Enjoy a picnic in the woodland dell and watch the squirrels scamper. Quarry Gardens Lodge, a serene retreat for two, is the most secret of cottages. It’s also beautifully refurbished.
This eight-acre Walled Garden, with its rare plants and espaliered trees, is open daily to the public – but is yours once the public go home. There’s a wooden play area for children, a shop selling estate botanicals and gin, and fine produce grown for the award-winning café, whose ethos is ‘plant – pick – plate.’
Stock up or eat out in neighbouring Fochabers, a half-hour stroll. Head off for the dunes and wildfowl of Findhorn (25 miles), or the distilleries of the Laigh of Moray, where half of Scotland’s glorious whiskies are produced.
The situation in the wood, beside the dell on the Gordon Castle Estate, is special. The cottage is an ideal bolthole for two where you can be totally absorbed in each other in this unique place.