Balavil is located near Kingussie
in Inverness-shire and is the home of Allan and Marjorie Macpherson-Fletcher.
The house was built in 1790 and has remained in the family ever
since. It lies one hour’s drive from Inverness airport and
two hour’s drive from Edinburgh and Glasgow airports, both
of which receive numerous flights from Europe.
There are direct flights from America into Glasgow. Inverness is
served by three flights daily from London Gatwick. The overnight
sleeper train from London stops at Kingussie station, which is a
5 minute drive away. The estate boasts a whole variety of game animals
and birds, but is particularly renowned for its grouse, pheasants,
red stags and snow hares. The grouse season begins on 12th August
and the best shooting,
both driven and walked up, lasts until about the 25th September.
Typically 50 brace of grouse are shot on driven days and 20 brace
on walked-up days to teams of 8 or 9 guns. Red stag stalking takes
place in the rut from the end of September to the 20th October and
the driven pheasants begin at the end of October and go through
until the end of January. Pheasant days are often paired with driven
white hare days and in a good year as many as 300 hares per day
can be shot by 8 guns. 100 to 200 bird driven pheasant days are
usual.
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The house is decorated and furnished
in period style with much of the furniture and many of the paintings
and artifacts dating from the early period of the house.
There is a gun room with an open fire, the scene of many inquests
into the results of a shooting day and there are first class drying
facilities. The house is centrally heated throughout and all the
public rooms have an open coal or wood burning fire. There are
four double bed rooms and six twin bed rooms each with their own
bathroom. Full board is provided by the staff in the huge Victorian
style kitchen using local produce and game.
The hamper lunch on driven shoot days is something not to be missed,
whether taken al fresco or in the ‘bothy’ in the hills,
from which the views are very special. From Balavil, non-shooters
can visit the many local historic sites and castles and browse in
a wide range of antique, craft and woollen shops not to mention
the numerous whisky distilleries.
Allan and Marjorie encourage guests to use Balavil for what it is,
a friendly family home where you can relax and enjoy the sport and
the peace of the Highlands in an atmosphere of comfortable elegance. |
