BlackBook Return to
BlackBook Return to Splendour Last year, a record 22 million trees were planted in Scotland, and the government announced plans to put 36 million into the ground every year by 2030 Clockwise from top left: the sprawling Alladale estate; fishing along the banks of the River Feshie; local tipples in the rustic Glen Affric lodge; gearing up for a horseback-riding adventure at Glenfeshie land was converted into large farming estates in the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries didn’t help. As the farmers increased their fields, and deer destroyed saplings, forests failed to regenerate – and once-endemic species, from wolves and elk to beavers and osprey, vanished. Scotland became a land not of the great forest of Caledon, as the Romans knew it, but of heather moorland whose animal inhabitants, particularly in the Victorian era, were hunted until only red deer and grouse were left. A place, George Tomlinson’s informative short film, Rewilding Scotland, describes as “dying or dead”. That is, until relatively recently, when the urgency of climate change and the degradation of our planet became increasingly apparent not only to conservationists but to wealthy individuals interested in buying estates for reasons other than sporting. In the past few years, prices have soared, according to estate agent Knight Frank. In 2018, for instance, 21 estates sold for a record £86 million, many to those interested in combating global warming and promoting sustainability. Or, as another estate agent put it: to companies worried about offsetting their environmental impact and carbon. Whatever their intention, the effect on employment in Scotland has been substantial, says Thomas MacDonnell, head of conservation of the country’s biggest private philanthropic rewilding project, Wildland, which has so far planted more than five million trees and regenerated 2,000 hectares of old Caledonian pine forests. Today, forestry supplies 25,000 jobs, and tourism 218,000, including on estates such as those owned by MacDonnell’s bosses, Anders and Anne Holch Povlsen. Before the Danish philanthropists started to acquire Scottish estates in 2006, the land was utilised primarily by hunters and sheep farmers. Now, the Wildland estates, which encompass 90,000 hectares around Sutherland, the Cairngorms and Lochaber, all contain a mix of upmarket places for tourists to stay and locals to explore, from the homely Killiehuntly farmhouse hotel and the cool, one-bedroomed Kyle House cottage to the glamorous Aldourie Castle and the arty Lundies House boutique hotel, each stylishly PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: © ALLADALE ESTATE, © WILDLAND, © MASTERPIECE ESTATES BY OETKER COLLECTION, © WILDLAND 16 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
decorated in a way that marries Scottish › provenance and the owners’ Danish roots. The idea, MacDonnell says, was to create indulgent hideaways that weren’t already available in that area, thereby attracting upmarket guests to remote parts of the country – as well as to try to make the estates sustainable long-term. Like the Povlsens, the MFI furniture heir Paul Lister fell in love with these wild Scottish landscapes during visits in his childhood, and has devoted the latter part of his life to the rewilding of his Alladale estate, which he bought in 2003. Although better known as “the wolf man” – thanks to his as yet unrealised dream to return the apex predator into the Highlands – Lister’s lasting legacy will be the forests that he has established. Over 17 years, he has planted more than a million trees, including Scots pine, rowan, willow and juniper, and attracted hundreds of visitors to the area, to sample the breathtaking views and to spot creatures such as eagles, wild boar, otters and peregrine falcon, and then relax in accommodation that ranges from cosy stone bothies to a refurbished Gothic-style Victorian lodge. In addition, he organises nature camps for local schoolchildren, and hosts events for organisations devoted to the wild, among them his own foundation, The European Nature Trust, set up to conserve wilderness across Europe. The seeds planted by these early adopters are clearly bearing fruit across the nation. Last Looking out at the glittering Loch Affric from the Glen Affric estate year, a record 22 million trees were planted in Scotland – 84 per cent of the total throughout the UK – and the Scottish government announced plans to put 36 million into the ground every year by 2030. All over the land, rewilding projects are springing up, including the new £23 million Cairngorms Connect programme, which aims to restore 600sq km of contiguous land, in part bankrolled by Arcadia, the fund co-founded by the Tetra Pak heiress Lisbet Rausing. When the Rausing family bought their 23,000ha Corrour estate in 1995, just 39 hectares were covered in natural woodland. Today, it has several dense thickets of woodland and thousands of hectares of restored peat bogs. From the handsome artfilled contemporary family house, as well as eight rental cottages, guests can now venture out on to a revived estate – which now even includes an inn and shop housed in a former railway station. According to Chris Donald, of Scottish Natural Heritage, this sort of rewilding is benefiting not only the land but local communities as well. “Unlike the old sporting-estate owners, this new wave of progressive thinkers, who include Hugh Raven at Ardtornish, understand that if they want to make their properties sustainable, they need community support – and if they provide great accommodation, people will want to spend their holidays there. What they’re doing is good for everyone.” • WILD AT HEART A quartet of Scottish accommodations to escape to this season CORROUR One of the country’s most contemporary castles, this elegant hideaway was designed by architect Moshe Safdie and features Anish Kapoor artworks and interiors by of-the-moment London designer Suzy Hoodless. Sleeping 14 adults – and 14 children in a bunkroom created by Pinewood Studios – the Rausings’ estate even has its own train station. ltrcastles.co.uk GLENFESHIE The grandest of the Povlsens’ Cairngorm properties (and previously their private home), this seven-bedroom stone lodge was built in 1880 but redesigned by Ralph Lauren to be cosy and contemporary. Because of its ancient forests, the estate has been featured in several films, including The Crown, The Queen and 2018’s Mary Queen of Scots. glenfeshie.scot GLEN AFFRIC Home to the Matthews family, who own Eden Roc St Barths, this estate is known as one of the most beautiful in Scotland. The eight-bedroomed lodge is, as you’d expect of hoteliers, slick but welcoming, with activities from riding to paddleboarding, as well as the traditional shooting and fishing. glenaffricestate.com PHOTO © MASTERPIECE ESTATES BY OETKER COLLECTION GLENEAGLES Best known for its standout golf courses, the expansive estate in the heart of Perthshire – stretching to nearly 350 hectares – offers much more. Riding, fishing, falconry and lawn tennis are joined by a spa of jaw-dropping proportions and a handful of eateries, including Scotland’s only two-Michelin-star restaurant. gleneagles.com CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 17
