At the heart of the Cairngorm National Park, Wildland Cairngorm is our beacon of conservation. Encompassing Gaick, Glenfeshie, Killiehuntly and Kinrara, this land is in the process of healing itself after centuries of degradation and deforestation. It is a landscape full of hope - hope that one day we can reverse the trend of loss and spark a positive future for Scotland’s wild places.
Glenfeshie
The Glenfeshie Estate in the heart of the Cairngorm National Park epitomises Wildland’s commitment to the restoration of its holdings. A flagship estate, Glenfeshie today provides evidence in every direction of nature’s wondrous ability to heal itself. With deer numbers now in balance with the land’s capacity to support them, new trees emerge every year and – instead of being browsed – gain a foothold. Today, a decade after taking charge of the estate and its overabundant herds of deer, there are swathes of new naturally regenerating forest wherever you look. …it is incredibly inspiring.
At the heart of the estate sits the Glenfeshie Lodge, a fine baronial manse that is “Highlands” through-and-through and very much the archetypal Victorian shooting lodge. So much so in fact that in recent years the lodge has provided the location for many award-winning films and TV drama series; not least The Queen starring Dame Helen Mirren, Victoria & Abdul with Dame Judi Dench, The Centurion (about the Roman Ninth Legion and starring Clive Owen), Prince Of Thieves, Netflix’s The Crown and, most recently, The Outlaw King (the story of Scots rebel, Robert the Bruce).
Gaick
Gaick Estate is the most southern of all Wildland’s holdings. It holds a remote location, accessible currently either by an off-road vehicle over a private road from the north via Killiehuntly and across the lands of Glentromie, or you can hike in from the south near the Perthshire village of Blair Atholl following the old cattle droving road over the mountains and glens.
Gaick is a remarkable place with a sense of isolation and wilderness of seemingly endless hills. The hills give way to peatlands and bogs across the moors. The sense of remoteness is occasionally broken by the babbling of burns and rivers, and wooded areas such as in Glen Tromie. Contrastingly, Gaick Lodge which is set on a vast flat glacial landscape in an arena of striking high-topped mountains. The land is steeped in history and tales of folklore; ‘The Avalanche’, ‘The Loss of Gaick’, and ‘The Curse of Walter Comyn’. If you’re lucky to visit, one of our Keepers will be happy to tell you these tales.
Killiehuntly
Set in 4000-acres Killiehuntly Estate in beautiful Glentromie, Killiehuntly Farmhouse has been painstakingly restored and already proves to be amongst the most popular Wildland destinations. Setting the tone for our signature Scandi-Scot mix of design, concept and style, recognised as one of the top 15 destinations of its type in the world by readers of Conde Naste traveller, featured in many high end international design journals – the nature and beauty of this unique place does justice to the extraordinary landscape that is the recovering Wildland Cairngorm Estate in which it sits. It is an eye-opener to the modern travellers of the world.
The Killiehuntly Estate has benefitted from the planting of a staggering 1.5 million trees. The ambition is for this to become a seed orchard for the future planting requirements for the whole of the Wildland project. This replanting also includes a trial area exploring the potential for restoring sub-montane habitats (above 450m). This project has the potential to have Wildland lead the way in addressing what is an ecological absence across the whole of the Scottish Highlands.
Kinrara
The estate, which covers more than 1,000 acres of designated landscape, is Wildland’s most recent addition to our family of wild places. Investment will be channelled into the conservation of the estate itself, which includes swathes of fragile wetland, as Wildland Limited continues to deliver its 200 year vision for the landscape scale restoration of natural habitats, flora and fauna across the highlands of Scotland.