Scottish Estate Escapes: Home Sweet Holiday Home

It might not have a Big Green Egg barbecue or outdoor hot tub – unlike Glen Dye’s other holiday properties, but the latest addition to their portfolio of quirky cottages, with its ‘no frills’, and ‘affordable luxury’ tag – is no bottom-of-the-heap-basic bolthole. Gamekeeper’s Cottage looking out over the River Dye, with its sunny, south-facing garden and wonderfully wonky laburnum arch, is a picture-perfect Georgian stone house, done up with the Gladstone family’s trademark vintage flair. It has three bedrooms – a double and two twins – and can be booked as a whole or by the room, old-school B&B style.

Glen Dye is one of many Scottish Estates that have been moving with the times. Over the past few years, huddles of dilapidated or abandoned estate workers’ homes have been given a new lease of life. For those pitching up for a Highland holiday that means vast swathes of glorious wilderness to yomp on the doorstep and outdoor activities on tap from wild swimming to Highland pony picnics, fishing, hiking, mountain-biking and more.

At Glen Dye there are 15,000 acres to tramp along with bushcraft, archery and wild wellness in the new purpose-built Discovery and Adventure Centre in the woods. Add a little shop, cosy BYOB pub, the Glen Dye Arms and the pop-up summer restaurant, the Seed Store, and the advantages of booking an ‘estate cottage’ are clear.

In Perthshire the 145,000-acre Atholl Estates has also just added a newly renovated property to its clutch of lodges, shepherds huts and contemporary cabins. Milton of Kincraigie is a traditional stone house sleeping four, just a couple of miles from the picturesque village of Blair Atholl and the fairytale confection - and ancestral home of the Dukes of Atholl - that is Blair Castle. Guests staying at the estate’s properties get free admission. The cottage is decked out with a mix of antique and contemporary furnishings with a cheery tongue-and-groove boot room, stacks of board games and a fire pit for marshmallow-toasting and stargazing.

Also in Perthshire, the Monzie Estate (the z is silent) has just finished refurbishing Burnside, a lovely low-slung old cottage, the interiors hand-crafted by Monzie Joinery, the estate’s dedicated team of craftsmen. This romantic retreat beside the tumbling burn on the 4,000-acre estate sleeps two and is powered by renewable energy from the estate’s 1950s hydroelectric plant – you can request a tour during your stay. The estate’s other cottages are wonderfully eclectic: the East Gatehouse Lodge is a turreted 19th-century mini-castle with spiral staircase, latticed windows and original Edwardian slipper bath from Monzie Castle.

Just south of Edinburgh, Penicuik Estate at the foot of the Pentland hills has been in the Clerk family since 1654, successive generations managing the 7,660-acre property, and, over the past year, doing up the estate’s cottages. Eskfield, one of the collection, a Palladian spa house built in 1714 and surrounded by its own walled garden, was completed at the end of last year. Along with 20km of walking and cycling trails, added extras include a private chef, whisky tastings, guided estate tours, private yoga classes and falconry. And, one to watch, for larger groups, the estate’s flagship property, Penicuik House, will be launched in August, the eclectic interiors designed by Charles Orchard, and featuring salvaged furniture and art from Old Penicuik House.