Travel: Exploring Wildland, a conservation-focused approach to luxury stays in Scotland

Glenfeshie Lodge, Kincraig, Kingussie. Pic: Alex Baxter

The passion project of billionaire Danish couple and Scotland’s largest landowners Anne and Anders Holch Povlsen aims to let nature “heal, grow and thrive”

Immersed in a tranquil pocket of the quickly flowing dark waters of the River Feshie in the Cairngorms National Park, I feel increasingly relaxed and revived by the second, helped by the excellent vantage point encompassing everything from acres of verdant forest to distant amethyst-coloured, snow-capped mountains under an eggshell blue sky.

This is my first of many enjoyable activities (which, pleasingly, also include a dip in the sea further north) during a tour of several of the high-end accommodation offerings that are part of the Wildland group, a passion project of billionaire Danish couple and Scotland’s largest landowners Anne and Anders Holch Povlsen, with the organisation working to let nature “heal, grow and thrive” across its three Scottish estates.

With a 200-year vision, Wildland takes a “conservation-focused approach dedicated to redefining luxury travel through the protection and restoration of the natural beauty of the Scottish Highlands”.

A welcoming Highland interior at Glenfeshie Lodge, Glenfeshie Estate, Kincraig, Kingussie. Pic: Alex Baxter

Options to bed down range from individual rooms in a guesthouse hotel to self-catered cottages, exclusive-hire properties including tartan-clad lodges and a turreted castle, helping support its regeneration-focused activities, which include having in the last decade planted at least five million tree saplings in the Cairngorm region and bid to boost local employment.

There has clearly been great investment in meticulously fitting out and decorating the properties in a way that retains their character, with a timeless, cosy combination of Scottish and Scandi chic for those with a keen aesthetic sensibility. Such touches include high-end art and design magazines and books, state-of-the-art coffee machines, rolltop baths, linen bedlinen and plush velvet sofas the colour of the deep sea or slate grey – while you can often borrow items such as green wellies and Barbour jackets to head outdoors.

But to me the best hand Wildland has played is that it has understood that the greatest designer of all is Mother Nature, with the properties putting the rugged beauty of their exquisite surroundings – including lochs, and heather-covered hillsides – front and centre.

A prime example of this is Kyle House, a one-bedroom self-catering property in Tongue that is the work of Edinburgh architecture and design studio GRAS and has won awards and featured on TV show Grand Designs. It has also now won brownie points from me for two large window nooks where you can cocoon yourself with a book and watch the weather rolling in. (There are also no TVs in the bedrooms of Wildland properties.)

Kinloch Lodge, Tongue, Lairg. Pic: Fran Mart

My trip in fact started by taking the train to Kingussie, with the first port of call Glenfeshie Lodge, one of the exclusive-use properties, and which sleeps up to 11 (a Spinal Tap reference?). It has the air and decor of somewhere that could welcome royalty, and indeed its impressive pedigree includes hosting Queen Victoria, while the painting “Monarch of the Glen” by Edwin Landseer is believed to originate from the area. It has the most traditionally Scottish decor of all the Wildland properties I visit, with my room decorated with fishing-themed wallpaper and artwork, tartan and dark wood furniture.

Among other exclusive-use properties in the group is Aldourie Castle on the banks of Loch Ness. A 300-year-old Baronial castle with its own 500 acres and 12 bedrooms, no less, its ochre facade topped by a collection of dark grey turrets.

Recently refurbished, its swish rooms with floral wallpaper are reminiscent of those at Lundies House in Tongue, a former church manse that has undergone quite the glow-up to become a boutique hotel on Scotland’s North Coast 500 route. It has a small number of double rooms in the main house, but I am happy to be staying in a self-catering bothan in the converted steading, whose amenities include impressive Scandi-tastic kitchenware and elegant rucksacks by Danish brand Mismo that you can borrow during your stay. (The latter are also available in rooms at Killiehuntly farmhouse, a Wildland guesthouse in the Cairngorms.)

Lundies in fact says: “A harmonious marriage of Scandinavian and Scottish creative talent vibrates throughout the house. Work from eminent Danish artists such as Trine Søndergaard and Peter Blonde sit alongside bespoke furniture and cabinetry from Scottish makers.”

A bedroom at Kinloch Lodge, Tongue, Lairg. Pic: Fran Mart

Activities include conquering nearby Ben Loyal – dubbed “Queen of the Scottish Mountains” – but I am keener to get my swimming costume back on, and am delighted to enjoy a dip in the pale green crystalline waters of Skinnet beach in the Kyle of Tongue. The cove (far more pristine than my usual Edinburgh spots) is overseen by a small shipwreck on the shoreline, whose “just so” placement and excellent colour contrast to the surroundings make me wonder if this is in fact also a Scandi design installation. I then dry off in one of Wildland’s custom-made changing robes, and warm up with a peppermint tea.

After returning to Lundies and making myself look more presentable, it’s time for drinks (I opt for a kombucha) around the firepit, just outside my lodgings, and then a flawless evening meal in the main house’s dining room.

The space is decorated with a handpainted mural by French botanical artist Clare Basler, and I’m told that “different colours pop out at different times” depending on the light. And every course of the meal is an artwork, two particular highlights including white asparagus with smoked eel, confit egg yolk; and Jerusalem artichoke and mushroom ravioli served in a flavour-packed onion consommé as rich and dark as the waters of the River Feshie.

On that note, there is a similar wild swimming spot to the latter at Kinloch Lodge (also located in Tongue) that in addition boasts a sauna teepee and outdoor bath. The vast but cosy seven-bedroom property is for exclusive use – but hopefully only until I manage to raise the money to buy it myself and make it my permanent residence.

Kyle House, Kinloch Lodge Tongue, by, Lairg. Pic: Fran Mart: Fran Mart

It includes several living areas, a room for spa treatments, and bedrooms decorated with ornate, handprinted wallpaper by Marthe Armitage, whose techniques are inspired by a spell living in India, where she saw village craftsmen at a local bazaar print patterns onto fabric using wood blocks.

That is another aspect bringing in some international flavour of craftsmanship and heritage, helping weave the high-thread-count fabric that is Wildland, forming a key part of the rich tapestry of Scotland’s scenery. “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe,” says Wildland, quoting John Muir, the Scots-born founder of the modern conservation movement.

Wildland’s guesthouse rooms start at £495 per night for two sharing, with meals (breakfast, lunch and snack) included. Self-catered for up to a party of five starts from £1,350 self-catered for three nights, and exclusive hire for up to a party of 12 with catering included starts at £10,000 for a minimum of two nights. For hospitality reservations, contact [phone] and/or [email protected].

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