how guests who can't manage steps get in, and which door they'll use. Then ask which parts of the house are yours for the day: where your guests gather if the room is turned round after the ceremony, where the drinks go, and whether the staircase is free for a group photograph. Historic Environment Scotland singles it out as a particularly fine one, and it would be a shame to waste it.
If your guests are staying, the bedrooms are split between the main house and an annexe, so ask which your party gets.
The legal bit, and the paperwork
A humanist wedding in Scotland is legally binding, and as a Humanist Society Scotland celebrant I look after every legal word of it on the day. The part that's yours is the paperwork before it: giving notice to the registrar in good time and collecting your Marriage Schedule, and my guide to wedding paperwork in Scotland walks you through it. I write every ceremony from scratch. I'm a humanist wedding celebrant covering Ayrshire, from Prestwick and Ayr to Troon and Irvine, and my Ayrshire wedding celebrant page has more on the area. If you're thinking about a handfasting, a room this size gives it plenty of space.
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More Ayrshire venues I know inside out: Fairfield House, Ayr · Enterkine House · Piersland House · Brig o' Doon House · The Fox & Willow, Ayr · Rowallan Castle · The Gailes Hotel