Visitors can experience the delights of the stunning landscape with
lochs, woods and mountains, by booking a holiday in one of the six
self-catering holiday houses on the estate.
The Estate is also home to Highland Activities,
a modern multi activity and adventure centre offering a wide range of
exciting activities for you to experience during your visit.
Ardverikie House, built in the Scottish baronial style in
1870, is one of the finest private houses in the Scottish highlands.
Sitting on a promontory overlooking King Fergus's Island with its
ancient ruins, a three mile private drive winds past the largest inland
beach in the country and round the loch. The house played host to Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert for a whole month before she bought Balmoral.
History of Estate
The lease had a clause
allowing Ramsden to spend large amounts of money on the improvement of
the Estate, repayable by Cluny at the end of the term. This condition
proved impossible for Cluny to honour and on his death the ownership
passed to Sir John.
Ownership was now
extended and developed by the purchase of a number of surrounding
estates including Braeroy, Glen Shira, Sherramore, Benalder and
Strathmashie. However it was not until Cluny died that Sir John William
Ramsden was able to purchase Aberarder (1914) from Nicholls Cluny's
nephew who put it on the market, as he did not want to live there.
The holding was by
then 40,0000 acres and over a twenty year period lodges were built on
the different estates. Over a million trees were planted annually for 15
years, 40 miles of road built 45 miles of deer fencing and 35 miles of
sheep fencing erected. This involved the employment of 180 men at a
time when the Highlands were in a period of terrible depression.
It was because of
Abercorn's connection with Prince Albert as his Groom of the Stole, that
Queen Victoria came to stay at Ardverikie for a month in August 1847.
The original house -
in which Queen Victoria stayed, was burnt down in 1871, and Sir John
immediately made plans to replace it with the forerunner to the present
house.
The design was by John
Rhind of Inverness using granite handcrafted by local men. The hall was
decorated with pictures by Landseer.
On October 15, 1873,
as the final work was being completed the majority of the house burnt
down again due to hot coals being left in a fire bucket in one of the
bedrooms.
Plans for the rebuild
began immediately, incorporating an oak Library bought from the Duke of
Sussex at Kensington Palace and a set of carved panels to replace the
Landseer paintings which had all been destroyed. The plan for the house
was somewhat enlarged and the work was completed in 1877, the house
remaining in that form today.
At that time the front
drive was a rough track running from the Front Gate bridge, itself
originally a ferry, and the carriages and horses for the house were kept
on the North side of the loch, where the remains of the stables can
still be seen today. Passengers and luggage were ferried across by long
boat.
Another very
significant development carried out by Sir John William Ramsden was the
installation of a water turbine electricity generator with a pipe laid
from Loch an Earbha to Ardverikie in 1907 to provide electricity to the
house and the surrounding cottages..
In 1914, Sir John William Ramsden died and the Estate was inherited by his son Sir John (Frechville) Ramsden (JFR).
During JFR's tenure
there was a period of consolidation. The rent received from letting the
other estates did not cover the costs of maintenance, and with the
impact of very high taxation the various lodges and estates were
gradually sold off so that by the time of his death in 1958 only the
central part of the estate remained, Ardverikie, Aberarder and Moy
During this time he
was on occasion forced to let Ardverikie and the sporting on the rest of
the land to defray estate expenses. When the house was let in the
summer months, the family would move to Moy. During the war his daughter
Lady Feilden lived at Ardverikie, and when the then factor died, she
took over the running of the estate until a replacement could be found
Before his death in
1958 and to avoid heavy taxation Sir John (Frechville) Ramsden, was
advised to form a family company for the benefit of his grandchildren
under the chairmanship of his son Sir William Pennington Ramsden, who
had taken over the administration of the estate in JFR's old age.
1958 a Family Company
was formed under Sir William Pennington Ramsden's chairmanship with two
thirds of the shares held by Sir William's family and one third by his
sister, Lady Feilden's family
This company still
runs successfully today with members of the family as directors. The
Estate is managed by a full time Factor, An Executive Committee of
directors which meets every six weeks to review progress.
The success of the
estate in the latter years was very much due to Geordie Chalmer who was
the resident Factor for thirty years from 1965 during which period a
number of significant developments took place.
In particular with the
slump in timber prices in 1986 it became clear that there was a
shortage of income and to correct this land at Aberarder Farm and the
grouse moors at Dalwhinnie were sold and the money used to modernize and
upgrade the water turbine system mentioned above, to a capacity of One
MW with the ability to sell electricity into the Grid, thus providing
important additional income. This came at a crucial time for the estate,
which up until then had relied on timber as its main source of income.
Sir William Pennington Ramsden died in 1987 and the chairmanship passed to his daughter Phyllida Gordon Duff Pennington.
The estate continues
to be run as a sporting estate with a careful eye to trends in the
market. The policy of the company is as far as possible to support local
employment in the area.
The family is totally committed to the success of the estate.
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