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SEPTEMBER
Louise, driving into the Scottish wilderness, only this
time in a Vauxhall Astra, on winding roads jollied up by
the purple hue of Scottish thistles, and with a growing
sense of irritation at Brian, the woefully-inadequate
male we’d been assigned in place of Brad Pitt.
Enjoying Aberfeldy
Our first sight of Kenmore left us speechless – it’s an
idyllic village, where boats bob on the peaceful still of
Loch Tay, the sun glistens on the water, and there are
charming white houses and a little bridge over the river,
all surrounded by steep hills, covered in the dark green
of ancient forests; a mixture of oaks, birch and Scots
pines. It was undoubtedly worth the drive.
Mains of Taymouth is situated here, on the banks
of the River Tay, next to the castle. It’s a family-run,
120-acre estate that offers activities such as an award-
winning golf course, horseriding and boating, with four-
and five-starred luxury self-catering cottages, villas,
houses and apartments, all just a few minutes’ drive
from Aberfeldy.
As soon as we’d parked up and had a quick change
of clothes, we were booked in for a horseriding lesson
on site. Walking through the estate to the stables, there
was a growing sense of nervousness as we recalled the
last time we’d sat on a horse – for Sam, some 30 years
H
aving flown into Edinburgh airport, taken the
obligatory tourist photographs of us sitting
in the giant letters of the Edinburgh sign and
collected our hire car, my friend Samantha and I were
off on an adventure into the Scottish countryside. I’d
never been to Edinburgh or further north before, and
Sam was excited about rediscovering her “Scottish
roots” so it was quite a high-spirited journey north to
Highland Perthshire, not least because I’d been looking
forward to driving across the Forth for weeks. The
traffic wasn’t as slow as I’d have liked, but there was
time to admire the impressive feat of engineering that
is the iconic railway bridge before we were over and
heading for Mains of Taymouth Country Estate and
Golf Course in Aberfeldy, some two hours’ drive away.
As we got closer to our destination, there was some
kind of diversion, which the sat nav on my phone,
who we christened Brian, struggled to keep up with.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t trying, but he certainly came
in for a fair bit of flack as we wound around country
roads, missing turnings and wondering if we would
always be driving in this beautiful landscape of wind
stations, pine-tree forests and a striking feature that
Sam assured me was a glacial valley, her eyes welling
up with joy in the way that only a geography teacher’s
could. We were a little like a re-imagined Thelma and
CONCIERGE
BREAK TIME
Opening page:
The beautiful
Loch Tay and Kenmore
Above, clockwise from
top:
Mains of Taymouth has a
range of self-catering cottages,
houses and apartments to rent,
ideal for families; horseriding
at Mains of Taymouth; The
Courtyard restaurant; inside
Granary Court, with its spacious
kitchen and lounge