Gillian's mansion offers rounded experience

By Catherine MacGillivray

August 2010

See this article as it appears in the magazine

GILLIAN Lacey-Solymar of Achnagairn House at Kirkhill near Inverness is the first to describe some of the historic home's refurbished rooms as outrageous.

She and her husband Michael own the 200-year-old mansion, which they recently renovated and now rent out as an exclusive-use venue for weddings, conferences, and family and corporate events.

"Our motto is 'escape the ordinary' and that's what we aspire to give as an experience – being extraordinary," says Gillian.

As the designer behind the lavish new-look house, she has incorporated some features that you just wouldn't find in a conventional hotel.

These include a round bed in a circular room with an open-plan bathroom, and a honeymoon suite that has a huge whirlpool bathtub right in front of the bed and surrounded on three sides by windows.

One mischievous bride put her grandparents in the circular room, known as "Ring a Ring o'Roses", and they reputedly said "they had never seen so much of each other".

"The fact that the house is rented by one group has allowed us to have real fun with the bedroom and bathroom design," says Gillian. "Some rooms are very conservative with muted colours and marble bathrooms, whilst others are outrageous.

"In a hotel you could not get away with that in case the people taking the room hated it, but in an exclusive-use mansion the people allocating bedrooms will know their friends, family or clients well enough to know what sort of room to give to whom."

In fact, the refurbishment of the house is magnificent, retaining its grandeur while incorporating the luxuries of modern living and meeting the expectations of today's demanding guests.

The ballroom, which was built by one of the previous owners in the early 20th century as a 21st birthday present to his daughter, lends itself perfectly to weddings, balls and corporate banquets.

And, set it in its own private grounds, the imposing building is ideal for groups seeking privacy or corporate away-days and team-building events.

Describing herself as a strange mixture of businesswoman, broadcaster and academic, Gillian has veered far from her first foray into business.

Born to Hungarian parents, she grew up in Oxford, where she studied politics, philosophy and economics, followed by an MBA a few years later in France at INSEAD business school, just outside Paris.

In her first job, she was employed by an international firm as a management consultant, with illustrious colleagues including William Hague, the now foreign secretary, Lord Turner who is chairman of the Financial Services Authority and Archie Norman, head of ITV.

She stayed in this post, which involved lots of overseas travel, until her first daughter was born, whereupon she started to look for a part-time role elsewhere.

It wasn't long before Gillian set about achieving a childhood ambition to work in television.

"I wrote to everyone I could think of, making suggestions for programme ideas, and some replied," she says. "I went to see them and they suggested others to see. It went on for months and months. In the end, one of the editors I'd been talking to said that he was about to launch a new business programme and was doing 40 screen tests."

Slipping in as an extra candidate, she was lucky enough to be taken on and ended up at the BBC for 15 years.

Gillian worked as a correspondent on programmes including Working Lunch, Newsnight, Breakfast News and Moneybox, as well contributing to the World Service.

"It was fabulous to broadcast," she says. "The excitement when the little red 'record' button comes on is immense."

Now, Gillian works part-time as a senior teaching fellow at University College London where she lectures on management and entrepreneurship.

Her move into the hospitality industry was purely by chance when she and Michael bought Cortes House, a mansion in Aberdeenshire, a number of years ago.

After refurbishing it, they planned to have it as a weekend home but found that they didn't get to travel from their main residence in London as often as they had hoped.

"We then thought we should rent it out and, at about the time we were having these thoughts, local people started to ask us whether they could have wedding photos in the grounds, as they are lovely," explains Gillian. "Of course, we said yes. Then, they asked whether they could get married in the house and, hey presto, a business idea was born."

As Cortes House can only seat 65, the couple decided to look for another, bigger property in Scotland.

Achnagairn, which has 24 bedrooms, ticked all the right boxes and they fell in love with the property at first sight.

"Mind you, it has been an incredibly tough process bringing the house back to life," confesses Gillian. "It nearly cost me my health. The constraints put upon us by building control were far more onerous than we'd imagined, forcing us to re-mortgage our house in London."

Problems came to a head while Gillian was in hospital in London recovering from an operation to remove a benign brain tumour.

The Highland Business Women's Club had booked Christmas dinner at the house when the heating broke down two hours before the event, causing the temperature in some rooms to plummet to freezing.

"When I awoke (from surgery), I had the full impact of 100 unhappy ladies," Gillian recalls. "I felt so awful and so impotent to do anything about it from my hospital bed. I offered the ladies to have the evening for free and invited them back for a second dinner, free again, to make amends. The second dinner took place in May and I was able to fly up for it. In the meantime, we revamped the entire heating system to make sure nobody would ever be cold again. I'm delighted to say the evening was a huge triumph. We had delicious catering from Wild Thyme and I received so many messages to say thank you. I'm thrilled."

Gillian and Michael – who is a quarter Scottish and spent time in the Highlands as a boy – both love to escape from city life to Achnagairn with their children Tanya (18), Georgie (13) and Oscar (8).

"Our whole family loves the buzz of London, but there's an undeniable sense of wellbeing that comes over us the moment we get to the Highlands," says Gillian. "In fact, we all argue about who gets the window seat on the plane because those first glimpses of the lochs from above mean we're really in our element."

Gillian has also been greatly encouraged by the warm reception they have had from people in Kirkhill.

"We were worried that with our English accents, people would not be welcoming, but we needn't have been concerned," she says. "People are so much warmer here than in London, it's fantastic. The house looks glorious, the clients are happy and the team is sensational – we feel very privileged to be associated with such a beautiful house and such a cadre of professionals."

In particular, Gillian cites local suppliers as being exceptional, including Stephen Seedhouse Flowers and Angela Stewart Creative, as well as Red Poppy caterers and Good Highland Food, along with unwavering encouragement from Angharad High of View Marketing and Marina Huggett of the Tourism Excellence Consultancy.

Simon Fraser, her closest neighbour, and Fred Geddes, her architect, have also been constant sources of advice and inspiration.

As Gillian was behind the design concept for Achnagairn's refurbishment, she made mental notes on styles that she liked wherever she went.

"For example, when we were in Greece, I loved the ancient artefacts," she says. "We bought a lot of pictures of Greek urns to put in one room. Equally, I'm a big fan of Oscar Wilde, and The Importance of Being Ernest is one of my favourite plays. I put these thoughts together and one of the rooms, a more minor one, is called – excuse the terrible pun – 'The Importance of Being Urn-est'."

Gillian was lucky with the timing of the renovations as the prestigious Savoy Hotel in London was undergoing a major redevelopment around the same time.

"They had a huge auction and I went mad buying sofas, chandeliers and beds," she says.

In fact, guests at Achnagairn can actually sit on an armchair in which Hollywood actress Marlene Dietrich once reclined.

"I love to mix old and new – much came from the Savoy but loads came from designer boutiques in London and abroad," Gillian adds. "I pick pieces up all over the place although transporting them to Scotland is sometimes a challenge, others a miracle."

Within the property portfolio that they have branded Perfect Manors, the Lacey-Solymars also have a villa in the Caribbean island of Antigua.

"The concept behind Perfect Manors is to have beautiful, luxurious properties where people feel genuinely inspired and yet totally at ease," says Gillian. "When I started in business, I travelled a great deal in Europe. I was lucky to stay in some of the best hotels, but they always struck me as bland and indistinguishable from one another. The germ of the idea entered then. I thought that if ever I had the chance to own a place for people to stay, I'd make it truly memorable."

It's Gillian's intention to run a successful and profitable company but she is also determined to have an approach that is ethical and sustainable.

"Our whole stance is about being accommodating and that has to be part of the entire ethos – towards clients, the team, suppliers and the community," she says. "To be involved in bringing historic buildings back to life is an incredible feeling – breathing life into the moribund. That sounds pompous but it's nothing more than putting things back to how they should be.

"I think that if you can do that with a cheeky twist, though, by making what you find fresh and unexpected, that has a value of its own. It's a nightmare of complexity, but ultimately it's rewarding and enjoyable, a brilliant combination."