Film producers snap up Highland country house hotel
Film producers Andy Picheta and Rebecca Ferrand have bought Muckrach Lodge hotel, a Highland country house hotel in the Cairngorms National Park.
The Victorian property occupies nine acres of parkland at Dulnain Bridge, near Grantown-on-Spey in Inverness-shire
The three AA-star hotel was built in the 1860s as a sporting lodge for the Muckrach Estate and converted into a country house hotel following its sale in the 1960s.
It has now built up a strong local restaurant trade and attracts visiting sportsmen, leisure break customers, residential conference and wedding business.
The main building houses three reception rooms, the two AA-rosette Finlarig restaurant, a 20-capacity meeting room, and 13 letting bedrooms.
Two letting suites are found in a cottage adjoining a former coach house to the west. The coach house also provides five-apartment owners' accommodation.
The new owners plan to introduce some boutique style to the country house hotel and have already converted the library into a piano lounge.
They also plan to turn the Finlarig restaurant into a residents' lounge and the former conservatory into a 40-seat restaurant that will be headed by award-winning chef Addy Daggert from the Craigellachi hotel.
The Edinburgh office of Colliers Robert Barry sold the freehold off a guide price in excess of £1m on behalf of James and Dawn Macfarlane.
By Angela Frewin
