Firthside House | The Perfect Christmas Stay
We welcome you to newly opened Firthside House, we have spent the last two years renovating the house and transforming it to its former glory. It is a beautiful Scottish coastal property for rent with magnificent views over the Moray Firth in Nairn, Scotland. It easily hosts 18 adults in 9 double bedrooms and each bedroom now has a private or en-suite bathroom in Victorian style with excellent water pressure in the showers.
The social areas contain drawing room, dining room, billiard room with additional seating area, kitchen, bar and a conservatory, all social rooms have beautiful sea views, facing Moray Firth. Within walking distance you will find excellent golf courses, beaches, the beautiful town of Nairn and within some 15 min drive historical sites such as Fort George, the Battlefield of Culloden, Cawdor Caste and numerous well known whisky distilleries.
Warmest welcome!
Firthside House is a beautiful building, how do you prepare for the festive season?
With Firthside House’s many original Victorian features we like to compliment that style with decorating common to the era. Trailing ivy hanging from the portraits and bannisters, holy berry, eucalyptus and pine on the mantles and sprigs of rosemary on the table.
We bring in the colour with a lot of ribbons and bows and use pine-cones, nuts, dried oranges and orange pomanders – the oranges take some time to spike with cloves and cure but the scent fills the house and creates not just a visual feast but a sensory one as well.
What is the perfect day at Firthside House?
The perfect Christmas Day at Firthside is entirely dependent on what our guests want it to be. Christmas bookings are popular, particularly with overseas visitors. Being in the north of Scotland, in a lovely warm home, with roaring fires, stunning scenery and a chef to cater to your every culinary desire makes Christmas a magical experience no matter what you’ve got planned.
Food of course is central, we promote fresh local produce – if you’re up early enough, you can stand at your bedroom window and watch the local fisherman catch the lobster you’ll have for dinner.
At Christmas time, most guests favour food familiar to their home country but we can usually sneak in a handmade haggis bon bon or clootie dumpling and few guests turn down the best whiskies Scotland has to offer.
You have your family coming to stay with you for a weekend, what are your top activities?
Being minutes from two championship courses, golf is ever popular as are the tourist attractions of the area, Culloden, Cawdor castle, Clava Cairns and a number of excellent whisky distilleries open for tastings.
Aside from more physical activities such as horse riding on the beach, clay pigeon shooting and fishing, we love to recommend some of the lesser-known spots for guests to visit, Culbin Forest’s buried trees; clootie wells and fairy glens, salmon smokehouses, Munro’s to climb, cashmere shopping, sea bird reserves and dolphin spotting – the list is almost endless.
There’s so much to see and do within a relatively short distance – it makes planning a guest’s itinerary easy!
What is your favourite festive Noble Isle Fragrance?
Scots Pine. It’s the perfect fragrance for us, bringing the scent of the Sylvestris Scots Pines in the Firthside garden into the house. It’s fresh, genuinely Scottish and a perfect fit for Christmas.
Please visit us on www.firthsidehouse.com