Rewilding at Straloch

City slickers young and old get away from it all in Highland Perthshire, writes Gaby Soutar

My nieces are such city kids; they like the cinema, sushi and shops. However, I’m pretty sure they’re still nature’s children underneath all the precocious urban stuff.

To put my theory to test, our extended household went on a long weekend to Stalker’s Lodge, which sleeps six, and is one of two holiday properties on Highland Perthshire’s Straloch Estate. This destination won the Best Self Catering Accommodation Experience award for Central, Fife & Tayside at Visitscotland’s Thistle Awards earlier this year.

It’s a modern and pristine space. There’s a large kitchen, dining room and a lounge that features a wood burning stove and vantage point out to the bird feeder. The floor- to- ceiling windows meant we could watch a constant stream of red squirrels. ( At one point, there were two of them spinning on the peanut dispenser like Torvill & Dean).

Upstairs, there are three bedrooms ( one en suite) and a family bathroom.

The heating and hot water is provided by a biomass log boiler that runs on waste timber from the estate.

However, a trip here is about more than the house. In covid times, it’s nice to feel that there’s enough to keep you entertained in situ. If you don’t want to head to Pitlochry or Aberfeldy, you can stay put and not have to crack open an emergency jigsaw puzzle.

For two children ( the nephew was there too, but he’s only one), this 3,000 acre estate is the perfect destination for releasing pent up post- lockdown energy.

We were most excited about turning our little cavewomen into pyromaniacs. ( As well as a pool table and darts board, you’ll find a campfire kit in the house’s own games room).

We lit our fire at the recommended spot – the island on Straloch Loch. Thanks to the wind, it raged dramatically, so we could cook a batch of sausages in about three minutes flat. Then there was a succession of gooey toasted marshmallows until we all felt slightly nauseous.

This adventure culminated with a paddle in the brackish water, feeling the prickle of pine needles underfoot and using long sticks to check the depth as we waded out further, until our hems were sodden.

Apparently, you can fish here for their brown trout, and they also provide kayaks. As the kids are a bit young for that, we borrowed life jackets and took the rowing boat out.

They were highly unimpressed

by our sedate tempo. Not exciting enough. Instead, we quit to play hide and seek in Millennium Wood, where there are dens galore and the ground is mossy and thick with ferns.

After an overlong seeking session, the kids jumped out on me, hair sticking up, from a crouching spot in the roots of a tree. “Who are these wild ones?” I wondered. Perhaps the transition from city to country child was complete.

Until day two, when we had one of Straloch’s picnics planned.

After a sedentary few months, the walk uphill to the Lunch Hut, which sits up to 10 people, took over an hour.

The grown ups loved it, but the junior trekkers had a few moans and complaints about impending starvation. Eventually, we saw its roof on the horizon, and sprinted the final stretch.

Their bespoke picnic was set up inside, along with a stag’s antler candlestick, wild flowers – heather and foxgloves – and pretty crockery. The wind buffeted the walls, so we cooried in, and worked our way through leek and gruyere tart, Scotch eggs, potato salad, chocolate and orange brownies, palmiers, prosecco ( on ice) and a stupendous pork and

Clockwise from main: view across the Straloch Estate; the exterior of Stalker’s Lodge; the kitchen

apple picnic pie with mustard and piccalilli. All the calories that good non- complaining walkers deserve.

This feast was created by Straloch’s talented housekeeper, Penny, who can also provide ready- meals and cakes to be delivered to your house or any of their recommended picnic locations on the estate.

Other weekend activities included a nature walk with the estate’s owner, Lucy Holt, who is encyclopedic when it comes to creatures and the plants in their wildflower meadows. She brought magnifying glasses and binoculars for the children, and pointed out the carnivorous greater sundew and trees including the granny pine.

Anyway, the girls also want me to mention the tennis court, Lucy’s friendly labrador and Border terrier, and the walled garden, where there were sheep grazing.

“Best holiday ever,” the nieces wrote in the guestbook, and the grown- ups concurred. Unfortunately, nothing impresses the nephew yet. I’ll bring him back to Straloch for a rewilding session in a few years. ■

We lit our fire at the recommended spot – the island on Straloch Loch

Straloch, Enochdhu, by Blairgowrie, Perthshire. Stays at Stalker’s Lodge start from £ 385 for two nights, or at Keeper’s Lodge ( sleeps four) from £ 265, see www. straloch. com