The Recent Past
The House became an hotel in 1986 and was opened by Sir Malcolm Rifkind, then Scottish Secretary of State. Its character has been largely retained and visitors can enjoy the comfort and extremely relaxing and welcoming ambience and imagine how it must have been to live there in a different time. We have had many famous visitors including controversial author Andrew Morton, Ted Danson and Joely Richardson (when they were filming Loch Ness), World Cup winner Sir Bobby Charlton, singer Belinda Carlisle, Penelope Keith and Iain Banks, award-winning Scottish author, to name but a few.
Ghostly presence
Bunchrew is an old house and like all such houses when she settles down for the night, your senses can play all sorts of tricks on you. You might hear a soft clink or creak or scrape and fool yourself that you’ve seen something move out of the corner of your eye. Chances are that it’s just the sound of the last dying embers dropping in the fires, or floorboards contracting or a shadow thrown by a lamp…….. or is it??? It just might be that you’ve been privileged to experience Isobel, our elderly and extremely benign ghost who occasionally walks the corridors at night. She is the long deceased daughter of Sir Gilbert Ogilvie of Powrie and wife to Kenneth 12th Chief of the Clan MacKenzie. Apart from her nocturnal ramblings she has a favourite table in the restaurant – we won’t tell you which one until you’re seated!
