The Highland Club resort at Loch Ness: 'It feels like a stay in The Traitors Scottish castle'

But real it is, and its setting is even more magical than its fairytale architecture, standing at the southern tip of Loch Ness, where the breath-taking grandeur of the Scottish Highlands distils, and the mountains, waters and vast skies of the Great Glen align to cast their own spell, whatever the weather.

We came prepared for dreich-ness but, as it turned out, the weather for our early autumn break at The Highland Club, Fort Augustus, was glorious.

Getting there was an adventure in itself. We had stayed the night before with family in Nairn, breaking the seven-hour drive to there from Yorkshire with a stay in Stirling. The next day, we picked up our son and his partner from Inverness Airport, after their 1hr 40min flight from Gatwick (Easyjet flights from £45; also direct flights from Manchester).

The drive from there to Fort Augustas takes another hour and a quarter, but well worth it, whether you choose the east or west side of Loch Ness. We took the east side, the A82, passing through Drumnadrochit and by Urquhart Castle.

The gates of The Highland Club are on the outskirts of Fort Augustus, a small, pretty white-washed village dominated by a rise of locks taking the Caledonian Canal into Loch Ness.

The drive winds through the grounds past what looks like a huge and grand castle but was actually built as a Benedictine abbey, monastery and school. This was to be our home for three days, and there was clearly a great deal to explore.

The history of the place, for starters. Now a large luxury self-catering holiday resort, The Highland Club sits directly on the site of the actual Fort Augustus, built in 1729, the middle of three fortresses along the Great Glen of Albyn, which splices the Highlands from coast to coast, with Fort George, near Inverness, to the north, and Fort William to the south.

One of the four original bastion walls remains, as does the parade ground, now grassed over (complete with giant chess board) and surrounded by the cloisters.

Built to tackle the Jacobite uprisings, the choice of site was strategic, a peninsula with the River Oich to one side, the River Tarff to another, and Loch Ness spread before. Now the site is a haven for adventure and leisure, and The Highland Club has 23 acres of grounds, sweeping from the village down to the water’s edge.

The building itself is a Grade I-listed former Benedictine monastery and abbey, built after the land passed to the Order’s fathers in 1876. Major parts, including the church, were designed by Peter Paul Pugin (1851-1904), son of Augustus Welby Pugin, architect of the Palace of Westminster.

In 1878, Fort Augustus Abbey School for boys was founded in one wing. We had discovered shortly before our stay that my husband's grandfather was a pupil there in the 1890s (a fact I still cannot get my head around), and it was strange to walk through the cloisters, holy rooms and grounds where he too would have walked and run - 130 years ago.

The school closed in 1993, the last Catholic boarding school in Scotland, and the abbey followed in 1998. The graveyard for departed monks lies in the grounds, their white painted metal crosses an eerie sight on a misty morning.

In 2003 The Santon Group bought the site and began this massive £30m conversion into The Highland Club, completed in 2012, preserving and working with its historic features. The results are impressive, stately and grand, and yet there is also a great sense of community and friendliness, with lots of families staying, and helpful, engaging staff.

The Abbey Church has been converted into apartments and the Chapel Pool Complex with a swimming pool (lovely high windows but small, for up to 10 guests at a time and so has to be booked), a steam room and sauna, a gym and a beautiful atrium with ping-pong and models of the building now and of the original fort.

There is a Club Lounge and a snooker room off the enclosed carved stone cloisters, and outside, in the middle of its quadrangle – the site of the parade ground for the original fort – there is a lawn with benches, and a giant chessboard waiting to be played (which, of course, we did).

In all, there are 109 apartments and cottages, some retained by the developer, and these have Four or Five Star Awards from Visit Scotland.

We stayed in a majestic apartment in the Abbey Church conversion. It was arranged over six floors with features in the living/dining area including stone pillars and stained glass windows, an Aga in the well-equipped kitchen, where a welcome hamper was waiting filled with pasta, rice, cereal, biscuits, wine and more.

There were three bedrooms, three bathrooms including the master ensuite, table football, games and books, and, best of all, a massive balcony looking out to the loch, with seating areas including a clear spherical pod, in case of bad weather.

We had only sunshine and warmth, so were able to take full advantage of all that the resort, the village and the loch had to offer. Our son and partner spent a morning canoeing on the loch on an organised trip from Fort Augustus with In Your Element, from £42 for 2.5 hours. We wished we had joined when when they told us of the spectacular views, the stop-off points to explore, the fun of it all, and their informative guide - later they showed us the tiny Pepper Pot Lighthouse, built in 1840 to mark the entrance to the Caledonian Canal from South Loch Ness.

The village of Fort Augustus is well worth exploring. It is dominated by a staircase of five Caledonian Canal locks, lined with cafes, fish and chip shops, pubs and ice cream parlours. It is busy, even in September, with tourists, especially from the US and Canada, Japan, Germany, Holland and Scandinavia.

But it is atmospheric and attractive with plenty to do and see, and you can always escape from there on to one of the many boat cruises up Loch Ness.

Meanwhile, back at The Highland Club, there is a tennis court, a football pitch, woodland play area, barbeque and picnic area, croquet lawn, and more.

Other activities can be arranged by the staff - they can be found in the reception where drinks and snacks await - including archery, kayaking, rafting, clay pigeon shooting and fishing.

Also in the grounds (and ideal for rainy days) is the Sports Simulator Room, for up to four players taking turns to try out golf, goal shooting, car racing, gun shooting and more in a facility that uses dual cameras and a large wrap-around screen with a variety of backdrops from Monaco and Paris to New York. It costs £40 for 75 minutes, and we really enjoyed it, especially the addictive zombie-shooting game.

By the lochside, The Boathouse Restaurant is independently owned but a real asset to The Highland Club, a great place for a coffee, snacks, drinks or an evening meal feasting on the views as the sun sets. It offers Scottish and Turkish cuisine, and is popular thanks to its setting and delicious, reasonably priced food. Sitting outside at the lochside having a pre-dinner drink was a highlight of our all-too-short break.

We were sorry when our visit came to an end, and I suspect we will be back before long. This is a place that stays with you. And we completely forgot to look out for Nessie.

The Highland Club has one, two and three-bedroom apartments, with views of Loch Ness or the Great Glen or towards the Caledonian Canal. Prices from £300-£1,300 per night, book direct via www.thehighlandclub.co.uk for 10 per cent booking discount.

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