ANN Gloag has revealed proposals for a golf and leisure complex to be built on her estate which would rival Skibo Castle.
The Stagecoach millionaire hopes to build a £20m development at Beaufort Castle, including 82 luxury guest lodges and the conversion of a farm steading into a country club.
However, the castle will remain Mrs Gloag's personal preserve, along with all but 399 acres of the 19,500-acre estate near Beauly.
An outline planning application has now been lodged with Highland Council by Beaufort Castle Golf and Country Club Ltd, a consortium led by Mrs Gloag.
She acquired the estate for a reported £3.5m in 1995 from the family of the late Lord Lovat, whose forebears had been in the area for 800 years.
Her partners are Invernessbased Tulloch plc and King, the Perthshire property developer.
Mrs Gloag's stewardship of the estate was the subject of public scrutiny last yearwhen she took two tenants to court over a piece of land, 20 yards by six yards and some outbuildings. It left the couple facing near financial ruin.
However, the consortium insists that no tenant will be affected because the development is earmarked for the Home Farm.
Indeed they claim it would have only a positive impact on the local community. Consultants project the equivalent of 51 full-time jobs, and the indirect creation of a further 180 full-time jobs.
The 6551-yd championship golf course, with a par of 71, should attract golfers from around the world and would use the existing contours of the land.
They developers' application says: "The Country Club will be focused on the existing Home Farm steading, a listed building.
It is being extensively but sympathetically converted to feature a clubhouse, restaurant, bar, cafe, swimming pool, spa, steam room, gym and beauty care facility.
"It will also have nine guest suites. Existing elements of the steading, including windows and roof structure, are being retained. The Country Club will be situated at the heart of the course, close to the ninth green and tenth tee."
Some lodges would be for purchase and some for timeshare. The final phase of the development would be a hotel capable of hosting conferences.
Mrs Gloag said: "We think this can bring visitors from all over the world to the area and be a great stimulus to the economy of Kiltarlity and Beauly in particular, but also to the Highlands as a whole.
"I have been made very welcome since making my home in this area and I think this development will help put something back in to the community. The consultants are projecting an annual off-site visitor spend of £1.5m in shops, restaurants, visitor attractions, etc. Along with the 231 full-time jobs identified in the study, the complex has the capacity to be of great social and economic benefit locally.
"I have ensured that the plan includes an area set aside for the future housing expansion of the village of Kiltarlity. This will include an element of lower-cost housing for which there is local need."
She said that given a favourable planning process, work could begin next autumn.
The golf course would be the first and take two years to establish.
"The idea is that the clubhouse and Country Club would be built and operational to coincide with the course opening for play. The guest lodges would be introduced in phases of 20 a year, taking us through to 2010, " she said.
Hamish Maclennan, chairman of Kiltarlity Community Council said "I think there would a fair amount of support for the development and investment locally."
