Talking of Queen Victoria, if the identify Braemar sounds acquainted in any respect, it’s possible as a result of space’s deep-seated royal connections. Simply 10 minutes up the highway you’ll discover Balmoral Fortress, the summer season property beloved by British royals from the Victorian period all the way in which as much as the current day. (And if that weren’t sufficient of a royal stamp of approval, The Fife Arms had its ribbon minimize in 2019 by King Charles and Camilla themselves.)

But the environment is something however fusty. What seems behind the check-in desk as a bookshelf stacked with colourful tomes is in reality the place you’ll discover the room keys, with every lodging matched to its personal literary theme; this was all defined by the endlessly obliging native workers of ghillies, a Gaelic phrase for looking or fishing guides that has right here been repurposed to check with the concierge. (Nevertheless, they are going to aid you prepare a looking or fishing journey too, must you want.)

I used to be led up the sweeping oak staircase to the primary flooring, and into one of many rooms impressed by native Scottish tradition—extra particularly, the pure wonders of the lodge’s environment, with a sentence from a poem about pine cones inscribed on the roughly hewn picket headboard. The vibe was a form of riotous, maximalist Highlands fantasia, with tartan rugs and deep inexperienced velvet curtains and a stunning wallpaper with silhouettes of bushes within the forest overlaying each wall. (Assume Liberace of the Glen.) It’s immensely trendy, sure, but in addition has that all-important factor: soul.