Inverlochy Castle is now in its 50th year and right from the start it acquired a reputation as one of the UK’s grandest luxury hotels. Of course, there is a lot of competition in this sector nowadays (Glenapp for example) but back then it was a trailblazer, overseen by the Canadian owner’s wife, Grete Hobbs, and by the chef, Mary Shaw, straight out of the Mrs Patmore School of Cookery.
For years, Inverlochy was a formal place with jacket and tie de rigueur for dinner. The decor was fussy and chintzy and the place was run on the grandest lines, like The Ritz or Claridge’s. Guests could imagine they were actually staying at Balmoral. And of course, Queen Victoria famously stayed here.
But times change and Inverlochy has now passed into Chinese ownership with a large input from the flourishing Roux empire in Scotland. Those arriving - perhaps in the hotel’s Rolls-Royce - might be relieved to discover that the ambience is a lot more relaxed these days. The rooms have been skilfully updated - gone are the swaggy curtains and chintzy wallpapers and in comes Farrow & Ball, walk-in showers, roll-top baths, Bang & Olufsen radios, TVs disguised as mirrors, brilliant wifi. Our large room, Torlundy, was a very pleasant place to stay, complete with a panoramic view of Ben Nevis when it wasn’t hiding sheepishly in the rain and mist.
Downstairs are the large salons - huge and lofty chandeliered spaces which somehow manage to be homely. There are also two dining rooms - we were in the one with blue chairs, a stunningly romantic setting for dinner with light dancing off the glassware and silver.
The dress code has been relaxed of late - men are now only required to wear a jacket and every male conformed on the night we stayed, though the man nearest to us was also wearing jeans and trainers along with a jacket.
We had requested a roast grouse for our dinner but on arrival they explained the grouse were not of Inverlochy quality so they prepared partridge instead. While we would have much preferred grouse (we get partridge locally but never grouse) the meal was highly accomplished and delicious. Breakfast was a little disappointing with undercooked poached eggs which rather ruined the hollandaise sauce.
To sum up: we were expecting something rather staid and hushed, but Inverlochy was relaxed and even quite buzzy. The staff are pitch perfect in every department. It’s expensive - we paid about £750 for the night - but taking everything into account we felt it was value for money.
