BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Beauty and the best of Scotland on the shores of Loch Ness

- Natasha Radmehr

Aldourie Castle & Gardens

Draw, in your mind's eye, a generic Scottish castle. Does it have imposing grey stone walls capped by turrets? An interior steeped in stately reds and oppressive swathes of tartan? Mahogany furniture and mounted swords? Yawn, yawn, yawn.

Aldourie Castle might have the conical turrets and crenellated tower (as well as an idyllic position on the shores of Loch Ness that would inspire envy in its contemporaries), but it's no tired old cliché. Since being ushered into the well-dressed bosom of Wildland, the Danish-owned hospitality and conservation group, this baronial castle-for-hire has received the kind of 'you, but better' treatment the Scandinavians deploy so exceptionally well.

Especially these Scandis. Wildland's co-founder Anne Povlsen and her concept and design manager Ruth Kramer are renowned for their uncompromising vision, having cast an exacting eye over a smattering of Scottish holiday properties including Lundies in Tongue and Tigh Na Coille in Loch Ness, now considered destinations in their own right. Gone are the trad tropes that dominate our most remote parts, and in their place a more authentic interpretation of Scotland that blends lightness and warmth with modern artworks and artisan-made furniture.