Travel: Alladale

Published on Friday 9 October 2009 15:43

After featuring in a BBC Natural World documentary and its own television series, The Real Monarch of the Glen, it's easy to get caught up in the hype that surrounds Alladale Wilderness Reserve in Sutherland. Paul Lister, the reserve's owner and son of the founder of the MFI furniture chain, is best known for wanting to reintroduce wolves, bears and lynx to his land.

His plans have drawn criticism from walkers' groups – as the predators would need to be fenced inside a giant enclosure, which they claim would affect access – and from some locals.

But forget the hype. The return of the wolf may be a long way off, yet back in the here and now Alladale is already open for business and is welcoming visitors to explore what they bill as "one of the most remote and beautiful settings in the Highlands". And they're not wrong: Alladale is achingly beautiful in places yet only an hour's drive north of Inverness.

Wolves and bears may not be regulars in Sutherland yet, but the reserve does boast more than a dozen wild boar and a pair of European elk, called Hercules and Hulga. Guests can watch the elk – also known as moose – close up and they are a real sight to see: when fully grown, Hercules should stand around 8ft tall at the shoulder and his antlers will span more than 6ft. With its bulbous nose and gangly legs, the elk looks like a creature from another planet rather than the larger cousin of our own red deer.

Away from the more exotic species, the reserve's two main glens – Gleann Mor and Glen Alladale – boast a plethora of creatures, from otter and pine marten, through to fox and badger. A hide in Gleann Mor allows views of badgers as they emerge from one of their sets on the other side of the river. Birds are also a key draw, with golden eagle, ptarmigan, merlin and peregrine falcon all featuring on the species list.

While the reintroduction of the wild boar and elk are exciting, it's perhaps the more subtle conservation work going on in Alladale that's even more interesting. Parts of Glen Alladale are designated as a Special Area of Conservation to protect the remnants of the Caledonian pine forest that still grow on its slopes. Caley pines once covered huge swathes of Scotland but were chopped down by our ancestors for homes, shipbuilding and to clear land for farming. Alladale takes part in projects to let the pine trees regenerate naturally, but the staff soon hope to launch a massive tree-planting scheme to reforest large areas of the estate with a quarter of a million Caledonian pines. There's something almost spiritual about standing in a glen dotted with only a handful of the oldest "granny pines" and imagining what a restored woodland could look like.

In amongst all this talk of conservation, Alladale hasn't forgotten its roots. Guests can still take part in the Victorian activities for which so many parts of the Highlands became popular: fishing on neighbouring beats or on Alladale's hill lochs, or stalking deer.

But Lister is changing the face of Alladale. Out have gone words such as "estate" and "gamekeeper" and in have come terms like "ranger" and "wilderness reserve". It's a sea change but is creating jobs, taking the staff from four to 18 in the past six years. For those who prefer to shoot their stags down the length of a lens rather than the barrel of a rifle, the reserve now even offers photography stalking.

Alladale is renowned for its deer stalking and spectacular landscape, but now the reserve is adding accommodation to its list of attractions. The lodge has been refitted and now boasts seven en-suite rooms. But it's the two new bothies that really catch the eye. Located part of the way along Glen Alladale, each offers a combination of traditional stunning Highland views with high-tech luxury.

Ghillie's Rest was fashioned from an existing mountain bothy, while Eagle's Crag was built from scratch. To call them bothies conjures up images of mountain refuges, with the wind rattling a decaying door on its hinges. But the reality couldn't be further from that idea. Eagle's Crag is enormous, with a giant open-plan living and dining room leading on to a modern kitchen and two en-suite bedrooms, complete with wetroom-style showers and giant rolltop baths.

Staff from the lodge can cook for guests in the bothies or visitors can be left to their own devices using fresh ingredients in the well-stocked fridges. We were treated to steaks from Alladale's herd of Highland cows, chanterelle mushrooms picked by the rangers and venison shot that season.

After dinner, we were left to sit in front of the wood-burning stove and gaze out at the dramatic landscape. While the wolves may be a long way off, unwinding amongst the wilds of Alladale is already good enough to howl about.

The facts First ScotRail runs regular services between Inverness and Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Queen Street stations. A ticket from either location starts from 44.50 for a Super Off-Peak Return. For bookings, call 08457 550033 or visit www.scotrail.co.uk

Alladale Wilderness Reserve (01863 755338, www.alladale.com) offers nightly rates in Ghillie's Rest from 400 a night and in Eagle's Crag from 700 a night. Rates include a fridge stocked full of locally sourced organic ingredients and the option of dinner delivered from Alladale Lodge, as well as a ranger to take guests on 4x4 safaris, fishing lessons and mountain bike rides.