About us

Back in 1999, with a new millennium dawning, husband and wife team Derek and Jean McCulloch set about realising their own millennial dream. They wanted to bring the cosmopolitan luxury of an exclusive urban health spa to the majestic mountain and river landscape of Royal Deeside. Beginning with a purpose built lodge beside the Loch of Aboyne, The Lodge on the Loch Spa Retreat has subsequently developed to encompass thirty-five acres of pine woodland with its own golf course and magnificent loch-side terrace. Over the years many thousands of guests have shared and enjoyed Derek and Jean’s dream, and today ‘The Lodge’ is rightfully considered amongst the premier Scottish Highlands spa retreats.

Part of our appeal is undoubtedly, as the popular property programme says, ‘location, location, location!’ Nestling on the banks of an idyllic Scottish loch, our guests enjoy both splendid tranquillity and the most stunning scenery. We are close enough to Aberdeen to afford guests a convenient weekend break, and yet far enough into the heart of Royal Deeside to provide the ideal base for a tour of many of Scotland’s most famous sites and landmarks - Balmoral Castle being high on the list. On our doorstep is the delightful historic town of Aboyne, a popular destination for all visitors to Royal Deeside, and just down the road finds the Cairngorms National Park: the largest area of protected wilderness in the UK.

It’s not all about location though; ‘The Lodge’ also pampers its guests with excellent facilities. Our bedrooms are on a par with some of the finest metropolitan hotels, with our larger rooms and suites offering such hedonistic pleasures as under-floor heating, saunas, steam spas and Jacuzzi baths. Our ‘Retreat Spa’ features a Hammam Room equipped with a Japanese deep soak tub, steam bath and monsoon shower: the perfect place to indulge in a wide-variety of holistic treatments and therapies including Shiatsu, Reflexology, Quantum Touch, Reiki and ‘La Stone’. Our Osprey and Formaston function suites allow our guests to enjoy the rugged beauty of the Scottish Highlands and keep toasty and warm: making ‘The Lodge’ the ideal venue for weddings and special events. Whilst for the more energetically minded, our nine hole golf course and driving range presents the novice and scratch player alike with an enjoyable challenge.

Then there is the Ceud Mile Failte: the hundred thousand welcomes that await you at ‘The Lodge’. This is a family-run business that’s small enough to be attentive to our guest’s differing needs, and Derek and Jean take a personal pride in offering a service that is friendly, knowledgeable and totally professional. What’s more, ‘The Lodge’ has been carefully designed to ensure that the vast majority of our services and facilities are accessible to people of all physical abilities, including wheelchair users. We are an eco-friendly business too. We have a Gold Award from the Green Tourist Scheme, and with ‘The Lodge’ being located on a ‘Special Site of Scientific Interest’, we think it is especially important that everything we do is in harmony with the unique and beautiful fauna and flora that surrounds us.

So contact us now and let’s start a conversation about your perfect stay at The Lodge on the Loch Spa Retreat.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Derek and Jean McCulloch

Below is a brief video introducing The Lodge on the Loch Spa Retreat that we filmed in 2011.