Queen Victoria's picnic lodge on Aberdeenshire estate given green light for renovation works

The rustic cottage dates back to the 1800s and is believed to have been frequently visited by the monarch on her holidays in Scotland.

Queen Victoria’s picnic lodge on an estate in Aberdeenshire will be given a new lease of life after the National Trust Scotland (NTS) was granted planning permission to restore the derelict building.

Picnic Lodge, as the cottage is officially known, nestles among woodland on the Mar Lodge Estate at the Linn of Quoich in the heart of the Cairngorms.

The single storey three-bay simple rustic cottage is said to date back to the 1850s. It is believed to have been a favourite of the monarch to share with friends and family when she was staying nearby at Balmoral.

The building lies among ancient pines on the Mar Lodge Estate at the Linn of Quoich, Braemar (pic: National Trust for Scotland)

NTS, which oversees the estate, submitted planning permission earlier this year for repair and maintenance of the historic building which has been bordered up for several decades.

With the plans approved last month, works will begin on the category C listed building in spring next year, weather depending.

It is due to be reopened as a day bothy for visitors to Mar Lodge and locked overnight.

With the property on the buildings-at-risk register, the planning application characterised the cottage as in "very poor" condition.

The cottage has been bordered up for the last few decades (pic: National Trust for Scotland)

Works were carried out in 2002 to fit its roof with larch shingles made with trees milled on the estate, but the application said deep cracks in the walls needed to be looked at.

Repair work will include rebuilding the porch, the remains of which are in poor condition. The windows will be reinstalled and equipped with shutters and skylights will be fitted into the roof to let more light in.

Plans are also underway for a large, wooden picnic table and benches to furnish the space, which can fit up to about 20 people “at a squeeze.”

Interpretive designers have also been drafted in to look at how the story of the cottage can be told on site for visitors.

Queen Victoria's picnic cottage on Mar Lodge Estate has been given the green light for renovation works to begin in spring 2024 (pic: National Trust for Scotland)

"The best way to save and conserve a building is to use it, then it gets looked after and maintained,” said David Frew, head of Mar Lodge Estate at NTS.

"It was built as a day shelter, so we thought why don’t we restore it to exactly that.

"It’s a beautiful spot and we want visitors to be able to use the building while having a picnic in the area just like Queen Victoria might have done.”

Mr Frew said the location of the cottage also makes for a prime place to talk about the ongoing conservation works on the estate.

"We have eagles and hen harriers nesting by and all sorts of interesting species here,” he said.

"We also have ongoing peatland restoration and woodland expansion projects surrounding the cottage.”

NTS has a budget of £200,000 to complete the renovations works, which it hopes will be finished by next summer.

The NTS USA Foundation, a partner organisation of the trust, has been a main contributor to the project.

The last major restoration project carried out on the estate was on the Queen Victoria Bridge, also known as the White Bridge, which is viewed as the main access route to the estate.

It suffered structural damage during Storm Frank in 2015.

The estate, which spans roughly 72,000 acres, which is about the size of Greater Birmingham,iis Britain's largest national nature reserve.

It has been in the care of the National Trust for Scotland since 1995.