Affric Lodge

Built over twelve years during the Victorian era, Affric Lodge still carries the decorative hand of that period through its rooms and furnishings. It sits at the centre of the 10,000-acre Glen Affric Estate, deep in the Scottish Highlands National Nature Reserve, and can only be booked as a whole. Up to twenty-four guests can be housed across the Lodge and two further houses on the grounds: the Estate Lodge itself holds seven double bedrooms, the Green House three, and White Cottage two, all roughly a four-minute walk apart. The estate generates its own power through a hydro scheme, a detail that says something about how long this land has been managed as one working whole rather than a series of holiday lets. Rooms such as the Heather Suite look over the loch through a pair of window seats; the Willow, at the top of White Cottage, has its own sitting room and a bath positioned for the view. Days are built around the loch and the surrounding forest: fishing for trout and salmon, deer stalking, clay shooting, canoeing, or simply walking the trails toward the three highest mountains near Loch Ness. Meals are cooked to order by an estate chef and served in the Lodge dining room, the Steading Grill Room, or on the beach by fire. Inverness lies about an hour's drive away.