Braeriach - Mar Lodge Estate

Perfect if you want peace and quiet.

I loved the big table in the sitting room, the perfect place for the puzzle I had brought with me for all those rainy days that incidentally never happened, instead nothing but sunshine! The highlight of the week was watching a couple of hen harriers in Glen Quoich.

We wanted a relaxing stay and we could not have found a better place.

The space was huge. The comfort great. The views exceptional. Great for a walk around. The wheater turn to severe on the Friday, Storm Eowyn, so we needed to stay an extra day, and this was very easy to arrange. Glad we stayed the extra day, as it had become very bad. A property highly recommended for those that like to know how Royalty lives.

Our 5 th time at mar lodge, our second in this apartment.

We love Mar lodge and the surrounding area. We met a lot of staff this time and had a good chat with them and they answered all our queries. The apartment was so warm and the views amazing.

Stayed at Braeriach n Macdui and Bynack at mar lodge for the past 15 years and it’s never failed to please us.

Great location, lovely and peaceful, beautiful property and apartment.

No need to say any more!

Mar Lodge is a wonderful place to stay and enjoy the area.

Extremely comfortable.

Property, well furnished with antique furniture as well as up-to-date furniture. A great place to stay and relax. A great amenity being the ability to walk straight from the property on quite a variety of long walks in the hills.

This was our third visit to Braeriach and we do enjoy our stays there.

It’s clean, warm, comfortable and all staff around Mar Lodge are very welcoming. My one complaint is the cooker. The grill section warms up to a luke warm temperature, but you could never cook anything under there. I notice that others have said similar and the response is that it’s been checked and it’s fine. I would suggest turning on the grill and waiting a little longer, like I did, and then deciding if it’s fine or not.

We’ve stayed several times at Braeriach apartment and as always perfect!

I have stayed at Mar Lodge on numerous occasions.

Beautiful apartments and area. Temperatures on this occasion hit minus 9 deg. After a walk in the surrounding hills I ran a bath which was Luke warm at most. I complained to staff and then Sykes. It appears Health and Safety has gone mad, as Aberdeen Council have made the NTS fit temperature limiters to their baths in their properties. This was NOT mentioned in the property details on Sykes website. I appreciate keeping people safe but the long soak in a deep bath, a main feature of the apartment, is now ruined (unless you want to boil a kettle 12 times). No compensation offered either despite being a loyal customer for many years. Bitterly disappointed. Offer of a £50 voucher for use within 2 years not really good enough considering it’s now nearly £600 for 4 nights in January when most other apartments were not occupied and some even had workmen in decorating during our stay. Conflicted as we love the place usually but likely may not return.

Always love coming to Mar Lodge.

Great impromptu tour from Doroti which we really appreciated. Coat hooks in the utility room would be a great addition particularly on wet walking days.

We stayed for three nights and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Lots of character and big comfortable rooms. It has an eat in kitchen as well as a dining/ lounge room. The kitchen is fully equipped, including a dishwasher. There is also a washing machine but no dryer. The king size four poster bed is very comfortable with a view through large windows to the grounds and hills beyond. Parking is in the courtyard at the rear of the building. The way in isn't obvious at first but as you drive down the dramatic front driveway towards the building, turn left and then immediately right between the main building and the small red and white building at the side. Follow the road around to the rear of the house and the entrance is there.

Lovely apartment in a great location.

Excellent bed & very spacious living room & bedroom. Cold weather so on request heating was increased immediately. Staff very helpful & friendly. Lots of good walks close by.

Wonderful place in a beautiful setting !

Wakening up in a 4 poster king bed with nature flooding through the large bedroom window on a sunny morning really recharges one’s batteries!

Lovely flat.

Sofa beds provide extra space at good value for money.

The toilet door handle was quite tricky to open.

At one point I thought I was stuck in there. Never before been instructed to remove sheets etc.- is this considered an improvement? Top oven in cooker does not work. Extra guidance for leaving was sent on the Sunday, I only found this on the Monday when I arrived home. Pointless assuming people on holiday will check e-mails.

Lovely property in a beautiful setting.

Staff helpful and friendly.

Superb location.

Very well maintained. So peaceful too.

This is the most unwelcoming place we have stayed.

A note informing us of problems with the water supply was uncaring particularly given the 5pm check in - which is far later than any other cottage we have stayed at. Waiting for boiled water to cool could have been avoided by leaving a litre bottle of water to get us started. And don’t say ‘why not have a nice cup of tea’. The justification for late check in was cleaning needed ‘because of the pandemic’, which also required us to ‘keep out of the way of other guests’. But NTS then organised a ceilidh (which was excellent) where we clearly got very close to other guests. This does not square. The fact that there were a number of maintenance problems (I left a note explaining) detracted further. Such a shame as this could be a fabulous place. The how to find the property letter we received from Sykes told us Victoria Bridge might be closed. That turned out to be a year out of date. NTS is running this place as if it were still the 19th century.

An exceptionally clean and furnished apartment.

Perhaps needs a little updating regarding paintwork and the shower above the bath could be difficult for older or less fit clients. The location is perfect and the NTS staff are very helpful. We have been returning to Mar Lodge for 15 years.

This is an extremely well appointed property.

It is warm and comfortable, even when it’s snowing outside! A very minor quibble is a lack of signage for the car park. Fortunately my husband had been before, so he knew where to go, but it could be confusing, especially if you’ve just driven a long way.

another perfect stay at Mar lodge, beautiful place, spectacular surroundings, friendly helpful staff, fabulous accommodation

Your apartment was very clean , there was coffee and tea left out for us on arrival, the bed was very comfortable, we felt like we were in Downton Abbey was very posh , the heating was on so it was cozy after our walks up on the hills , would definitely recommend this place.

We got guided tour around Mar Lodge. Myself l live in Braemar as a child so this was great seeing the place again and actually staying in Mar Lodge was brilliant

The service provided by Sykes was excellent.

I know Mar Lodge well having stopped at it as a child for sandwiches when doing local Munro’s and this prompted our booking. The property doesn’t fail to deliver and the apartment has a very grand appearance however the standard of the facilities inside (washing machine, cooker, dishwasher, bathroom, kitchen utensils etc) didn’t match the price or the feel of the property. We very much support the initiative of NTS in what they are trying to achieve with the Mar Estate and we’re sorry to give this feedback but some small changes (increasing the amount of crockery, not having inventory listings on the inside of cupboards, having knives that work etc) will make a huge difference.

Fantastic accommodation, clean, spacious and well equipped.

Quiet location , surrounded by majestic countryside views. Stunning location with nearby Braemar restaurants and shopping.