Photography by Martin Kaufmann, courtesy of Killiehuntly.
In my next life, I’d like to be like Anne Storm Pedersen, who with her billionaire husband bought a 4,000-acre Scottish estate in 2011.
Killiehuntly has farmland, forests, and rivers and an enviable location in Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland (one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited).
The kitchen’s farm-to-table fare, said Pedersen, “is all about homemade, local, simple, and honest, beautiful food served in a setting where people come together to spend precious time away from the daily routine.” Almost all ingredients are grown at Killiehunty (save for exotics such as coffee, tea, and chocolate).
Inside the spired greenhouse, Pedersen and team grow edibles such as tomatoes and squash, which require warm temperatures.
A farmer (fittingly, wearing wellies and a linen apron) tends to the vegetable patch.
Self-seeding borage grows in abundance in the vegetable garden.
A farmer with an egg-laying hen.
Killiehuntly has a large organic garden, bordered by a fence and low stone walls, with rows of raised beds for fruits and vegetables.
The main farmhouse dates to 1800; the owner commissioned architect Nicholas Groves-Raines, a specialist in refurbishing old buildings, to bring the structure into the 21st century.
Highland cattle have plenty of pasture land on the 4,000-acre estate.
Killiehuntly organizes outdoor adventures for guests upon request, including fly fishing, hunting, hiking, and mountain biking.
The car stables, located next to the horse stables (now converted into lodgings), house an early-edition Land Rover for guests’ outings.
The “bothy,” a Scottish term for a small hut, is a separate structure located a stone’s throw from the farmhouse; it has its own enclosed herb garden and is available for family rentals.
The refurbished farmhouse at night.
Killiehuntly farmhouse in winter.