By Mairi Mulhern

Copyright homesandinteriorsscotland

It isn’t its cool owners, fresh design or enchantingly wild surroundings that make this little bolthole in the Cairngorms so special…

A cool breeze whistles through the Scots Pine tress of Abernethy Forest as we drive up to Arbor, a self-catering bothy in Nethy Bridge. Hand-built and designed by husband-and-wife duo Graham and Amy Niven, the one-bedroom dwelling sits on the edge of what used to be the Great Caledonian Forest. The bothy is flanked by sister attractions Arbor Gallery, which exhibits Graham’s award-winning photography, and Third Aye Studio, where goldsmith Amy hosts year-round jewellery making classes and workshops.

Graham and Amy both enjoyed holidays in Nethy Bridge, also known as The Forest Village, as children and were beckoned to return after starting a family of their own. “There was just one prerequisite when we were looking for a house: it had to have enough space to build a bothy so we could share our love of Nethy Bridge with other adventurers,” says Amy. The couple moved into their 19th-century cottage in 2019 and started building Arbor shortly after.

The area has a centuries-long connection to garden bothies. From the 1800s onwards, villagers would open their homes to travellers during summer and sleep in their bothies while their visitors rested. Many properties still come with the stone structures today — Arbor included. “Our original bothy was used as a village cinema in the 1900s, but it was crumbling beyond repair, so I reluctantly pulled it down,” says Graham. “I mean, newspapers and moss had been used as insulation!”

The contemporary bothy that now occupies the space is a little marvel.

Arbor’s corrugated Corten roof and stick-built larch exterior (which will eventually turn silver to match its predecessor) belie a characterful interior that layers warm hues of sage and blue with natural materials to bring the textures of the forest indoors. Graham’s landscape and nature photography line the walls while cupboards contain ceramics from Glasgow-based maker Kim Plimley. An Ordnance Survey map of the Cairngorms covers an entire wall — my partner and I excitedly pinpoint our location and trace the routes of our previous adventures in the area. We’ve only been here for about 30 minutes and we already feel at home.

There are cool architectural quirks in Arbor’s vaulted ceiling that I only realise aren’t necessarily ‘meant’ when I speak to Graham. “This is my first building project, so there are a few quirks here and there,” he laughs. “For example, the porch roof is about 10 degrees off from the rest of the ceiling. But the mismatched angles create a coved ceiling look, which is actually one of my favourite parts of the bothy now.” It’s mine too.

Graham didn’t stop at building the bothy. He handmade the dining table and some shelving too, using leftover Scottish larch. And there’s a bench in the garden that he built with stone from the old bothy. “Amy and I care deeply about sustainability, so I sourced all the materials locally and used them as much as possible. The wood is 100% Scottish timber from Stogie Timber, just up the road, who source all of their wood within a 50-mile radius.”

Sliding glass doors in the living room open onto a generous patio with a pergola that hides two hammock chairs and a chimenea. “We tried to create fluidity between outside and in, so the bothy, though just one bedroom, is closer to the size of a small house. We want guests to feel like they’re part of the landscape; that they can really slow down and appreciate the Cairngorms.”

When night falls, the Arbor patio shimmers under the light of the moon. If you’d rather stay out of the evening chill, there’s a skylight in the bedroom – in fact, there’s a skylight in every room – that awards a clear view of the night sky as you fall asleep. “We want to make the bothy feel as close to nature as possible,” explains Amy later on. “That’s why there’s no TV.”

Instead, you can watch pigeons, crested tits, crossbills and the odd red squirrel flock to a birdfeeder on the patio. Their little squabbles are as entertaining as any River City spat, so we don’t miss the television at all. “Every room has at least one window and a skylight. Light floods in from morning to night, whether that’s from the sun or the moon. Some guests have even seen the Aurora Borealis,” Amy tells me with a proud smile.

My partner and I don’t just visit Nethy Bridge for Arbor bothy. We are also treated to a private ring making class at Amy’s on-site workshop, The Third Aye. The space is just big enough for the three of us with a cosy biophilic interior that nods to Amy’s deep connection to the earth, and the wildlife around her home; something that motivates her to source ethical metals that are as kind to the planet as they are to the skin. One of Amy’s bestselling services is her wedding ring class. “Fiancés making their own wedding rings together, with love in their hearts, is a deeply special ritual, and one that will set them on their journey of life long companionship. We use ethically sourced, 100% recycled precious metals to symbolise their bond. It’s beautiful to witness and being able to share my skills in this way, as a lifelong maker, brings me unending joy.”

The jeweller is kind and patient as we get to grips with the ring crafting process, which begins with selecting the shape (Amy has extruded the silver into fine strips before we arrive): flat, D-shape or rounded. We bend the silvery strips into ring shape and seal the ends by soldering and quenching. Afterwards, we drop the ring into a pickle solution to remove any firescale that formed during soldering. Then, we pop them onto a mandrel and give them some good whacks with a small mallet to ensure they are perfectly round. We then sand the jewellery to smoothen out any imperfections and rub with a cloth to polish.

We’re there for three hours – the class normally takes two – but Amy makes no fuss, selflessly giving us the time to forge memories and mementos that we will treasure forever.

In the evening, we wander through the Caledonian pinewoods of Abernethy Forest picking wild blueberries and searching for squirrels before enjoying a starlit, albeit chilly, dinner on the patio. We tie off our trip with the best night’s sleep we’ve had in months.

Nethy Bridge

Visit the Arbor website | Follow Arbor on Instagram

Visit the The Third Aye website | Follow The Third Aye on Instagram