Sun streams through the arched gothic windows, flooding the chapel with light. I pull my hands together, as if in prayer, and, pointing them downwards, plunge into sparking blue, the reflection of the water dancing off ancient blonde stone. We are the only souls in this former place of worship and austerity, now a luxurious retreat on the banks of Scotland’s most iconic tourist destination – Loch Ness.
, in Fort Augustus, was once St Benedict’s Abbey, and its chapel – of which we have exclusive use for a precious hour – is now a pool. As my husband pads in white towelling slippers and bath robe towards the sauna, I contemplate how, unlike the monks before us, it’s the only sweat he is likely to break during our weekend stay. This place is heaven on earth.
Said to have originated as a fort in 1350, eventually becoming a castle and then a monastery in the 1800s – later elevated to abbey status, with a school – it closed in the mid-1990s with the last monks leaving in 1998. The prayers, bells, and clamour of children evaporated into the loch’s mists leaving only the sound of silence – until the Santon Group came along in 2003 and fully restored and renovated the imposing A-Listed structure, retaining its outstanding architectural details. The great towers, cloisters, vaulted ceilings, and sweeping stone stairs remain, as do the Abbey Church, and the cavernous Atrium.
Now the abbey is a sanctuary for a different kind of worshipper – those seeking not only pe.