Ardverikie House

Summary

A 19th-century Scottish Baronial house and highland estate at Kinloch Laggan in Inverness-shire, set on the south shore of Loch Laggan, rebuilt in its present form in 1873 following a fire; notable for the variety and richness of its highland scenery including loch, woodland, moorland, and mountain views; used as the principal filming location for Monarch of the Glen (BBC, 2000–2005), as Balmoral Castle substitute in The Crown (Netflix, 2016–2023), and in Mrs Brown (1997), Miss Marple: A Murder is Announced (1985), Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011), Outlander (Starz), and No Time to Die (2021).

About this location

Ardverikie House stands on the south shore of Loch Laggan in Kinloch Laggan, Inverness-shire, approximately twelve miles west of Newtonmore and fifteen miles from Laggan in the Scottish Highlands. The estate has been inhabited as a deer forest and sporting estate since the early Victorian period. Queen Victoria stayed at Ardverikie in 1847 during her search for a permanent Highland residence, the visit during which she contracted a chill in the notably wet weather that contributed to her decision to purchase Balmoral instead. The present house was built in 1873 following a fire that destroyed an earlier structure on the site. The design, in the Scottish Baronial style characteristic of Victorian Highland houses, uses local granite with crow-stepped gables, a central tower, and pepper-pot turrets.

The estate offers a range of landscape types unusual in their concentration: Loch Laggan lies immediately below the house, with the River Spean to the south and east, moorland and peat bog on the high ground above the tree line, ancient birch and pine woodland on the lower slopes, and mountain peaks rising behind. This variety has made it attractive to productions requiring an extended highland environment rather than a single view or building.

Monarch of the Glen (BBC One, 2000–2005, produced by Ecosse Films, starring Dawn Steele and Alastair Mackenzie) used Ardverikie House as the fictional Glenbogle estate throughout seven series, giving the house substantial national recognition. Miss Marple: A Murder is Announced (BBC/Arts & Entertainment, 1985, starring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple) filmed at the estate. Mrs Brown (Ecosse Films/BBC/Miramax, 1997, directed by John Madden, starring Judi Dench as Queen Victoria and Billy Connolly as John Brown, which won Dench a BAFTA) used Ardverikie as a principal stand-in for Balmoral Castle. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (BBC Films/Lionsgate, 2011, directed by Lasse Hallström, starring Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt) filmed on the estate and surrounding loch. Outlander (Starz, 2014 onwards, based on Diana Gabaldon’s novels) filmed highland sequences on the estate. The Crown (Netflix, 2016–2023, produced by Left Bank Pictures, written by Peter Morgan) used Ardverikie as Balmoral Castle across multiple seasons. No Time to Die (Eon Productions/Universal, 2021, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, starring Daniel Craig) filmed on the Ardverikie Estate during its Scottish sequences.