Here’s the perfect place to do some Nessie spotting
A GROUP of Porsche cars in a rainbow of colours pass us as we drive from Inverness. ‘We’re used to it,’ says my taxi driver, with a shrug. This road, the A82, running from Glasgow to Fort William, is famously beautiful and performance cars have become part of the landscape.
Just after the Clansman Hotel, a 1960s pitstop, complete with fibreglass Nessie and souvenir shop, you’ll come across the entrance to Loch Ness Lodge. With nine rooms and suites, this B&B is a stylish place, a collection of rooms with deep-pile carpets and mattresses you feel you might need to wade into. Everything’s superior, from the coffee machines to the rainfall showers and huge baths.
Still in touch with its Scottish roots, though, the water that comes out of the taps has a peaty element that feels almost spa-like.
Downstairs, there’s a library and a drawing room, filled with log fires and an outdoor terrace to Nessie-spot from. There’s a spa with sauna and hot tub. Guests come from across the world; most are on driving tours of Scotland but realise that this is a great place to stop to appreciate the views.
The lodge’s name, inherited from the previous owners when it changed hands a couple of years ago, is slightly confusing for there’s a Loch Ness Lodge Hotel a bit further along the road. The current owners – two families, the Macmasters and the Campbells – also run the Clansman and own the posh Loch Ness Country House Hotel, which has two AA Rosettes. But they’re hands-on at the lodge, making sure guests feel welcome and sorting out practicalities.
The place: On the banks of Loch Ness, 20 minutes from Inverness, with all the water and wood vistas you might want. The jetty for the Jacobite cruises of Loch Ness is a short walk away. The accommodation: It may look venerable, but the comfort levels and lack of draughts betray that it was built recently. The lodge is adults-only in name but there were a couple of wellbehaved children during my stay. The food: It’s all about breakfast with scrambled eggs with salmon and kippers, delicious home-made granola, pancakes and smoothies. If you’re around at tea time, there are cakes on tap.