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Stirling Castle.Highland piping and dancing display
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Al Fayed owns Balnagown Castle . He bought
it as a ruin in 1972 and has spent a fortune
turning it into a comfortable retreat. 15th Century
tower house of Balnagown Castle in Easter
Ross, stands on the southern bank of the River
Balnagown, 2 miles north west of Invergordon.
Extended in the 17th Century and again in the
Scottish Gothic style in 1838, the castle was
originally the seat of the Ross clan. Both
the castle and the 30,000 acres Balnagown Estate
were purchased for £60,000 in 1972 by Mohammed
Al Fayed, the controversial Egyptian businessman
and owner of the Harrods department store in
London. Since then Al Fayed has spent in excess of
£20 million restoring the castle and improving
the estate.
Mohammed Al Fayed’s Scottish
home, the palatial Balnagown Castle at Kildary near
Tain in the heart of the Highlands. Instead, its
famous owner worked closely with Historic Scotland
to ensure that the 15th-century seat of the Clan
Ross was restored to its original splendour. In
the dining-room, the magnificent gold-embossed
ceiling, decorated with owls and lions, has been
restored off-centre of the window, as it had been
before. The highly decorative wallpaper is a
replica of the original 1840 pattern - but without
the arsenic that it once contained. Although Al
Fayed has always liked Scotland, there had been no
desire to be laird of his own castle until he drove
past the ruined Balnagown one day on his way back
from a visit to Dornoch. Gordon Robertson, the
estate factor, recalls: "Mr Al Fayed says it was
like a thunderbolt - he just fell in love with the
place, despite its dilapidated state." He made an
offer for the estate that afternoon and bought the
castle and 12 acres of grounds for just
£60,000 in 1972. Now, 30 years on, he has
spent £20 million on the castle interior,
estate (it has grown to 65,000 acres) and cottages,
which have been turned into five-star holiday lets,
rented by everyone from ex-presidents to film
stars. Despite owning several properties - his
London Park Lane residence, his mansion in Surrey,
beach house in St Tropez, apartment at the Ritz in
Paris and island house in Finland (where his wife
is from) - Al Fayed has said that Balnagown is his
favourite and the one which for the first time felt
like home. Very much a family man, he visits six
times a year, including Christmas and Easter, with
his wife and four children, Jasmine, Omar, Camilla
and Karim, who range in age from 16 to 22. Al
Fayed’s favourite haunts at Balnagown are a
tent in the garden where he relaxes on sofas, and
the trophy room, which has a roaring fire in
wintertime and an impressive array of cups and
awards for hunting as well as stag, moose and lion
heads. The lion was shot by a former owner of the
castle, Sir Charles Ross (of Ross Rifle fame), and
a selection of his weapons are displayed in the
adjoining gunroom. One side of the room is
dominated by a magnificent 17th-century fireplace,
carved with the crests and initials of Baron David
Ross and his wife Lady Anne Stewart. On the other
side is a huge Art Nouveau stained-glass panel,
which is dramatically lit up at night. Next door,
the elegant drawing-room is filled with the scent
of jasmine from two large plants placed at the
entrance of the adjoining library. The rich
burgundy tapestry sofas are piled with cushions,
some of which have dog designs, while there is also
a comical fire screen depicting a white Westie and
black Scottie dog. Al Fayed makes a great effort to
buy back any Balnagown or Clan Ross heirlooms that
come up for sale. Soon after he bought the castle,
he faced prosecution for displaying the Ross
coat-of-arms on the gates. David Ross of Ross, the
27th clan chief, refused permission for the arms to
be used and threatened to take the Egyptian tycoon
to court. However, the objection has since been
withdrawn and the wrought-iron crest now includes a
suitable explanation as to why the heraldic arms
are being displayed. "Mr Al Fayed has received a
lot of letters from Rosses around the world who
praise him for restoring Balnagown," Robertson
says. Al Fayed has also been vocal in his
objections to the Land Reform Bill, at one time
threatening to stop further investment in the
estate if the Bill went ahead. However, he now
confesses that he would never sell Balnagown.
Instead, he has exciting plans for the estate.
These include building a new model village on the
grounds just off the A9, which would include
quality homes designed for everyone from first-time
buyers to the elderly. He is also discussing the
possibility of starting four-wheel-drive safari
tours around his and neighbouring Highland estates.
With such rare birds as ospreys nesting on his
land, there is also plenty of wildlife to enjoy. Al
Fayed hopes to develop the Falls of Shin visitor
centre at Invershin, near Lairg, which he bought
last year and which has since enjoyed a dramatic
quadrupling of visitor numbers. He intends to
increase the forest walks, construct a free
children’s play area and improve access to the
waterfalls. The shop is also to be extended and
quality Highland products could find themselves
displayed next to the Harrods goodies already on
sale. Diners in Harrods’ restaurants may soon
be able to view salmon leaping in the Sutherland
river as they eat their lunch by means of a video
link with the Falls of Shin. "There is something
about Mr Al Fayed that makes things happen,"
Robertson says. "The Ritz in Paris was very run
down and he brought it up to the highest standard.
Fulham FC were in the Third Division, now
they’re in the Premiership. Harrods was
struggling under the House of Fraser - he’s
turned it into a great success. He has restored
Balnagown to the same high standards and he’ll
never get back what he’s invested. Yet he
believes you are a tenant for life and you have a
responsibility to leave a property in a better
condition than when you found it."
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