After a quick dunk in the beautiful marble bath, watched over (bemusingly) by a picture of a handsome Sean Connery in his heyday, I was wonderfully exhausted and retired to bed in my sumptuously large room. A wake up call the next morning broke my sleep and a extravagantly laid out in room breakfast broke my hunger. Balmoral smoked salmon, fresh fruit and black coffee set me up for a energetic day ahead.
The day unfolded on foot through Edinburgh on the crispest of Autumn mornings. We plodded on our “secret” tour of Edinburgh with the wonderfully charming and bright Sorcha Carey, Director of the Edinburgh Arts Festival. We visited the Burns monument (usually off limits to tourists) and received an education about Scotland’s most famous and philandering poet.
We plodded through the city gate, centuries old, listening to history of this city, the words giving a deeper meaning to what we saw with our eyes. Our path led us to an old church where we were privileged to observe Hanna Tuulikki perform “SING SIGN”, a piece which she performed at the Edinburgh Arts Festival. Watching this was profoundly moving. The echoes reverberated off the cavernous ceiling of the church making the piece seem even more haunting.
We then were treated to our first sup of whisky for the day – Royal Salute’s 38 year old Stone of Destiny. The bottle itself is stunning and a piece of art in itself and set with an amber crystal on top. At over £500 per bottle, this really is the stuff that luxury is made of. Vadim Grigorian, Royal Salute's Brand Director, taught me that the best time to taste whisky is mid morning. Before the palette has been exposed to too many flavours, the taste buds are open to taste the full flavours of the whiskey. I couldn’t have agreed more upon tasting the amber liquid. With deep aromas of cedar wood and almonds, with a rich overall oakiness this taste lingered and grew on the palette. The sensation was like velvet down the throat and heated me up nicely in the chilly church.
We then headed to our convoy to be taken to the award winning Jupiter Artland, arguably Scotland’s best sculpture park. This half hour drive out of Edinburgh into the country started the next chapter of our journey. The time passed quickly as the beauty of the countryside passed us by. The lush greenery of the rolling fields was reminiscent of my native Yorkshire, albeit noticeably more rugged. We entered the grounds of the sprawling estate, driving past an incredible art installation of huge mounds of grass, almost alien in effect. Through these huge mound structures we drove up the sweeping driveway to a wonderful house built like a French chateau.
Inside this stunning home was modern and tasteful décor, opulent and fresh in equal measure. Hand painted wallpaper adorned the drawing room where we were met with some fine canapes and, of course, more Royal Salute. I had the chance to converse with the Artland’s owner Robert Wilson who opened this magical place in 2009 with his wife and sculpture artist, Nicky Wilson.
Cue our next luxury shocker….the arrival of a barman flown in especially from Paris (!!) to design a fantastic cocktail for us! Made of Royal Salute's Eternal Reserve, another high end blend made from 88 casks and the newest of the brand's collection, chestnut liqueur, toasted barley and extraction of vino sherry and finished with essence of geranium and sage smoke, this was about as high end a cocktail I’ve had, but at this point I expected nothing less from Royal Salute. The finery of ingredients and spending time over the source of incredible ingredients is what makes this whisky so unique. To go with our tipple we had deep fried oysters and halibut lollipops. These whet the appetite for what was to follow.
Into the main dining room we went for our Equinox lunch and my jaw dropped. In this stunningly bright and ornate room, in front of us lay a table created from hundreds of different species from the flora kingdom. The table, curated by renowned florist Thierry Boutemy, blossomed with fruits, flowers, plants and even grass! Thierry has worked with the best in fashion (Mario Testino) and the film world alike (he designed on Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette). The aesthetic of the scene was breath-taking.
The afternoon sun blazing outside, we were taken around the sculpture grounds by the owner and curator Robert Wilson. We looked on in awe at the Goldsworthy’s, Gormley’s and Kapoor’s sculptures (to name a mere few of what we saw). I didn’t want to leave this beautiful and peaceful place and it is certainly something to do if you find yourself in Edinburgh and feel the desire to see some of Scotland’s beautiful country juxtaposed against sculpture, without having to venture too far from the city.
After our experience at the Artland we bid farewell to Robert and got comfy in the car for a 2 hour drive past Lochs and dark mountains to the Duke of Argyll’s castle for the highlight of the trip. Part two of this Royal experience will continue in my follow up piece……………….
