Top sporting stays

Effortlessly smart and with superb shooting and fishing on the doorstep, these British hotels are the perfect base for fieldsports enthusiasts, says Madeleine Silver

- Madeleine Silver

The Fife Arms, Aberdeenshire

There’s a sense of theatre to this imposing Victorian pile at the end of the Dee Valley. Perhaps it’s the heady mix of tartan and taxidermy paired with a Picasso and Richard Jackson’s neon antler chandelier. Or the mahogany four-poster beds, standalone copper bathtubs and the moody, low-lit whisky bar.

Then there’s The Clunie Dining Room with its flamboyant openfire cooking (don’t leave without trying the Invercauld estate venison) and the stately drawing room. Built as a coaching inn by the Duke of Fife in the 19th century, it opened its doors in 1856 after Queen Victoria had bought nearby Balmoral a few years earlier and the tourists had followed to this corner of the Highlands.

Most recently, Swiss art dealers Iwan and Manuela Wirth – who co-founded the Hauser & Wirth gallery – have given it a money-no-object overhaul, with their pick of modern art taking centre stage. However, for all the eccentricity and luxury, the jewel of this place is the sporting country that they’ve inherited.