CAMERON HOUSE HOTEL

Britain’s most decorated female Olympian, Dame Katherine Grainger DBE showed off her adventure loving and competitive nature when she spent a day with Dream Escape in her new role as Sports Ambassador for the luxury Cameron House Hotel.

In the shadow of the majestic Ben Lomond mountain in the Scottish Highlands, the hauntingly beautiful Loch Lomond, a ribbon-shaped body of water scattered with 22 islands and 27 islets, has long inspired poets and writers. None more notable, perhaps, than the Jacobite-era ballad 'The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond'.

More recently, this magical place that lies around 40-minutes’ drive northwest of the cosmopolitan city of Glasgow, was the chosen spot for Dame Katherine Grainger, Britain’s most decorated female Olympian who won five medals for rowing from five consecutive games and is an eight-time World Champion, to write her autobiography Dreams Do Come True.

The Glasgow-born sportswoman has strong connections to the area, with many childhood forays into Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, as well as having celebrated several family events at Cameron House, a 164-room luxury resort that sits at the 24-mile-long loch’s southern tip. So, when she was invited by the fivestar hotel to spend some time at one of their 115 lochside lodges dotted around the 400-acre estate after winning, in her words, the “elusive” gold medal at the London Olympics in 2012, she jumped at the chance.

Speaking to Dream Escape, Grainger admitted that after winning gold she’d, “struggled to find the time, space and energy to write” and so this was the perfect solution. “For me, it was the most wonderful place to escape, to reminisce, to create. I wrote, I walked by the loch, I lost myself in memories and let it all spill out onto the pages.”

Dame Katherine Grainger

So, when she was asked, last year, to be the hotel’s Sport Ambassador, she told us that: “It was just one of those things that was a no-brainer. It’s such a wonderful place to be and all the activities are genuinely brilliant. When we were filming the promotional video we had such a blast. The hotel’s land and loch-based activities are brilliant and the people that run them are completely engaging, passionate and fun.”

Dream Escape were invited to Cameron House to meet Dame Grainger and hear about the hotel’s Unrivalled Adventures programme, as well as to try their hand at several of the sports. After lunch at the New England-styled Boat House that overlooks the 234-berth marina, we set off on our exhilarating 4x4 off-road jeep safari through the forested mountainside behind the hotel. In a convoy of three vehicles, we were given instructions on how best to handle the jeep on the steep, rugged and stony terrain. We were soon to discover that ‘the rat run’ and ‘the playground’ were terms for two of the more challenging sections of the route, with one involving a riverbed. It was an adrenalin-pumping and bone-jangling expedition that was great fun, but we must admit that we weren’t able to keep up with Dame Grainger, who we were told displayed her true ‘competitive spirit’ behind the wheel of her jeep.

Near to the summit, we stopped to admire the panoramic views across Loch Lomond, Britain’s largest freshwater loch that has one foot in the Highlands and one foot in the Lowlands, as it straddles the Highland Boundary Fault Line.

Our deerstalker-capped instructor Cammy regaled us with fascinating legends, folklore and personal anecdotes about the islands. Most of the islands are prefixed by the word ‘Inch’ originating from the Gaelic word ‘innis’, meaning ‘island’. He kept us enthralled with stories about some of the island’s inhabitants that he says include wallabies, wild goats, naturists and nuns.

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One of the newest adventures that Cameron House has added to their lengthy activity list is a loch tour onboard their Wee Warrior speedboat that allows you to get up and close to some of the islands. It also offers a view of the nearby picture-postcard conservation village of Luss, the famous fictional setting for Glendarroch in the long-running Scottish TV series Take the High Road.

Another fabulous way to see the loch from a different perspective is on one of the hotel’s e-bikes. We hopped on one of these and whizzed past the Sea Life Centre that sits at the end of the loch to Balloch Country Park, a fabulous expanse of parkland criss-crossed with cycle pathways and nature trails and home to Balloch Castle.

With the traditional four-seasons-in-a-day weather for which Scotland is so renowned, we spent our afternoon on the loch under both misty drizzle and the odd burst of sunshine, trying our hand at paddleboarding, jet-skiing (much harder to control than we imagined) and kayaking under the expert guidance of instructors from the Marina Centre.

Dame Grainger is currently Chair of UK Sport and the Chancellor of Glasgow University, so knows a thing or two about outdoor sports, "There are plenty of fantastic indoor activities at Cameron House," she said. "But for me there’s something very special about being outside, breathing in the fresh air, being in up in the hills or on the loch. It’s invigorating and inspiring.

David Tobin and family enjoy a 4x4 off-road driving experience

I love mountain hiking, paddleboarding, kayaking and have enjoyed jet-skiing and 4x4 off-road driving for the first time here at Cameron House.”

There are 60-plus activities on offer at Cameron House, including falconry, pony trekking and clay pigeon shooting, they also have a Segway track and an 18-hole championship golf course. Furthermore, there are plenty of options for those that prefer more relaxing holiday pursuits.

Situated just a few minutes’ drive from the hotel is the golf clubhouse, and Cameron Spa, where you will find extensive spa facilities, including 13 treatment rooms, a Hydro and Thermal Experience and a rooftop outdoor pool. There are two additional indoor pools as well as a 29-seat luxury cinema at Cameron House Hotel.

For those wishing for a bird's-eye view of the spectacular Scottish scenery – whether it’s Loch Lomond or one of the beautiful Inner Hebridean islands, such as Islay or Jura – then take a tripof-a-lifetime flight on board the hotel’s Seaplane Island Explorer.

Dream Escape finished off our action-packed day on a complete high, with a scenic Sunset Champagne Cruise on the loch on board the hotel’s Celtic Warrior motor yacht. It was the perfect ending to a memorable day spent hugely inspired by the enthusiasm and encouragement of Dame Katherine Grainger.

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Rebecca Morrison, Head of Guest Experience “Cameron House is like no other hotel in Scotland and one of my favourites. It has the tranquil feeling of a lochside retreat with all the amenities a large resort can offer, such as the Cameron Spa, but with adrenalinefuelled activities also available too. Set in the beautiful Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, there’s no place quite like it.”

⬥ rebecca@dreamescape.co.uk

→ dreamescape.co.uk

WORDS | ANNABEL MACKIE