The name of the hotel operator who has successfully bid to run the Taymouth Estate is to be announced soon.
Discussions are described as being at ”an advanced stage” and Meteor Property Fund, the owner of the Highland Perthshire development, will only confirm that the A-listed building will definitely be managed by a firm with five-star experience.
While potential names are being kept a closely-guarded secret, there has been talk that the Stakis Group owned by Hilton has been closely involved.
A final decision has yet to be made, however, and work on the structure and layout of the bedrooms and suites in Taymouth Castle will then begin according to the operator’s requirements.
It is also hoped that an agreement can be reached between Meteor Property Fund and the new team running the hotel to allow locals use of the James Braid-designed golf course.
A spokesman said: ”The golf course greenkeeping team have been provided with new plant and equipment better suited to the improved quality of course that is being created and will spend the coming months tending the surface to create a new high playing standard which should also be achieved in the next few months.
”Taymouth Castle Estate continues to explore ways of ensuring that the local community is able to play on the refurbished golf course upon its completion and it is anticipated that once the hotel operator is appointed the format for community access will then be advanced, as their views will also need to be taken into account, for obvious reasons.”
Meanwhile, the spokesman told The Courier that painstaking restoration of several significant follies and monuments hidden around the estate will continue, with particular focus on the Apollo’s Temple.
A programme of careful restoration in consultation with Historic Scotland is well under way, utilising local stonemasons and other craftsman.
Since planning permission was granted in June last year, restoration work has been largely completed on a number of the principal rooms and the second show residence is due to be finished soon, with a further 15 properties scheduled for completion in the summer.
Meteor Property Fund hopes to use the sales of these homes to fund the ongoing development of Taymouth Castle, which is set to cost at least £75 million and should be finished by 2014, in time for the Ryder Cup.