FOR those who don’t know, Braemar is close to Balmoral, the Royal Family’s Scottish home, and The Fife Arms is the newly renovated pearl of Braemar, fit for a King (and actually a frequent dining spot for him too, I’m told) and full of artistic flare and craftsmanship befitting of its art dealing owners.
The Fife Arms Photographer: Sim Canetty-Clarke
The Highland Games take place here each September, so if you can swag a room in the hotel for then, you’ve achieved at least one thing this year. Braemar is also famed for the opening chapters of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island being penned here.
So, it’s a particularly salubrious, yet understated, spot in a similarly sophisticated locale where, since Queen Victoria, our royals have deemed it suitable for quiet respite and jolly making.
Drawing Room Photographer: Sim Canetty-Clarke
Beyond all this, the location offers some fantastic Highland activities for those interested in outdoor pursuits – shooting, hiking, wild swimming, distillery touring (read whiskey drinking). These remote parts truly offer plenty of peace and quiet and vistas to kill for.
So if you’re excited like me by a flight to Aberdeen or Dundee followed by a 90 minute drive to the hotel, you’ll be the kind of person ready for the seclusion and the road less travelled.
But now for the hotel: it’s an old rogue restored with love and reopened in 2019, with all kinds of contemporary art on display and open fires galore. It has taken what is old and made it new and shiny and more than a little bit zany, the décor bringing light to an often grey and wet part of the world.
The Explorer Room Photographer: Sim Canetty-Clarke
The staff are great too – genuinely interesting and interested, dressed in tartan and with a love and knowledge of the land and place. The dining options and relaxation spaces are diverse and welcoming. As I sat gazing out of the large sash windows onto the gushing River Clunie that passes to the side of the hotel, I knew that my lunch would be a memorable one.
Bertie’s Whiskey Bar Photographer: Sim Canetty-Clarke
The Fife Arms benefits from sitting on Braemar’s main road, so there are a few other shops and eateries to explore at your leisure. The hotel’s Bertie’s Bar is to whiskey what Balmoral might have been to the Queen – it’s a natural home and I enjoyed it greatly. Any evenings spent here by the fire with a wee dram amid mahogany furniture will be both educational and spirit-lifting.
So go if you can grab a few days, enjoy the Fife Arms (it’s got a great sauna too that allowed me to gaze out on to the gardens) and ensure you eat, drink, be merry and get out with some of the expert guides to enjoy the hills.
by Jonathan Belford
Stays at The Fife Arms start from £250 per night in a Croft Room and £434 per night in a Nature & Poetry Suite, both including breakfast.
For more information visit The Fife Arms