At Kinnaird Castle, we can be aristos… just for one holiday

Kinnaird Castle in its stunning grounds.

To celebrate my 60th birthday – I know, I know, I don’t look a day over 100 – we are very fortunate to be staying at an apartment in the majestic Kinnaird Castle located between Brechin and Montrose in the rolling Angus countryside.

The magnificent 15th-Century castle has been the residence of the Carnegie family, now the Dukes of Fife, for more than 600 years. It has a dreamy, fairytale feel. Beholding its mighty turrets and spires, you can’t help but think: “Downton Abbey, eat your heart out!”

You can tell it’s a splendid destination by the length of its drive. As your car crunches along the gravel for an interminable period, you keep saying to yourself: “Are we nearly there yet?”

Converted from the castle’s old nursery, Esk Apartment is a delightful three-bedroom flat. The cliched image of a 15th-Century castle would involve draughty stone corridors haunted by unhappy ghosts clanking chains and moaning about betrayal.

Esk Apartment is nothing like that, however, offering warm and welcoming accommodation. It feels like a home from home (albeit a rather grand one).

Thoughtfully decorated with lovely blue China ornaments and heroic portraits, the bedrooms are vast. They boast four-poster beds big enough to accommodate several royal families.

In the very well-equipped kitchen, we are greeted with a wonderful basketful of local produce – eggs, bacon, jam and homemade muesli. Our hosts have even very kindly left me a birthday cake.

The apartment is full of nooks and crannies that are particularly enticing for young ones. In the visitors’ book, we notice that some children have written that they loved playing hide and seek in the flat.

You also get a little thrill every time you peek through a window in the apartment and glimpse a dramatic crenelation or a herd of reindeer trotting across the grounds.

Every corner of the castle is redolent of a rich and often colourful history. Being there for a long weekend, you feel steeped in the stories of the past.

If you half-close your eyes, you can imagine quaffing wine with the Old Pretender or feasting on a freshly hunted boar (or its vegetarian equivalent) with James VI.

While staying at Esk Apartment, you can indulge in the most marvellous game of playing at being a Duke, although sadly you have to hand the accommodation back at the end of your stay.

The estate comprises 7,000 acres of gentle parkland. It stretches as far as the eye can see – and then some. The land is crisscrossed by miles of gorgeous walks. You can also explore it on one of the bicycles that are available free to guests.

The castle is hard by the South Esk River, which is a Special Area of Conservation thanks to its salmon and freshwater pearl mussels. The estate takes part in the red squirrel project, too. Many visitors are lucky enough to spot these cute creatures, as well as woodpeckers, kingfishers, ospreys and owls.

Fortuitously, we are staying on the date the Duke shows people round the castle as part of a local Doors Open Day scheme. He is a highly entertaining guide, full of humorous and not always complimentary anecdotes about his ancestors.

In the family gallery on the first floor, for example, the Duke points out a portrait of his grandfather in hunting attire and carrying a shotgun. This gentleman and his wife, our guide tells us, were known as “the second most boring couple in Scotland”. The Duke’s grandfather was such an enthusiastic and frequent shooter that he could no longer hear a thing, while his wife was extremely timid. So they were apparently not much fun to sit next to at the dinner table.

Goodness only knows what the most boring couple in Scotland were like!

Esk Apartment is also the ideal base from which to explore such local sites as the brooding Rocks of Solitude – sounds very Lord of the Rings, doesn’t it? Ten miles north of the castle, this is a spectacular, death-defying gorge where you can often see salmon leaping up the River North Esk.

Nine miles in the other direction is Lunan Bay, a glorious and surprisingly empty two-mile crescent of sand. Who needs the Greek islands? And on the southern tip of the beach are the remains of King William the Lion’s Red Castle, constructed to repel invaders in the 12th Century.

Dramatically silhouetted on a hillock against the sky, it is shaped like a giant dog poised to pounce on anyone foolish enough to attack.

The beautiful county of Angus was first stormed by marauding Vikings in the 10th Century. The area is still equally popular with visitors 11 centuries later. It’s just that these days, they are rather more peaceful.

P.S. At Kinnaird Castle, you can enjoy a variety of activities, from scenic walks through the estate and cycling along picturesque trails to wildlife watching, where you might spot red squirrels and ospreys. You can also try your hand at fishing or make use of the tennis courts.