Sanctuary in Sutherland

Links House in Dornoch makes a wonderful base to recharge the batteries, finds Will Slater

In a normal summer, Links House in Dornoch, a 15- bedroom luxury hotel sitting next to the town’s famous golf course gets on with cosseting its well- heeled guests from around the world. Coronavirus has changed all that. The international golf fans are staying away this year and the hotel, which reopened last month, has had to rethink how it operates to ensure it is safe for all while making sure it is still providing a five- star experience.

And while the overseas visitors aren’t here, plenty of Brits are, many choosing a staycation as their own trips abroad have been cancelled.

And so we find ourselves pulling up in the historic coastal town in Sutherland after a four- hour drive from Edinburgh.

We don masks to get to the reception and our temperature is taken using an infrared thermometer. There’s a one- way system in place too, so we exit the other side of the building. We are staying in The Mallart, the penthouse apartment of Glenshiel House, which occupies the top floor of the handsome late Victorian building which was renovated and added to the hotel’s portfolio in 2017. It’s a showstopper of a space, with a bedroom, huge ensuite with walk- in shower, vast bath, twin sinks and acres of Italian marble, a wood- panelled living room, balcony overlooking the golf course, a kitchen/ dining area and a space with another sofa and a TV.

The kitchen comes in handy as we discover pretty much everywhere in Dornoch is booked out, thanks to the reduced capacity of restaurants and the popularity of Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme. So we pick up steaks, salad and a few other bits and pieces from the Co- op and create our own feast. With two cute bottles containing a cosmopolitan cocktail on the kitchen counter and a bottle of bubbly that all guests staying at the Mallart will find in the Fisher & Paykel fridge, we are happy to just relax and enjoy the space.

Normally, guests at Links House would expect the full Highland breakfast experience in the renovated Mara restaurant. It has remained closed, however, and instead a breakfast hamper is delivered to each room. Billed as ‘ a breakfast worth not getting out of bed for’, a huge amount of effort has gone into making it a treat. We had filled out a preference card regarding time and tea or coffee and fruit juice so find a large cafetiere and two bottles of freshly squeezed orange juice. There’s a bottled health shot each. Day one was beetroot, star anise and honey, which tasted more medicinal than pleasurable, compared to day two’s strawberry, apple and banana. There was homemade muesli and honeycomb with yogurt, a lovely smoothie and

various savoury items. We ended up saving the latter for a picnic lunch as we weren’t ready for the likes of duck and fennel terrine, gin and cucumber cured salmon, pancetta and tomato sausage roll, cheddar and oatcakes and garden herb egg muffin.

Determined to make the most of our one full day, we pack in a lot, beginning with Dunrobin Castle in Golspie (£ 11, www. dunrobincastle. co. uk). It’s an amazing place overlooking the Moray Firth. There are state rooms to wander around – though fewer than the pre- Covid set- up – but the gardens are a bigger lure on a day as sunny as this. There are regular falconry displays too, so we watch a gyrfalcon go through its paces, swooping and chasing a lure. Then we’re off to the Falls of Shin by Lairg. There’s a great visitor area there and we find a spot to picnic. The main building is shut at the moment, but there was a food stall doing good business. The Falls are regarded as one of the best places to see salmon as they make their way upstream to spawn. We went more in hope than expectation, but within moments of settling onto the viewing platform, we saw one leap into the foaming torrent. Over the next half hour we must have seen more than a dozen more.

Back at Links House, operations

Clockwise from main: Links House; the sitting room of the Mallart suite; the beach walk to Dornoch

manager Alastair Kennedy, who can fix up anything from mountain biking to fishing and stalking, gives us a lift along the coast so we can have a five- mile walk back to Dornoch. It is beautiful. For more than an hour we don’t see another soul as we walk along the beach and by dunes and grassland. The route eventually takes us on a path alongside the fairways of the Royal Dornoch Golf Club and back to our lodging. There is time to regroup and relax on the balcony in the late afternoon sun.

We have one more treat in store. Dinner at the Courthouse, the hotel’s other ( and open) restaurant which sits on Castle Street in Dornoch, a couple of minutes’ walk away. Situated in the old court, we share a starter of house- cured salmon with beetroot ketchup, before mains of venison topside and pan seared cod. We can then only manage one sticky toffee pudding with whisky butterscotch sauce between us.

After so long stuck at home, it feels good to be exploring the world again. And with so many beautiful places to visit in Scotland, overseas trips can wait. ■

We must have seen more than a dozen salmon leap at the Falls of Shin

Double rooms including breakfast at Links House. Golf Road, Dornoch IV25 3LW ( www. linkshousedornoch. com) cost from £ 225 per night ( lowseason) to £ 300 ( high- season). The Mallart costs £ 600 to £ 800 per night