Feed your soul with three days of countryside walks, meditative stretching and farm-to-plate dining at Ballintaggart Farm
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Here, in the Tay Valley of Perthshire, Mother Nature bends everything and everyone to her will. At the foot of the Grampian Mountains lie beautifully hardy patchworks of pine forests that have survived centuries of forceful Atlantic winds. Blades of rough stalked meadow grass curve and glint after a heavy downpour. The sky turns blue as a goldcrest shakes droplets from its fiery head and treats me to a song. This scene is unfolding at Ballintaggart Farm, a 14-acre smallholding near Pitlochry peppered with buttercups and guarded by verdant hedgerows. I’m visiting from Glasgow to experience the Reconnect Retreat, a three-day gastronomic wellness escape that strives to connect people with place and produce. A cityslicker like me has no option but to slow down.
Ballintaggart boasts a diverse culinary lineage. A decade ago, it began as a B&B with two bedrooms and intimate meals cooked by co-owner and chef Chris Rowley. He launched the Cook School next, welcoming people behind the pass for hands-on masterclasses in things like knife skills and outdoor cooking. “I always saw Ballintaggart growing into an immersive, modern food destination,” says Chris. “I get a real buzz seeing our guests cook flatbread over an open fire, or forage in the Tay Valley, for the first time.”
The addition of East End Cottage, a picture-perfect ivy bolthole just seven minutes up the road from Ballintaggart Farm, made sense as bookings soared. Then came a design-led renovation of the Grandtully Hotel near Strathtay in 2018, which now has a Michelin Key and two AA rosettes. Six Ballintaggart shops are open too, and the six-bedroom Farmhouse, which opened in 2023 and sleeps up to 14 guests, is the latest addition to the portfolio.
The Reconnect Retreat itinerary is as follows: two Vinyasa yoga classes led by Nala Louise (a local movement coach who founded Wild Movement Collective), a half-day Pickling & Fermenting class with chef-tutor Dereick Rushton, a leisurely hike up Kenmore Hill with Ross Dempster of Beyond Adventures, an evening Cordial & Cocktail Class and several farm-to-plate meals in the library. Foraging and cold-water dips at Balnaguard Falls can be added when the weather is warmer.
The purpose built Steading on Ballintaggart Farm – an elegant space in glass, stone and wood – houses this spoiling of culinary and wellness experiences. There’s also a tennis court, sauna, ice bath and farm shop on site, adding inimitable dimensions to the farm’s wow factor.
I’m staying in The Farmhouse with three strangers, which I’m briefly concerned might feel overfamiliar. But this place is home in the guise of hotel splendour, where luxurious couches have been softened by nightlong conversations between friends and boardgames are worn from long overdue family get-togethers. We each have a king-size room with an en suite, so privacy – if needed – is never far away. Sleeping is easy when your pillow puffs like a cloud; and waking is far from a chore when a bath with Laura Thomas Co’s Birch & Bloom bubblebath waits by the window.
In the living areas, a subtle palette of cream, dove grey and taupe offers a David Thulstrup by way of Louise Bramhill warmth. This building is at one with the land: age-old stones jut out from slightly wonky skirting, sunken shelves are stacked to the brim with firewood and vases are filled with daffodils from the garden. The kitchen is sleek: navy cabinetry and a crisp-white porcelain sink. The solid oak banquet table in the centre is magically decorated with pastries, Ballintaggart granola and Katy Rodgers yoghurt each morning. The focal point, however, is a bright orange Kenwood cooker. “Orange is my favourite colour,” says Chris, who designed the interiors himself. “I aimed to create calmness with every design, but had to get a pop of colour in somewhere,” he laughs.
Each morning begins with 60 minutes of Vinyasa yoga in The Steading. Low vibrational sounds float through the sun-drenched space as we segue from flow to flow. Nala’s instruction is kind and encouraging. She takes time to assess our abilities and resets our form where needed. Savasana (the period of stillness at the end of every movement practice) is long and peaceful. “Our guests are always well fed, but it’s Nala’s yoga classes that we hope feed their souls,” says Chris.
In our afternoon Pickling & Fermenting class, chef Dereick gleefully demonstrates how to ferment kimchi, and pickle what’s coming into season: asparagus, rhubarb, radish and fennel. “I love what I do. And to share my passion with others in a place like this!” He continues with the whiff of a mantra, “The views, the pace, the people – this is the life.”
The four-course Welcome Feast that Dereick cooks up for dinner is impeccable. Warm rye bread is laden with nutty miso butter and topped with marbled venison bresaola. Stars of finely grated Isle of Mull Cheddar float on a creamy onion velouté. Dense yet succulent monkfish demands attention on a bed of perfectly seasoned saffron butterbeans. The excess rhubarb from our Pickling & Fermenting class has been re-packaged for dessert: it’s warm, zingy and tart with a butterlike softness that compliments the accompanying meadowsweet (plucked from the Tay riverbank) parfait. A burnt white chocolate garnish tastes like caramel and levels the plate up from delicious to indulgent.
For the next two days, we flit from Cook School to sauna to yoga and back — and the pleasures are elemental. Sipping gin cocktails with handmade rhubarb cordial, filling our lungs with a cool breeze on Kenmore Hill, muscles tingling through Vinyasa flows, sampling tender venison loin seared over open fire and basted in coal-smoked rosemary butter. Dereick serves the venison with an aromatic salsa verde, made using sorrel he foraged from The Birks of Aberfeldy a few hours earlier. “By April you’ll be able to forage wild garlic there too,” he advises.
Our last supper is the six-course Taste of Scotland menu. Designed by Chris, it is quietly confident and consistently fragrant. Some highlights: featherlight goats curd hugs silky Perthshire beetroot while walnuts add an earthy crunch. Red mullet ceviche is flanked by vibrant winter tomatoes and offset by tangy garlic. Blue Murder cheese is layered with paper-thin apple slices between melt-in-the-mouth pastry. A fresh sprig of lavender balances on top, artfully mellowing the strong cheese. A crumbly piece of Aberfeldy tablet and cup of Glen Lyon coffee are the comforting bows that tie off a truly nourishing weekend.
The next Reconnect Retreat (£500) is in November 2026. Can’t wait that long? Book a stay or attend a Yoga Retreat Day (£130) for a bitesize experience.
Ballintaggart Farm
Grandtully
Pitlochry
PH9 0PX
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