Modern design sensibility has transformed this 400-year-old castle into a contemporary and characterful escape

Draw, in your mind’s eye, a generic Scottish castle. Does it have imposing grey stone walls capped by turrets? An interior steeped in stately reds and oppressive swathes of tartan? Mahogany furniture and mounted swords? Yawn, yawn, yawn. Aldourie Castle might have the conical turrets and crenellated tower (as well as an idyllic position on the shores of Loch Ness that would inspire envy in its contemporaries), but it’s no tired old cliché.

Since being ushered into the well-dressed bosom of Wildland, the Danish-owned hospitality and conservation group, this baronial castle-for-hire has received the kind of ‘you, but better’ treatment the Scandinavians deploy so exceptionally well.

Wildland’s co-founder Anne Povlsen and her concept and design manager Ruth Kramer are renowned for their uncompromising vision, having cast an exacting eye over a smattering of Scottish holiday properties including Lundies in Tongue and Tigh Na Coille in Loch Ness, now considered destinations in their own right.

Gone are the trad tropes that dominate our most remote parts, and in their place a more authentic interpretation of Scotland that blends lightness and warmth with modern artworks and artisan-made furniture.

Aldourie Castle presented a different proposition to the rest of Wildland’s portfolio, however.

For a start, the Aldourie Castle estate comprises some 500 acres of woodland and gardens as well as a collection of outbuildings, so a team of experts was assembled to oversee its various constituent parts.

It is also nearly 400 years old, and while age needn’t dictate style, Ruth and Anne were keen to preserve a sense of history and classicism rather than import the Scandi-Scot sensibility for which Wildland is known. “We felt it needed period furniture, and that’s not our speciality,” explains Ruth.

In swept Charlotte Freemantle and Will Fisher, owners of the London-based antiques emporium Jamb, to renovate the castle respectfully without kowtowing to the rich, stuffy aesthetic so often found in buildings of this ilk.

Aldourie Castle is now as graceful inside as its apricot-hued façade implies, with a feminine palette (the great hall is painted in Edward Bulmer’s Jonquil, the colour of setting plaster; the drawing room is lined with celadon silk), exquisite textiles and an assortment of vintage furnishings that invite guests to relax, not straighten their posture. It radiates elegance and light.

When guests hire the twelve-bedroom castle, it is theirs exclusively. At £18,000 per night, it’s hardly a stay at the Holiday Inn, but in return they receive the luxury of a fully serviced and staffed castle in which they can do as they please, whether that’s throwing a party, getting married or enjoying quality time with family and friends.

“It is effectively a hotel service but one that’s tailored to each guest,” says Lavinia Turner, Wildland’s experiences manager, who has welcomed many famous faces through the doors but says there are just as many non-celeb guests who have saved up to celebrate a landmark birthday or anniversary. “And they’re equally as important to us,” she adds.

Everyone gets special treatment at Aldourie Castle; from bespoke menus devised by top-tier chefs to a roster of activities that could include yoga in the sunny Ptolemy Dean-designed boathouse overlooking the loch, a ceramics or flower-arranging class, hiking, boat trips and sightseeing.

Some people want a very Scottish flavoured experience and ask for a local historian to come and tell them more about the area, or for a full pipe band to play on the lawn. Anything goes. “But really, a lot of our guests just like to relax and enjoy exploring the estate,” says Lavinia. “It’s so beautiful with the Aldourie Castle gardens, the walks and the woodland.”

The landscape designer Tom Stuart-Smith, a favourite with the royals, was responsible for revitalising the gardens, taking a structured yet naturalistic approach. It is divided, organically into experiences for guests to meander through: enchanting wildflower meadows, a Victorian walled garden (where they can assist the seven-strong garden team in picking vegetables and herbs), a summer garden planted with pink Japanese anemones and lilac asters that echo the castle’s gentle colours.

Hot days can be tempered by cool dips in the loch and picnics in the sloping dells. Some of the trees surrounding Aldourie Castle are centuries old but more than a thousand have been newly planted in line with Wildland’s ambition to regenerate forests across the Highlands.

The grounds are also home to a selection of self-catering cottages and bothies available as standalone accommodation (from £1,785 per stay) or as boltons to full castle hire.

Ruth led the renovations for these properties and it shows; they are cosy and inviting, kitted out with hand-crafted furniture and decorated with thoughtful restraint. “I think love is such a force if you use it as a framework for design,” she reflects. “Because then you’re considering what other people find comfortable.”

“How do they like to sit? Do they want to be able to make their own coffee? What makes them feel at home? That’s something we think about a lot when designing at Wildland. We want to create an essence of togetherness and connection; of being in a warm embrace.”

Aldourie Castle

The Estate Office

Loch Ness

Inverness

IV2 6EL

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