Kinloch Manor is the perfect way to escape the city and enjoy the winter. Photo / Supplied
Craving an escape from the winter? Don’t avoid it, embrace it, at a majestic Scottish Castle hidden in the North Island, writes Sarah Pollok
We lounge across two creamy-coloured velvet couches in The Great Room, glasses of rich red wine warming in front of the wood-burning fire when Tatiana, a soft-spoken Russian, asks what time we’d like dinner.
“Are the others joining us?” we ask, referring to the three guests we shared the expansive restaurant with last night. “No, it is just you,” she says while collecting the empty plate of canapes from the burnished gold side table.
At this moment, I lock eyes with my husband, and we simultaneously realise that, despite booking one of the 18 suites and villas at Kinloch Manor, an opulent Scottish castle overlooking the world-class Jack Nicklaus Golf Resort near Taupō, we have the entire property to ourselves.
Moving through to the dining room, where two sets of gold cutlery flicker with candlelight against dark slate placemats, we take our seats as Dimitri, Tatiana’s husband and the on-site chef, quietly shuffles up to our table. Since it’s just the two of us (one of whom is vegan), Dimitri decides to ditch the planned menu and serve food based on our preferences.
What follows is a gourmet foodie dream: spicy tomato and cardamom soup with slices of freshly baked bread and crispy beetroot falafels with creamy coconut. Roasted vegetable salads and hearty slabs of lasagne or seared rectangles of tuna steak; almost every leaf or slice of produce picked fresh from the on-site garden.
The dessert, however, takes the literal cake: chia seed pudding infused with sweet mango puree and coconut milk, accompanied by three perfect scoops of coconut sorbet. At least once during every course, we laugh in disbelief at the situation we find ourselves in – the sole guests of a literal castle with a private chef preparing our dishes.
After polishing (quite literally) the final dish, we close out our second night with piping hot pots of herbal tea in the Great Room before sleepily wandering back to the villa where we fall asleep within seconds.
For those unfamiliar with the manor, you may know the golf course it sits beside, Aotearoa’s only Championship 18-hole course designed by Jack Nicklaus. Like the course, which was inspired by the great links courses of Scotland, the manor aimed to mimic Kinloch Castle, an Edwardian mansion in the Scottish region of Kinloch, but with a 21st-century spin.
One reason it’s best experienced in winter is, as we discovered, the chances of enjoying royal levels of exclusivity as other Kiwis ditch the country for warmer climates. The other is that, while a castle is pretty in summer, it takes on new levels of rugged beauty in winter.
Of course, this means it’s pitch black when we arrive at 6pm on Friday night, after a three-hour drive from Auckland. Tentatively, we walk through two giant wooden front doors to a stone courtyard, where the surrounding windows emit a soft golden glow. Here, we meet Mike West, a tall gentleman with a Kinloch-branded black sports jacket and a warm, resonant voice that sounds made for radio.
It’s no coincidence, we learn later over welcome drinks and canapes at the manor’s bar before dinner; West spent the last 34 years as a breakfast radio host at Manawatū’s More FM before taking a golfer’s dream retirement gig; golf manager at Kinloch.
However, the charismatic West also seems to function as a concierge and hotel manager, checking us in, showing us around the manor then driving us in one of the brand new golf cards to Villa One, which is approximately 50 seconds away and twice the size of our home in Auckland.
The 18 villas span four room types, from Manor Suite to Manor Residence with a Den, which guests are upgraded to for free as part of the Relax, Inhale, Unwind winter package. Thankfully, we manage to calmly take in how stunningly impressive the villa is until West finishes his brief tour (which you really do need in a place this large) and swings the front door closed behind him. Then, we grasp each other’s arms, shaking excitedly as we marvel at the room.
I scout out the massive open-plan kitchen and living room, the former fully equipped with cookware, cutlery, ceramic dishes, a high-end mini bar, a Nespresso machine, and a tub of pods. Less glamorous but still helpful are the washing machine (with washing powder), dryer, and dishwasher, all neatly hidden behind large white cabinets.
In the lounge, a coffee table holds a spread of glossy magazines, a flat-screen television tastefully hidden in a gold-burnished cabinet and a long comfy sofa that looks out across the floor-to-ceiling glass doors.
The villa’s architecture and decor are more contemporary than the manor but share the warm colour palette of gold, black, brown and red, and a generous use of windows. In the living room, a floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall sliding glass door looks out across the golf course and Lake Taupō beyond.
“The floors are heated in here,” my husband calls from the bathroom, which features a deep stone bathtub, glass-panelled shower and toilet and Sans [ceuticals] toiletries, a truly luxe Kiwi brand known for sustainable products.
Meanwhile, I take a peek at the Den’s large tartan-patterned sofa, writing desk and wood-burning fire before heading to the bedroom. Here, the warm, dark tones are replaced with white, cream, and eggshell blue, and the king-sized bed dominates the space, bookmarked by matching bedside tables and pendant lights. Around the corner, a chest of drawers and ironing board is tucked into a small walk-in wardrobe.
We may have driven three hours from Auckland, but it feels like we’ve travelled to the Scottish Highlands the next morning as we pull back bedroom curtains to dramatic views of a pure white sky and a blanket of heavy fog cloaking the tussock hills.
The first day passes in a drizzle, and it’s one of the first times I’m pleased it’s raining on holiday. Curled up with a novel in one of the Great Room’s massive picture windows, carved from the thick stone wall and set with a lush velvet seat, I happily allow hours to drift by as the sun burns off the fog, developing the view like a polaroid picture. First, the rolling hills, then clusters of little houses, and finally the great Lake Taupō.
My husband eventually returns from a round of golf, damp from the rain but glowing with joy. “That was so, so hard,” he says with a massive grin, peeling off wet layers while giving a play-by-play of a course that was “a true test of golf”. I admittedly zone out a little but catch phrases like “immaculate greens and fairways”, “brand new golf carts” and many comments about bunkers.
With the rain gone, I lace up my sneakers and run a few kilometers down into the village. I pass just a handful of other people out for Saturday afternoon strolls in thick jackets and a single dairy before hitting a stunning strip of lakeside lined with a row of shuttered baches. Looping back, there’s little else but another local golf course, yet I don’t mind – not when all I want to do is get back to the villa and take a long soak in the giant bathtub.
Breakfast the following morning looks like something pulled from the glossy pages of a travel magazine or straight from the Instagram feed of an influencer. The table, already set for two with glass pitchers of juice, bowls of yogurt, and a tray of sliced fruit and warm pastries, sits beside one of the towering windows looking out to the lake. Somehow, my husband finds room to order one of the cooked breakfast options with his coffee, while I hit the large glass jars of cereal set up beside the kitchen.
It’s quiet aside from classical music that softly fills the restaurant, punctuated by the odd clatter from the kitchen, and we pass the time eating, talking, reading, and sighing at the view. At 10am, it’s time to check out, but not before Kira, Tatiana and Dimitri’s young daughter, who occasionally helps out when visiting from Auckland, hands us a box of extra pastries. “As it’s your last day,” she says with a smile.
The Inhale, Unpack, Unwind package at Kinloch Manor & Villas is available until October 31 and starts at $2200 per couple, per night, with a minimum two-night stay. For more information call +64 7 377 8482 or visit kinlochmanor.co.nz.
The Kinloch Golf Club is open for public play from Friday to Monday, all year. Bookings can be made online by visiting thekinlochclub.com. Green fees for New Zealand residents start at $250 from April 1 to October 31, and $350 from November 1 to March 31.
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