Our first night at the delightful Novar Estate is exactly what I pictured a highland lodge to be: an 18-century home that looks out to its vast 20,000 acres of lush greenery. Inside, impressive stag heads line the walls, while period furniture and roaring log fires create a sense of comfort. This charming experience is, however, short-lived. Before long, we are back on the bus, travelling further into the rugged reaches of the highlands to the romantic 16th-century Ballindalloch Castle set in the magnificent surroundings of the Spey Valley. And what’s a visit to Scotland without some tea served in fine china with shortbread biscuits to boot? Over platters of rich, crumbly Walkers shortbread fingers, Guy Macpherson-Grant, 23rd-generation heir and custodian of the castle, spews salacious tales of past lairds, and muses about hiding under Victorian consoles and admiring Baronial architecture drawings in the drawing rooms during his childhood.