The 46-bedroom Fife Arms Hotel in Braemar is now officially open, and leading the team is General Manager, Federica Bertolini, who joined from the Hotel Tresanton in Cornwall. Iwan and Manuela Wirth bought the 19th-century coaching house a couple of years ago and have since totally transformed it. They also own bar and grills in Somerset and Los Angeles, as well as being co-presidents of Hauser & Wirth gallery in Zurich. The hotel contains 12,000 works of art, antiques and other objects.
The hotel also has suites, a restaurant overlooking the River Clunie, a cocktail bar, library, playroom, spa, village bar and garden.
Each bedroom and suite offers its own one-of-a-kind furnishings and décor, each one, say the owners, a homage to a place, person, event or activity integral to the life and legacy of Braemar. All of these stories have been researched with the help of consulting historians from Aberdeen University – and translated into design elements, to tell these local stories and share them with guests. The celebrated figures include Robert Louis Stevenson, who began to write Treasure Island whilst on holiday in Braemar.