The Fife Arms

Good for: Highland charm, country sports, art enthusiasts

There is a pleasing familiarity on arrival at The Fife Arms. The gillie team, as the staff are known, dressed in fetching house tweed designed by Araminta Campbell, give one an immediate sense of having just come off the hill. Indeed, it was with some effort that I had to remind myself that this was not the case – the most adventurous part of my trip north of the border this time had been navigating the road through Glenshee in an unfamiliar hire car.

The Jacobite Risings room

This former Victorian coaching inn sits in the heart of the Cairngorms at Braemar and still benefits from their perspicacity of placement. Travellers passing through the Highlands today will find not just a delectable bed for the night but a beacon of art, culture, history and comfort pressed together with stylish aplomb by the modern art behemoths at Hauser & Wirth since it opened in 2018.

The result is a happy marriage of Scottish tradition and contemporary art: sporting lodge with an eclectic twist. Think high walls adorned with trophy heads, like the hall at Balmoral just down the road, coupled with light installations made from coloured glass antlers, watercolours by HM The King and glass-cased taxidermy. There are 16,000 pieces of art dexterously woven throughout the building and its 46 rooms and suites, from Thorburn to Picasso.

Some 16,000 artworks and antique have been thoughfully integrated throughout

It was as a place to stop on a journey further north that I found myself ensconced in a snug, well-thought-out ‘Nature & Poetry’ bedroom decorated in muted earth tones, flashes of tweed, antiques and artwork: the perfect berth and one I would have immediately dozed off in had it not been for the lure of cocktails and supper. Elsa’s bar (an homage to fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, replete with shocking pink flashes in the decor and in the cocktails) provided the perfect livener before dinner in The Clunie. Here, in a room painted by Guillermo Kuitca, a life-sized monarch of the glen casts his eye over diners tucking into elegantly executed dishes cooked over a wood fire. It is a testament to the game from the hill that finds its way deliciously on to the plate.

I plumped for hand-dived Orkney scallops with piquant trout roe and XO reduction followed by Invercauld estate venison wellington: a deft interpretation that touched on all the right notes and was joined by a side dish of ubiquitous, but scrumptious, hispi cabbage. Scottish cheese with home-made quince jelly and chutney accompanied by a glass of Palo Cortado brought supper to a delightful close. Then it was sinking into a chair in the drawing room by the fire (it was a damp summer evening in the Highlands) ensconced with a particularly diverting book that whiled away a pleasant hour or two: travelling solo has its perks.

A life-sized stag watches over diners in The Clunie

For those not simply passing through (and I’d recommend pausing here for at least a couple of days) there is fishing on the Dee, stalking adventures on the neighbouring Invercauld estate, skiing at Glenshee during the winter and the rich heritage of Royal Deeside to take advantage of. For relaxation head to the Albamhor treatment rooms, while there is Bertie’s whisky bar and The Flying Stag pub – all of which are situated within the hotel – to add to the list too.

It was with reluctance that I had to leave after a cracking breakfast of Argyll smoked trout (a gold star for no smoked salmon on the menu). There was a surrealist-inspired gathering to head to in the Highlands and so I departed with a kindly donated shoe-shaped bar mat from Elsa’s as an addition to an already eccentric costume. Taking artistic inspiration from The Fife Arms felt pleasingly apt. This beacon of modern Victoriana channels the spirit of its forebear, and weaves the artistic tendrils of the Highlands and grand hospitality together to exceptional effect.