Nature & Poetry

This cobalt-blue room is devoted not just to Scotland’s greatest novelist but also to the beauty of the novel itself. An elegantly bound text of Waverley can be found on the desk, while framed book ‘sculptures’ draw on the artistic tradition of paper folding and framed maps reference the epic adventures of Scott’s heroes.

“On the mountain I am beyond desire”, Nan Shepherd wrote in her 1977 masterpiece, The Living Mountain. Shepherd is revered for her vivid descriptions of the Cairngorms and ‘the elementals’. The Nan Shepherd room celebrates both the writer and the mountains, which are captured in its lampshades, textiles, and artworks.

The Cairngorms are famous for ‘smoky quartz’, a gemstone widely used in brooches, necklaces and sword hilts. The Geology room is devoted to the idea of quartz as frozen light, which is referenced in the poem on the headboard. Above the bed, the ceiling features a montage of crystal and mineral images.

The Scottish botanist David Douglas famously lent his name to a towering tree, the Douglas fir. Douglas’s legacy can still be seen in many parts of Scotland, where careful forestry stewardship protects remaining woodlands. The David Douglas room features a painted mural of a forest and needle-green textiles.

Duncan Ban MacIntyre was a gamekeeper and a poet who fought in the Jacobite Risings. With no formal education, MacIntyre composed his verses in the Gaelic tradition of oral storytelling. This room also serves as an ode to the Highland landscape, with the poet’s words carved into the wooden headboard.

The Wild Flowers room is inspired by the flora and fauna of the Highlands. Its centrepiece is Autumn Landscape by Scottish landscape artist Thomas Hope McKay, which is joined by an extensive collection of framed botanical prints and plant studies in both the bedroom and bathroom.

The flamboyant Frances Farquharson served as both the fashion editor for Vogue and the editor of Harper’s Bazaar in the 1930s. She lived at nearby Invercauld House, where she often entertained her friend Elsa Schiaparelli. The walls of the room are decorated with magazine covers, framed letters, and fashion illustrations.

Robert Louis Stevenson was one of Scotland’s greatest storytellers, and he started writing Treasure Island while staying in Braemar. The classic tale serves as the inspiration for this room, with its scenic palm tree mural, fragments of treasure maps, and words carved into the headboard that were inspired by the novel.

Seton Gordon was a writer, naturalist and photographer who was born in Aberdeen and raised in Deeside. His work reflected a passion for nature, folklore and the landscape. Several of his photographs are on display in this room, alongside paintings and screenprints of Scotland’s landscapes and wildlife.

The Rebel room was designed for the truly adventurous at heart. The inspiration was the life and work of the Pre-Raphaelites and their circle, particularly Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, whose portraits form a key element within the room. Overhead, the ceiling is painted with a dynamic mural of swirling clouds.

The Heather room is a celebration of the organic colours and textures of the Highlands. Painted walls capture the mountain summits and hilltops in the morning light, creating a soothing backdrop for a collection of local landscape paintings, and a soft hand-tufted rug crafted on Scotland’s west coast lies underfoot.

The Stalker room takes its inspiration from the sporting pursuits that take place in the hills surrounding the hotel. Specially commissioned artworks depict moorland birds and driven pheasants, and the carved timber headboard features the Gaelic words ‘Easach Dubh’, which translates to ‘night fishing’ with lanterns and spears.

Marion Angus was a poet who drew her inspiration from the Deeside landscape. She delighted in the region’s natural beauty, captured in the contemporary artworks that decorate the room. A portrait of Angus is joined by a ‘memory plaque’, populated with words tied to her life and work.