A scandalous pair of lovers from Victorian times and a Danish billionaire whose childhood memories take him 200 years into the future: on our Scottish safari, we travel through picturesque Highlands and turbulent stories. But by the time we reach Glenfeshie Lodge, peace and relaxation are guaranteed. Queen Victoria is said to have once recuperated here and guests from all over the world are now welcome. If thick fog is a reason not to leave the house elsewhere, it is one of the main attractions in the hills of the Cairngorms. We feel our way forward, you stay close behind us.
The world was in turmoil. Driven by imperial greed, a great power was grabbing foreign lands. In the overcrowded cities, people feared for their jobs, which were suddenly being done by machines. A few amassed fantastic fortunes and preached of progress in a technological wonderland. Everyone else looked to the future like a man on the gallows looking at his toes. But whether rich or poor, queen or coal trimmer, everyone longed for something that the radical changes of the day had made a distant memory: untouched nature. And Edwin Landseer was the man who brought it into people’s living rooms. In the century before last, when Great Britain was whipping up a new era with industrialization at home and imperialism in the rest of the world, there was a growing longing among the people for a piece of simple, idealized homeland. Sublime harmony that can only be found in the forests and mountains.
Far away from black steaming factory chimneys and the banging of cannonballs overseas. Those who could afford it found such an idyll in the Scottish Highlands. But this had been bitterly bought in the preceding years: Forced migration, known as the Highland Clearances, meant that small tenant farmers had to leave their farmlands and the traditional clan system was effectively broken up. A few large landowners reinvented the land: as sheep pasture, deer hunting grounds and a travel destination. The most powerful woman in the world served as an advertising campaign. In her diaries, Queen Victoria enthused during her travels through the Highlands: “This solitude, the romance and the wild beauty of everything here … all this makes beloved Scotland the proudest and most beautiful country in the world.”
Love greetings from Scotland
Georgiana Russell, Duchess of Bedford, did not travel to Scotland to write a diary. In Glenfeshie, a 182 square kilometer estate, the aristocrat built herself a love nest, where her husband sometimes stayed, but often her affair. In 1823, Georgiana met Edwin Landseer, twenty years her junior. The aspiring artist was commissioned to paint a portrait of the duchess. The oil paint was not enough. After Landseer had completed the work, he became Georgiana’s private art teacher – and eventually lover. His visits to Glenfeshie, where the couple hid from the gossiping mouths of the English aristocracy, inspired the painter to create some of his most famous masterpieces. He adorned the dramatic hilly landscapes and tranquil waters with animals whose expressive personalities touched the souls of Edwin’s countrymen. Rich people hung the paintings in their palaces as a sign of national pride. For ordinary people, they were later emblazoned on cookie tins and whisky bottles.
After Georgiana Russell’s death, the simple cottages she had built for her country retreat fell into disrepair. While passing through, Queen Victoria was dismayed by the state of the once fairytale-like dwellings, which now stuck together like smudges on a Landseer painting. But Glenfeshie had long since become a legend and the British aristocracy was not prepared to give up this hideaway. So around 1880, a stately lodge was built among the Caledonian pine trees. While the Duchess of Bedford deliberately kept her forest oasis modest – actor Charles James Mathews mocked the accommodation as a “native village” after a visit – this new lodge was worthy of a queen and is said to have also served as accommodation for Her Majesty Victoria. But it was another traveler who also fell in love with the land and would rewrite the history of Glenfeshie and its surroundings.
Business plans from Denmark
As a young boy, Anders Holch Povlsen walked through the rooms of Glenfeshie Lodge. As so often, his family was on vacation in Scotland. This place had a magical effect on the child, “as if we were at the top of something”, as Anders would later recall. The young boy became the richest man in Denmark, CEO of the Bestseller fashion group and a major shareholder in international fashion retailers. But those carefree days of his youth never left Anders, and in 2006 he bought the entire Glenfeshie property, including the lodge. He gradually secured further natural areas and historic buildings. Povlsen is now the largest landowner in Scotland with an area of over 890 square kilometers, leaving even King Charles III.
behind him. The fact that Povlsen clicks lands into his shopping cart as if they were discounted fall/winter collections from his shopping sites follows a plan. In 2012, the billionaire founded Wildland Limited, a program to restore the Scottish wilderness. The company is following a 200-year plan: when we are all long gone, the trees in the Highlands should once again tower thick and mighty into the sky. For over two centuries, the area was subject to sheep farming and deer hunting. Biodiversity has also suffered as a result. Glenfeshie is still regarded as the “crown jewel of the Cairngorms”, a mountain range in the east of the country. But with targeted reforestation and planting of local wild flora, this jewel is to be further polished and once again become the colorful thicket through which the proud clans of the North Island once roamed. Despite all the wilderness, there is still room for a little spot of luxury.
Interior designs from America
When Georgiana Russell and Edwin Landseer rubbed their cold feet together in the Highlands, they were surrounded by little more than air, love and clay. If they were to return to their petit chez-soi today, they would find seven bedrooms at Glenfeshie Lodge, where the couple can relocate their activities. A fire is already crackling in the fireplace in the stately Entrance Hall, casting warm light on the wood paneling. Some of the furnishings were designed by Ralph Lauren and Ward Denton in 1998. Every cushion and every knob looks like a journey back in time to Scottish history. The Duchess and her prince charming don’t waste much time and head up the stairs to the Feshie Room. In the most spectacular bedroom in the house, a four-poster bed awaits, its sins concealed by tartan curtains. The burgundy chaise lounge by the window looks out over the River Feshie, with the green and ochre and blue of the Highlands beyond.
Georgiana and Edwin fix their tousled hair, their hearts pounding and their stomachs rumbling. Downstairs in the dining room, the candles are lit for dinner. The services of a private chef are included during your stay at the lodge. The dishes are made from local ingredients – mushrooms, asparagus, game – and either end up on the porcelain plates or as a packed lunch for a pony picnic in the countryside. Perhaps the two lovebirds will make their plans for the day ahead while nibbling. A local guide could lure them out of bed early and accompany them through the forest in the morning hours. The misty soup slowly evaporates in the rays of sunlight shining between the trunks of the pine trees. The old man under the Deerstalker hat slips the couple a telescope. They spot birds, deer, perhaps even a veritable “Monarch of the Glen”, the stag whose portrait made Landseer immortal as a painter. Arriving at the water’s edge, Georgiana and Edwin have their companion hand them two fishing rods. Just as Anders Holch Povlsen used to cast a fishing rod into the water on the shore in his childhood, the duchess and her artist now want to catch their next meal themselves. Should the couple’s luck run out at nearby Loch Insh, they can still take heart and spontaneously plunge into the cold water for a refreshing dip. Back at the lodge, the warming fireplace is already lit.
Echoes from the past
The world will always be in turmoil. And its people are therefore always in search of some seclusion from the hustle and bustle of modern life. At Glenfeshie Lodge, time doesn’t just seem to stand still, it seems to be turned back. None of us will ever get to see the perfect picture of densely wooded Highlands. But if you want to sit down and witness nature slowly making its brushstrokes, young fir trees pressing out of the ground and the scent of flowers that have disappeared from the area for centuries, you will find a front row seat here. Queen Victoria once created the largest empire in world history. But this is the only place she called a paradise.
Glenfeshie Lodge
In its almost 150-year history, Glenfeshie Lodge has been a vacation home for real and pretend queens. Regent Victoria is said to have made a stopover here on her travels through Scotland. Episodes of the series “The Crown” and “The Queen” were filmed in the former hunting lodge. Actress Helen Mirren spent the night in one of the seven bedrooms, as did Prince Henrik of Denmark. However, the estate and its extensive nature program are now also open to guests with less glittering CVs.
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Off into the wilderness: book your room here.
Photos: © Glenfeshie Lodge, Wildland Ltd.
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