CARRY on GLAMPING
‘Upmarket Butlins’ favoured by jet setters looking to get away from it all in style is coming to Perthshire...
LOOK out the Hunter wellies and dust down the Cath Kidston picnic hamper. Rural chic is coming to Perthshire and it’s bringing the jet set with it. The news that Gleneagles is planning an upmarket ‘rural camp’ development based on Soho Farmhouse – the swanky members-only farm complex in the Cotswolds – has set tongues feverishly wagging among the chattering classes.
Luxury doesn’t come more rustic than Soho Farmhouse, opened in 2015 and run by exclusive London members’ club Soho House. An upmarket Butlins for the très stylish, there are opulent barns, spas, restaurants, a specially designed cheese room and cocktail ‘trucks’ travelling between cabins delivering freshly mixed martinis.
It’s country life, but a highly perfumed version of it: even the horses that pull guests around the site in trendy carriages wear ‘nappies’ to stop the scent of manure wafting up A-list noses.
It’s the kind of place that attracts Camerons and Clooneys, supermodels such as Cara Delevingne and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, not to mention a host of Royals (Prince Harry is rumoured to have brought Meghan Markle here in the early days of their courtship).
Now Ennismore, the company behind Gleneagles, wants to bring a similar vision to Auchterarder. Bernard Murphy, Gleneagles’ managing director, describes it as an ‘authentic, luxury, rural camp experience that will make the most of the stunning natural assets on the site’. Gosh.
And since Ennismore already has a cosy relationship with Soho House – owned by Nick Jones, husband of Kirsty Young – with the private London club providing catering for some of Ennismore’s hotels as well as a jointly owned restaurant, it is likely the Scottish development will share more than a few cashmere throws with its Cotswolds cousin.
Here, we imagine just what Gleneagles Farmhouse might have to offer. The Clooneys should probably book now.
WHERE WILL IT BE?
The camp will be built on the site of the 256-acre Easterton Farm near Auchterarder, which Gleneagles acquired in 2015. The lavish plans include massively extending the existing Muriale farmhouse and adding rubble stone walls and a slate roof. Around this will be built a complex of lodges, tepees (with all mod cons, naturally), a spa, restaurants and ‘leisure facilities’.
The plans have been drawn up by London-based Levitate Architects, which has worked on projects such as a luxury farm complex near Glastonbury, a regenerated wool mill in Leicester and a hipster loft in trendy Shoreditch. Forget the Art Deco feel of the Gleneagles hotel: this will be modern, rural style with exposed wood, soft linens and wood-burning stoves. Imagine a Boden advert come to life and you’re on the right track.
CAN I BRING THE CHELSEA TRACTOR?
You can, but you’ll have to leave it at the gates. At Soho Farmhouse the fun starts the moment you arrive when you park your car and are transported on to the site in a 1950s-style milk float. From there you are taken to your own personal cabin in a glossy black BMW. No need to wade through fields of mud to get to your three-man tent here.
WHO WILL CATER TO MY EVERY WHIM?
At Soho Farmhouse you have your own ‘farmhand’, a ‘rustic personal butler’ whom you can call upon at any time to do anything from book you into the Cowshed Spa to organise a pony ride for the kids.
Then there are the cocktail trucks that deliver drinks to your cabin door (‘Mr Whippy for grown-ups’ is how one visitor described it), and the cooking float that will arrive at your doorstep on command to rustle up breakfast, lunch or even dinner to order if you just can’t face the hike to one of the restaurants. Talk about hedonistic decadence.
WHO WILL GO?
Gleneagles has long provided a haven for golfers, politicians and the super-rich, but the Farmhouse is likely to attract a younger, more casual crowd. Soho Farmhouse is the go-to place for stressed-out urban A-listers longing for a slice of rural peace and it has the guest list to prove it. In its first year the Farmhouse entertained
the Camerons, who were seen dancing around the firepit drinking cocktails, George and Amal Clooney, Jemima Goldsmith, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (what better way to woo a prospective princess?), Eddie Redmayne and his wife Hannah, supermodels including Cara Delevingne and Rosie Huntington Whiteley, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and most of the younger Jagger clan.
ANY FARMYARD ANIMALS?
At Soho Farmhouse the wildlife is as stylish as the guests. There are chickens who, in the words of one visitor, ‘look as though they’ve had a shampoo and set’, as well as a riding school offering lessons on tiny, immaculate ponies. Gleneagles already boasts an equestrian centre with 26 horses that teaches a range of riding skills and offers dressage and polo lessons, so they’re well ahead of the game here.
WHAT’S THE DRESS CODE?
Hunter wellies are very much the order of the day, along with comfy knits and casual country chic. Ties are banned on all Soho House properties and while formal attire is encouraged in parts of Gleneagles anything goes at Soho Farmhouse, as long as it’s reassuringly expensive.
WHAT WILL THE ROOMS BE LIKE?
Not rooms, darling: cabins, lodges or tepees. And if Soho Farmhouse is anything to go by there will be lots of stripped wood, giant beds with 300 thread count white cotton sheets, clawfoot baths, rainforest showers, a roaring fire for chilly winter evenings and even your own bicycle parked outside, pre-adjusted to your height. You’ll also get your own wellies – just in case you left your Hunters at home.
CAN I AVOID THE PAPARAZZI?
One of the things VIP members of Soho Farmhouse adore is the privacy. Taking pictures of celebrities on camera phones is strictly forbidden and indeed, one couple who surreptitiously tried to take a picture with Victoria and David Beckham in the background had their membership revoked.
Imagine similar rules at Gleneagles Farm if they want to attract the true A-listers.
WILL MY RAW/ VEGAN/GLUTEN-FREE/ FRUITARIAN DIET BE CATERED FOR?
You bet. Gleneagles already boasts Scotland’s best restaurant, the two Michelin-starred Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, as well as the Dormy Clubhouse which has views over the 18th hole and the Strathearn restaurant, serving classic Scottish fare. But if the dining at Soho Farmhouse is a benchmark, visitors to Gleneagles Farm can expect something rather different.
While food is undoubtedly a big deal in the Cotswolds camp across its four dining areas it’s rather more relaxed, albeit bang on trend. From green smoothies to baked scallops, T-bone steak for two to bulgur wheat salad, every taste is catered for. There is also a Japanese grill bar selling all sorts of sashimi and sushi delicacies.
WHAT IF I GET BORED?
Unlikely. Soho Farmhouse is packed with enough activities to keep even the most jaded of urbanites entertained. There’s the Cowshed Spa where you’ll find a mud room, an ice room, a sauna and steam room, and a wide range of treatments from manicures to massages. They also have a hot tub for splashing about in. There’s a gym full of the latest hi-tech equipment, and cycle classes for those who want to work up a bit of a sweat. They even have a top hair salon if you fancy a cut and colour while you’re there.
You can always soak up the countryside too, although you’re unlikely to get even a trace of mud under your fingernails. Horse riding lessons are available, along with all-weather tennis courts, a five-a-side football pitch and a boating pond where you can do a spot of leisurely rowing. There are also cookery lessons for the culinary inclined, a cinema, a deli, an interiors store and a flower shop, if you feel the desperate need to splash even more cash.
Oh, and if you want to offload the children for a bit of me time you can drop them at posh kids club the Teeny Barn – before ringing the on-call cocktail truck.
WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBOURS SAY?
Gleneagles Farm is still at the planning stage, and the company has asked locals to look at the proposed blueprints ahead of a formal planning application being submitted to Perth and Kinross Council. The hotel has also hinted that multiple jobs could be created if it all goes ahead.
Not everyone may be keen, however. Down at Soho Farmhouse some nearby residents have complained of their rural atmosphere being invaded by ‘arrogant Londoners’, and a local dog which was run over on one of the roads leading to the Farmhouse caused much anguish.
After two disastrous T in the Parks near Auchterarder, which led to a huge amount of disruption for the local community, the residents around Gleneagles Farm may feel this latest project is a tepee too far.
WILL I NEED A SECOND MORTGAGE TO STAY THERE?
Probably. Soho Farmhouse is members only, with membership costing £1,325 per person plus a £400 registration fee. Then there’s the cabins themselves, which start at £350 per night. While it’s unclear if Gleneagles will follow a similar model, if they want to keep out the riff-raff, they might just consider it.