Just fab

Time to relax, time to dine, time to curl up with a good book in front of a roaring fire – Susan Welsh visits a hidden gem of a hotel in Perthshire that makes visitors forget to look at the clock

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ON A cold winter’s night, four wet and travel-weary visitors trudged up to the front door of the Four Seasons Hotel in the Perthshire hamlet of St Fillans – and made history.

The visitors were John, Paul, George and Ringo, four lads from Liverpool better known as The Beatles.

The year was 1964 and the Fab Four were at the height of their fame. They stayed for two nights at the hotel on the banks of Loch Earn between their shows in Edinburgh and Dundee.

According to old newspaper clippings, after a hard day’s night at their Edinburgh show, the lads tucked into juicy steak suppers before turning in for the night.

The following morning, they enjoyed a long lie then spent the rest of the afternoon either walking on the shores of the loch or messing about in boats.

By the time they returned from the Dundee concert that night, word was out, and the police had to be called to disperse several car-loads of teenagers and students.

The handful of fans who had gathered hoping to have autograph books signed were disappointed when the Beatles’ limousine collected the famous four from their chalet the following day and drove straight off to Glasgow.

But not before they said they liked this part of the countryside and found the peace and quiet of St Fillans a pleasant change.

Paul wistfully wished he had a cottage there, but realised it was out of the question.

Could this trip to St Fillans have sparked his passion for Scotland?

Who knows – but no one can argue about his love for the Mull of Kintyre, which isn’t too far away from the hotel as the crow flies.

More than 40 years on and The Beatles are no more, but the Four Seasons Hotel is still going strong and the peace and tranquillity the legendary musicians appreciated is still there to be enjoyed by visitors.

Although The Beatles put the hotel on the map, it’s a bit of a hidden gem set in an area so beautiful you would expect it to be a must-visit location for overseas tourists.

If you are looking for an image that says “Scotland”, the views from the Four Seasons Hotel take some beating. The view changes with the seasons, but there’s always something to see, whether it’s deer roaming high on the hills above the loch, a boat quietly sailing by or, in our case, a raft of ducks quacking noisily as they splashed in and out of the water putting on a show that would surely have pleased Attenborough himself.

We spent a leisurely night at the hotel after making the trip from Inverness, a journey that took us along the windswept A9 and down through Perth before we joined the A85 for 30 miles and headed west towards Crieff, Comrie and St Fillans itself.

The village was laid out in the 19th century by members of the Drummond family and is now home to a large hydro-electric power station fed from a dam at Loch Lednock, high above the village. You could be forgiven for missing the station, though, as this marvel of modern engineering is underground and carved out of solid rock.

St Fillans is little more than a hamlet and the Four Seasons the jewel in its crown. Visitors don’t come here looking for round-the-clock entertainment – this is the sort of relaxing place where clock-watching is banned and time seems endless.

Originally built in the early-1800s for the manager of the limekilns, the main house then became the schoolmaster’s house. Converted in the 1900s, it has been extended over the years to a comfortable hotel with 12 bedrooms, six chalets and a holiday apartment.

It doesn’t have a particularly “flash” exterior, but inside, it’s a charming mixture of traditional and uber-cool chic styling, with several sitting areas and lots of interesting nooks and crannies.

The owner is a keen traveller and mountain man and the walls are adorned with fascinating artefacts, photographs and paintings – many with a strong Eastern influence – which reflect his many interests. Then there’s the mix of real log fires and contemporary furniture, which might sound odd – but it works.

All the bedrooms have en-suite facilities and many, including ours, enjoy uninterrupted views down Loch Earn. The joy of sleeping like a newborn babe in a comfortable four-poster bed was surpassed only by the thrill of drawing back the curtains to take in a view whose sheer beauty simply took our breath away.

Equally impressive is the food – not the sort of fare you’d expect to find in your average village hotel at all.

We had dinner in the Meall Reamhar restaurant, which overlooks the loch, and tucked into some rather pukka tucker, including glazed goat’s cheese, a chicken and apricot terrine, roast Perthshire pheasant, braised oxtail, white chocolate panacotta and a fragrant lemon posset.

Both food and service were excellent, but the atmosphere in the restaurant was rather stiff and, at times, so quiet it felt as if we were eating in a library. Background music would help.

Breakfast, however, was a more chatty affair and again, we dined like kings – I can particularly recommend the porridge, which comes with cream and a wee dram.

While the Four Seasons is definitely a bide-a-while location, it’s also well placed for fans of outdoor sports.

The hotel has its own jetty and slipway and, depending on the season, there’s sailing, water-ski-ing and canoeing available on the loch.

Within a stone’s throw there are woodland walks, or for those into serious hillwalking, there are more than 70 Munros within an hour’s drive.

We opted to take a drive around the picturesque loch before taking a leisurely trip north to Inverness, which gave us time to appreciate the delights of the many wee villages and towns along the way.

Relaxed, refreshed, well fed and chilled-out – four fab reasons to make a return visit some day.

An overnight stay at the Four Seasons Hotel starts from £87 per person, sharing, and includes a four-course dinner in the two AA rosette Meall Reamhar fine-dining restaurant.

For further information on breaks at The Four Seasons Hotel, St Fillans, Perthshire, call 01764 685333 or log on to www.thefourseasons hotel.co.uk