Aberdeenshire
Tower O'Ess
Introduction
Built as the grand entrance to Glen Tanar, Tower O'Ess has stood at the mouth of the glen since the early 1870s. Sir William Cunliffe Brooks put it up between 1871 and 1873. He was a Manchester MP and merchant banker who'd bought the estate from the Marquis of Huntly in 1865, then spent the next few decades stamping his mark on it with the help of architect George Truefitt. The ballroom, the gardens, the bridges, the tower. A lot of what gives Glen Tanar its character today came from that one man.
The tower was converted in 1918 by Lord Glentanar, Thomas Coats, whose family had taken on the estate in 1905. Five generations on, the same family still run it. It's a strange, lovely building, and now a bolthole for two.
The Water of Tanar runs past the door on its way to join the Dee, and that confluence is more or less why the tower is here at all. Inside, the style is pared-back Scandinavian rather than tartan-heavy, though the Victorian bones haven't gone anywhere. A super-king bed. A double-ended roll-top bath by the fire. The old spiral staircase and the gatehouse pulley system are still in place, which tells you someone thought carefully about what to keep. Out among the Scots pines, a hot tub looks into the woods.
The estate around it runs to 25,000 acres, with a 3,000-acre National Nature Reserve at its heart holding Scotland's third-largest stand of ancient Caledonian pine. Golden eagles, capercaillie and red squirrels all live here. It's a working estate too, timber and sport as much as tourism. Adults only.
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Location
Tower O'Ess sits at the mouth of Glen Tanar, the spot where the Water of Tanar runs into the River Dee. That confluence is more or less why the tower exists, marking the entrance to the estate. You're on the eastern edge of the Cairngorms National Park here, in the gentler end of it, where the high ground gives way to river valley and pine.
Aboyne is the nearest village, a few minutes off. It has the shops and the train connections you'd want without being anything like a town. Ballater is about 20 minutes west along the Dee, Banchory a similar distance east. Balmoral lies roughly 18 miles up the valley, and Aberdeen is under an hour by car if you need a city or an airport. Most people don't, mind. The whole appeal of the glen is that you can stay put.
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What's nearby
The Boat Inn at Aboyne is a good place to start, a pub and restaurant reached by parking at the bridge and walking across. For something further afield, the Fish Shop in Ballater holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and Finzean Farm Shop does a good lunch with local produce to take home.
The estate itself is where most of the walking is. Mount Keen, the most easterly Munro in Scotland, starts from the glen, and there are gentler riverside and woodland trails from the door. Burn O' Vat and Loch Kinord at Muir of Dinnet are a short drive, both easy and worth it. Aboyne Golf Club is 15 minutes away, beside the loch. Balmoral opens to visitors each summer, and the Braemar Gathering runs on the first Saturday of September, though you'll want to book that one well ahead.
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