Rosehaugh Estate is now a privately owned landed estate, mainly given over to farming and forestry. It is set on the sheltered south west side of the Black Isle and benefits from a milder climate than its northerly situation would indicate. The nearest shops are in the village of Avoch, an historic fishing village with its narrow streets end on to the sea. The town of Fortrose is just a little further east along the coast. Inverness, the most northerly city in the Scotland, is about 20 minutes drive, across the Kessock Bridge which spans the narrows of the Moray Firth.

Rosehaugh Estate has a fascinating history, having belonged to the MacKenzie family from the late 1660s. Nearly 200 years of MacKenzie ownership saw many changes take place on the Estate, but it was after Rosehaugh passed into the hands of the Fletcher family in the 1860s that land reclamation and improvements began on a massive scale.

As well as improving the land, James Douglas Fletcher set about a grand programme of rebuilding to the house at Rosehaugh. William Flockhart, the Scots-born and London based architect and interior designer was chosen by Mr Fletcher to bring his dreams of grandeur to reality. The picture here shows a lithograph of Rosehaugh House in all its splendour.

As well as improvements to his own house, Mr Fletcher provided for a number of other new houses and service buildings in his upgrading of the Estate accommodation. The living accommodation was for some of the servants at the Estate, including his valet, the head dairyman, gardner, game keeper etc. Chief among the service buildings were the hydro-electric generating station which supplied power to much of the Estate, the laundry where all the washing was done for the main house, and the Boathouse on the sporting lake. Though to a much smaller scale, these were all built in the same lavish style as the main Rosehaugh House.

Sadly, the main house is no longer standing, having been demolished in 1959, but the most of the remainder of Flockhart's work for Mr Fletcher has survived. With the decline of the main house, the non-dwelling houses had been allowed to fall into ruin but the current owners of the Estate are keen to restore these where possible. The hydro-station, boathouse and laundry have been beautifully and tastefully rebuilt or renovated, and are now available for self catering holiday lets as Otter Lodge, the Boat House, and Red Squirrel and Osprey apartments in Red Kite House.

Bay Farm cottages have been built on the site of the old farm steading at Bay Farm, one of the tenanted farms belonging to Rosehaugh Estate.

Any of these links will take you to details of the various restoration projects. Further information about Rosehaugh House can be found on the website for the Avoch Heritage Association. There is also an interesting book about the House and the Estate called "Rosehaugh A House Of Its Time" published by Avoch Heritage, a copy of which is placed in each of the Estate's holiday properties.