During August of last year, I collected a large family from Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire and with the help of Aberdeen 4×4, I loaded them all and their considerable luggage into a posse of new land rover discoveries and we all independently headed north to the Highlands of Scotland. Nestled on the banks of Loch Ness Aldourie Castle is a Victorian castle, which has been hugely restored by recent owners and is now the premier private rental estate in Scotland. I say this with full confidence, as not only is the castle incredibly elegant & comfortable but equally importantly, it is run by Lavinia Dowling, the best estate manager we have and she is supported by a team of 25 staff who are all welcoming and brilliant at their jobs. Throw in the amazing location of the castle and you quickly realise, Aldourie is the full package!
I had suggested the castle, amongst a few others, to the family and their travel agent a year or so previously and we had a fun year putting together a wonderful schedule for their multi- generational family gathering. With guests ages ranging from 66 to 6 months, there is a skill to this but I had spent the previous 25 years looking after US families, so I felt up to the task. The trick is to put together a fun schedule but to allow sufficient down time for the family to also enjoy the property itself and to be able to relax and have fun at their own pace. It’s good to leave a few gaps which they can fill with independent sightseeing or an extra round of golf! We had arranged for 4 nannies to assist with looking after the smaller children and this allowed the adults to enjoy the activities we had arranged during their 7 night stay, which is about the perfect length of time in any of our houses or castles.
Guests arriving at a property always need a little time to settle in and find their bearings, so we always leave the arrival day pretty much clear for this and for guests to unwind. However after a peaceful first night, on day 2 we hit the ground running with everyone being allocated their bicycles and then a local activity company arranged some fun obstacle course activities in the castle grounds, followed after lunch, with a full Highland Games, where the family were split into clans and with the aid of instructors, engaged in some tossing the caber, throwing the Scots hammer, Haggis hurling, stone shot putt, an inter clan sack race and a tug O’War providing the grand finale. Prizes were given out at the end and the whole thing was captured by a photographer we had arranged. Much family bonding and a lot of laughter! After dinner, Jock the storyteller, who came dressed as a Highland warrior told tales of Scottish History and the Jacobite rebellion.
This fitted in well with the next day when we visited the Culloden battle field where Bonnie Prince Charlie was vanquished and then Cawdor Castle, a 14th Century fortress and historic home. After lunch in the castle’s tavern, guests then returned to the castle for a treasure hunt, a whisky tasting and after dinner a snooker lesson. The following day we had family bushcraft, an amazing picnic and then gorge swimming and weaselling for the smaller children, with amazing fiddle music and Scottish dancing from Duncan Macgillvray and his daughters in the evening. The next day, saw the golfers head up to Royal Dornoch and the other guests went to Campbells of Beauly for some cashmere & tweed shopping and lunch. Then on the 2nd last day we had walks designed for different ages, a great barbecue lunch in front of the castle with some archery & axe throwing afterwards before everyone donned their kilts and we had a fabulous ceilidh (Scottish dancing) and formal dinner in the castle courtyard. The last day was a rib ride on Loch Ness, a low- key lunch in one of the greenhouses in the Castle’s amazing walled garden and then some really- fun clay pigeon shooting in one of the fields.
The weather was kind, the guests an utter delight and all the team at the castle and those who came in to help with activities and musical entertainment were all charming, extremely efficient and fun throughout the week. The host’s wife spent hours in the walled garden talking to the gardeners, the children loved taking their bikes around the estate tracks and everyone relaxed and had some quality ‘family- time’. It was a pleasure to arrange and a great treat for me to look after such a lovely family. They even allowed me to bring my wife and our blonde lab Billy for the week. We stayed in the gate house which is a newly built and equally comfortable miniature version of the castle itself.
The client’s feedback made all the hard work very worthwhile – ‘We all have favourite memories, as it should be! You undersold the castle! Especially the beautiful gardens … where I picture myself daily having tea or lunch in the glass house! Every beautiful meal was an experience, the staff were warm and accommodating.. especially sweet Duncan! Marianne and her team of babysitters were outstanding, every driver polite, kind and so helpful. Thank you for making decisions for us that can hang us up… room assignments (how did you manage that so perfectly?) meal planning, excursions, activities… the details make all the difference! Thank you for being so flexible… it’s key to a successful time for us. The castle was beyond compare to any experience we’ve ever had and there have been so many beautiful ones to which we can compare. I overheard the kids talking the last morning at the castle about how we should keep that little gem of a castle to ourselves and not tell anyone about it. I believe we all feel Aldourie is that special to us!’
‘For us the time we spend with our children and grandchildren is fast fleeting and so important to us. Taking them away from their worlds is so good for them and us! Watching them interact with each other as siblings, friends and parents is unique and wonderful. It’s endearing to watch the cousins ‘live together’ for a week or so! They love one another so much and every day is a new pairing! It warms our hearts to be with them especially in such a beautiful place as Aldourie!’ Thank you.
Written by: – Andrew Loyd
