While there’s always a lot to love about the interior design of today’s luxury hotels, one does come away with the feeling that if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. It’s rare for a hotel to make you pinch yourself, but they do exist, often not where you might expect them. One such establishment is The Fife Arms in Braemar, tucked away in the stunning Cairngorms. Braemar’s original claim to fame was being the annual venue for the Highland Games, but then The Fife Arms reopened in December 2018, stealing the limelight from caber tossers and hammer throwers alike. First opened in 1856, capitalising on the influx of tourists following Queen Victoria’s trips to the area, the hotel gradually fell into disrepair, eventually becoming a cheap stopover for long-distance truckers. That all changed when the renowned international art dealers Manuela and Iwan Wirth purchased the property and enlisted interior designer Russell Sage to reimagine the hotel as Queen Victoria herself might have hoped for (notwithstanding the life-size wax sculpture of her sitting in the library room), while also seamlessly turning it into a repository for over 14,000 pieces of the Wirths’ art.
What Sage and the Wirths have created is a monument to Victoriana, sprinkled liberally with antique kitsch and the odd multi-million-pound work of art. Entering the hotel, a quick glance to your right will reveal a Lucian Freud portrait casually hanging above a floral-print sofa. Crane your neck a little further and you’ll take in the magical self-playing Steinway by Mark Bradford, before your eyes are led to the drawing room, where a Picasso hangs pensively on the wall. The courtyard plays host to a steel Louise Bourgeois spider, naturally. There’s a Gerhard Richter somewhere in there, too.
But this isn’t a gallery masquerading as a hotel. It’s very much a living space, in every sense of the phrase, although quite what the guests’ dogs think about the vast amount of Victorian taxidermy is anyone’s guess. Everywhere you turn is a smorgasbord of Scottishness – a heady concoction of traditions, contemporary art, Highland fantasy and romantic Victoriana, all set against the stunning house tartan designed by Royal Deeside local, Araminta Campbell. And it feels… well, like home.
The 46 rooms each bear the name of a cultural icon or subject, ranging from the German Emperor to Queen Victoria’s favourite dog, Sharp. I happened to stay in the “Rebel” room, which might have been something of a stitch-up given that it’s the only room bedecked with vignettes of Victorian erotica. No royal romps I might add.
Grand interiors are one thing, but today’s luxury hotels live and die by their food and drink.
At the formal end of The Fife Arms’ culinary offering is The Clunie, the hotel’s elevated dining room where chef Adam Maddock cooks on an open fire using strictly local and seasonal produce. The room itself is a marvel for its mural – a distinctive Cubistoid abstraction of the Clunie River which roars past the room, painted by the Argentinian artist, Guillermo Kuitca. Starters include Macduff lobster tail and West Coast scallop among other morsels of the sea, while mains come in the hearty forms of venison loin, monkfish and Balmoral partridge. More laidback dining is to be had in the adjoining Flying Stag, which doubles as the village pub. It’s elevated gastro pub fare to be sure – haggis, neeps and tatties, battered Shetland haddock, and the like – accompanied by an exemplary array of local beers and whiskies, all of which become more difficult to pronounce as the evening wears on. Speaking of which, it would be rude of you not to sample a wee dram of single malt during your stay, in which case you need to make a beeline for Bertie’s Bar, named after the bon viveur King Edward VII. With over 390 whiskies, Bertie’s is a celebration of Scotland’s national drink and Victoria’s hedonistic heir. The bottles are arranged like books on shelves, backlit so that you feel like you’re swimming in amber (give it an hour and you will be). And what Bertie’s is for whiskies, Elsa’s is for cocktails. Inspired by fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, it is a bijou bar that glitters with glamour and is perfect for a pre-dinner sharpener.
From late-November, the Fife Arms converts its Fog House into a traditional wood-panelled Swiss Alpine fondue hut, overlooking the courtyard. Here, you can stick with culinary tradition and choose to gorge on a mix of Schlossberger and Appenberger, or give them the Highland fling and opt for Tain “Fat Cow” and Isle of Mull cheddar, along with Six Degrees North’s ale from Stonehaven.
The Cairngorms are of course a hikers’ paradise, plus you’ve also got the ski station just over the hill at Glenshee, but you’ll do well to prise yourself away from the fairytale that is The Fife Arms. There really is nothing quite like it.
Click here to learn more and to arrange your stay at the Fife Arms, Braemar, Scotland.
Ryan Thompson is a UK-based menswear and lifestyle writer, whose work has appeared in, among others, the Financial Times, Mr Porter, The Rake and Ape to Gentleman
