I stayed at a gloriously chic holiday home in the Scottish village nobody's heard of
There’s a new reason to visit this destination
Unless you live in Collace, you wouldn’t have too much reason to stop in this sleepy village, which is 20 minutes drive from Perth.
You certainly won’t find any shops, restaurants or cafes here.
However, there is a pretty 19th-century church, and there’s Dunsinane Hill. This attraction is mentioned in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and is a popular dog-walking spot, with an Iron Age fort, also known as Macbeth’s Castle, at its summit. However, now there is another less theatrical reason for incomers to linger.
The fifth generation owners of Dunsinnan Farm and Estate have opened their third ‘agritourism’ self-catering property, Macbeth’s Bothy
They tasked Edinburgh interior design studio, Fantoush, with the look of this six-month-old gem, and it feels like a five-star boutique hotel suite.
In the porch area, where we cast off our muddy boots after buzzard-spotting on the gorse-dappled hill, there are reclaimed vintage theatre seats - numbers 11 and 12 - and lots of hanging space. This area leads through into a small but very well equipped kitchen, with the prerequisite Nespresso machine, and space for a table pour deux.
This dining area is decorated in cream and duck egg blue, with framed 19th-century newspaper adverts on the wall, which are promoting the sale of farm equipment, horses and heifers, from two generations of a local Souter family. They could be my relatives, except for the ‘e’. I only hope they managed to sell their “1 chestnut horse, rising 8 years old, very powerful”.
We’ve also got a breakfast basket of local goodies, including eggs, bread, jam and Aberfeldy Apricot and Raisin Granola.
In the bedroom, it’s super chic, with lipstick-coloured velvety armchairs, a plush king-sized bed - not too hard, not too soft - fresh flowers, a cocktail-making set, and parquet floors, plus an en-suite bathroom with mermaid green tiles and North Berwick’s Laura Thomas Co lotions and potions.
I moved house relatively recently, and I am taking note of everything. I want my boudoir to look like this, from the embroidered wall hanging to the wicker ottoman.
Our nest seems extremely well feathered for the weekend, and, through the bedroom’s French doors, there’s a decked area that offers a Big Green Egg BBQ and an oak outdoor bath hut and gazebo, with a sparkling William Holland copper tub.
Through a gate beside this area, you’ll find a firepit and terrace, which overlooks Strathmore Valley and the hills, but we’ll save that perch for our next visit, when the weather is less dreich. In fact, we quickly decide, after unpacking and coorie-ing in, that we won’t be doing much over the weekend, except eating, lounging, reading and playing Scrabble.
There’s no telly, but there is wi-fi, if you can’t help being square-eyed. We take a laptop for that very reason.
There is only one spot on our leaving-the-house itinerary, and that’s the Scottish Antique and Arts Centre in Abernyte.
This four-star Scottish Tourist Board Visitor Attraction is a recommendation from the people at Dunsinnan Estate, who also mention Meiklour Arms or the Three Witches in Burreltown, as the closest places to grab lunch or dinner. You’re also about 30 minutes away from my personal favourites - Aran Bakery in Dunkeld and Eastfield in Dundee.
Anyway, the antiques destination is just five minutes away, so it would be remiss not to pop along. This will be my first visit, and I immediately wonder where it’s been all my life.
I am entering my antiques era, and we spend about three hours browsing this vast aircraft hangar of a space, which also features a cafe and deli/gift shop.
There are treasures galore, from about 50 dealers, including a taxidermy peacock, retro railway signs, a ship’s bell, Victorian oil lamps, Sixties clothing, and copper kitchenalia.
I have to be talked down from buying a beautiful silver thimble in a Mauchline ware box. Totally useless, but so cute.
It also makes me think of the Macbeth line, “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes”.
In the end, I ignore that in favour of something to hang in the empty spot above our mantelpiece at home. We’d been in the market for a mirror for this spot but, in the end, we went for a huge piece of framed needlework. It’s worth trying to barter them down, Bargain Hunt-style, as they will take 10 per cent off any item over £100, or 5 per cent of anything below that, if you ask very nicely.
We feel very satisfied when we get back to our bothy.
The remains of the day are spent simmering in the luxurious bath - or bubbling cauldron - in this perfect Shakespearean bolthole.
Prices at Macbeth’s Bothy start at £200 per night, at www.dunsinnan.com
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