A Scottish Honeymoon: Book Poolewe’s Pool House

Gardens, glamour and privacy make this boutique hotel a must for newlyweds.

Pool House afternoon tea

Every bride thinks her hubby is hotter than Brad Pitt. You can sleep in the same bed as the Hollywood hunk—although not at the same time—at Pool House, a unique boutique hotel in Poolewe, a wee village on the shores of Loch Ewe. 

It’s a short stroll from the fabulous 54-acre Inverewe Garden, which showcases specimen plants from all over the world, including lush tropical flora. 

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Each suite at Pool House is the size of a Manhattan apartment, including a bedroom, sitting room and bath, and decorated in antiques, most gleaned from the family of the innkeepers, Margaret and Peter Harrison. 

The hotel was decorated by the Harrisons’ daughter Elizabeth Miles, who also created a private honeymoon cottage on the grounds with an open-air deck and hot tub. One-way glass means couples can gaze out at the sea—but no one can see in the cottage. The enormous bed is an exact replica of the bed Napoleon gave to Josephine, with opulent gold-leaf swans on the headboard and cornucopias on the footboard. 

There also is a Titanic suite—Kate Winslet slept there—with brass replicas of lights on the ship, an authentic re-creation of a 1912 bathroom and framed blueprints of the doomed ocean liner. Capt. Edward Smith, in fact, was a cousin of the innkeeper’s grandfather. 

So what about Brad? He stayed in a lavish suite inspired by an Indian maharajah, traveling solo before he met Angelina Jolie. 

The husband of the Harrisons’ younger daughter Mhairi—the Gaelic equivalent of Mary—is the hotel chef. Visitors can choose from a multi-course evening repast in the dining room or an informal barbecue in a tiny cooking lodge imported from Finland. Guests gather around a central grill while the chef prepares such delights as scallops brought up by local divers that very afternoon.

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Getting to Poolewe from the south can be challenging in winter for visitors traveling by car. Better to plan your route in via train from London, which manages to chug through the drifts on a regular basis.

» For more about Honeymooning in Scotland, click here.

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