Accommodation Details
Gruinyards – a beautifully appointed 2 bed top floor apartment at the Highland Club
Gruinyards is on the third floor of the Monastery building in the exclusive Highland Club, which has been created by the conversion of a former Benedictine Abbey. It can sleep 6 with two bedrooms (a huge double and cosy twin) and a double sofa bed in the spacious high ceilinged living/dining room.
We now also have the option of an extremely comfortable double Aerobed which can be used instead of the sofa bed to turn the master bedroom into a four person family room. There’s still masses of room and it means you don’t have to worry about folding away the sofabed every morning! Great if you’ve more than two children with you.
Also…
for families with very little ones, there’s a fold-away cot and highchair both available in the apartment.
Gruinyards is part of the ‘Highland Club’, set in the beautifully converted historic Abbey at Fort Augustus on the shore of Loch Ness. The Highland club has extensive grounds along the Loch with mooring and fishing rights for guests and a stunning swimming pool and spa in an old chapel. In addition there is the Boathouse restaurant, tennis courts, badminton, adventure playground, cloisters and a spectacular galleried club lounge.
The apartment, with a total area of about 105sqm (1150 sqft) is extremely well laid out, being entered through a hallway which leads straight to the living room on the left and the master bedroom on the right. The main bathroom is straight ahead with the second bedroom also directly off the entrance hall.
A floor plan of the apartment can be viewed here
Linen, towels, heating and electricity are all included, and a cot and highchair are also available at no extra cost. However there is a small charge (£20) for use of the sofabed.
There are descriptions and photos of the individual rooms below, and also some more atmospheric pictures of the interior in a gallery on Flickr.
A selection of photos of the views from the apartment (mostly the Loch from the large Gothic window in the living room)
Pictures of the old Monastery building overlooking Loch Ness
Accommodation
Living Room
The Living/Dining room is a wonderful space measuring 22’x 16′ (6.8m x 4.8m) with high sloping ceilings, a giant stone mullioned window looking out directly over Loch Ness and another window looking over the hills to the East.
It boasts wide-board real oak flooring with the furniture is solid oak to match. There is a suite of leather sofas and chairs (one of which is a double sofa-bed) and a solid oak refectory style dining table that can be extended to seat eight people if required.
It also has a fully equipped integral kitchen with black granite worktop and AEG appliances including fridge-freezer, dishwasher and washer/drier.
Master bedroom
The Master Bedroom also has tall sloping ceilings and windows on two sides, looking over the hills and also over the cloisters and old abbey buildings. It is very generously sized at almost 21’x 13′ (6.3 x 3.9m) and is tastefully fitted out with solid oak furniture, tartan roman blinds and a flat weave wool and flax carpet.
Master bedroom again
It benefits from a king-size bed, walk-in cupboard and a magnificent ensuite bathroom with slate flooring and a freestanding bath with a view out of another grand stone mullioned window.
The second bedroom
The second bedroom has more of a cottagey feel, with its sloping ceiling and dormer window, and is laid out with twin beds, although these can be linked together if required.
Furniture includes a sizeable wardrobe and a small chest of drawers and is solid oak as elsewhere in the apartment. It is a very cosy room in which children particularly enjoy staying.
The second bathroom is equipped with a full size bath with a built-in thermostatic power shower and shower screen. The shower head has three different settings which give a really invigorating shower.
Room by room photos
For more photographs of the apartment, as well as other parts of the abbey and the view from the apartment, please look at the Gallery section.
More pictures of the apartment
The Old Abbey and the Highland Club
The Highland Club, set in the former St Benedict’s Abbey is a stunning place to stay. There is a host of activities available on site, the Monastery buildings are hugely picturesque and impressive and the view from the gardens is breath-taking at all times of the day.
To see some pictures of Loch Ness taken from the gardens during a visit at the end of May click here.
Here are some atmospheric pictures of the cloisters from the same visit.