Craiglea Lodge

It may be difficult to tear yourself away from your luxury retreat, but there is much to be seen in this historic corner of Caithness. Start with Latheronwheel, where you can discover tiny pixie houses in the Fairy Glen (five minutes’ walk) and admire dramatic rock stacks from the once-busy harbour (20 minutes). If you’re brave enough, the Whaligoe Steps (15 minutes’ drive) require you to scramble down a steep flight of stone steps to a former herring-fishing harbour – but don’t forget you’ll have to stagger all the way back up again You might like to try your hand at gold panning at Kildonan Burn (40 minutes), where the short-lived Great Sutherland Gold Rush kicked off in 1868. In contrast to fishing and searching for gold, whisky production is still very much thriving in Caithness, and you can sample (and buy) single malts on a visit to Old Pulteney Distillery (25 minutes). If you’d care to see how the Scottish gentry lived in times past, Dunrobin Castle (50 minutes) is your best bet. This fairytale property is open for self-guided tours of its opulent state rooms and exquisite formal gardens. There are also several abandoned castle ruins to admire along the East Caithness coastline, including Berriedale (15 minutes) and Castle Sinclair Girnigoe (35 minutes).