i-on visits: The Fife Arms in Braemar

Carine Seitz discovers what happens when the art world’s hottest couple get their hands on a Highland Victorian coaching inn

The notion of an excellent hotel needing to have an air of ‘home-from-home’ has never struck a chord with me. Where my own bricks and mortar err on Scandi/mid-century, I want a hotel to deliver the very opposite; the more ridiculously sublime the better. Enter: The Fife Arms. Eclectic and extraordinary, this art and taxidermy-filled hotel, is the perfect tonic to real life.

The hotel in Braemar – near Balmoral Castle, the Royal family’s Scottish holiday home, – was bought five years ago by doyens of the art world Iwan and Manuela Wirth (Hauser & Wirth galleries can be found worldwide), and lovingly refurbished to create what has been lauded as Scotland’s ‘hottest hotel’ since it’s reopening in January.

Given its ownership, it follows that the hotel acts as a showpiece for art: a few steps over the threshold bring you face-to-face with a Freud, a Picasso, and a sketch by none other than Queen Victoria herself.

The interiors, by designer Russell Sage, draw on the building’s history and are traditional in style, but with a twist. From the bleachtreated Steinway piano, to the waxwork Queen Victoria, and the flying stag suspended above the bar, touches of the absurd fit in as comfortably as the tweed, fireplaces, and bespoke tartan walls.

Our room, a Victoriana Suite, is richly furnished in greens and reds. No less than 30 framed coats of arms adorn the walls, and the corner bay window looks out to a stunning view over the hills.

The food and drink is also a cut above. Lunch in The Flying Stag, the hotel’s public bar, comes in the way of classic Scottish dishes, real ales and whiskies while dinner in The Clunie Dining Room comes from a menu rich in local produce: Orkney scallops, Arisaig Lobster, Scottish girolles and Inverurie pork to name but a few. Bespoke cocktails in the charming Art Deco bar, honouring fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, is the perfect end to our evening.

The Fife Arms is quite unlike anywhere else, difficult to define and impossible to do justice to with a word count and consequent limit on superlatives. If I had to try with just one word, it would be this: go.

Bed and breakfast from £250 at The Fife Arms, Braemar. To find out more call 01339 720 200 or visit thefifearms.com