A TECH entrepreneur has launched corporate retreat facilities and holiday accommodation at what he describes as one of "Scotland's most beautiful rural settings".
George Mackintosh’s historic Papple Steading, between Stenton and Gifford, aims to tap into both UK staycation trends and an increase in corporate away days as the business world starts to adapt to a hybrid working future.
He said: “We have strong demand from the staycation market with groups and families enjoying some peace and quiet in the countryside.
"At the same time, on the corporate scene, we’re already seeing increasing demand from a full range of businesses who are finding it hard to adjust to new modes of hybrid working and want to find ways of bringing their teams together in a meaningful way.
"Executives, partners and managers want to find es-capes which create a positive, peaceful atmosphere respecting the wellbeing and safety of their colleagues.”
READ MORE: Steading plans get green light despite objections
The corporate and holiday retreat facilities consist of four properties: the farmhouse, Grieve’s Cottage, and two self-contained bothies, all restored to retain original features.
The adjoining properties, which sleep up to 20 and have a total of eleven bathrooms, many ensuite, sit in six acres of lawns and an open field with another 20 acres of ancient woodland and a wildflower meadow.
Features include William Morris wallpaper, Harrison Spinks beds, hand-crafted oak kitchens and AGA ovens, underfloor heating, Georgian and Victorian antiques, original modern art mixed with maps and drawings from the 19th century, a grand dining room with a large Edwardian table, library, exercise studio for yoga and Pilates, shower room and TV lounge, BBQ terrace, and super-fast broadband throughout.
Mr Mackintosh added: “We’ve mixed antiques with modern day amenities in what we think is in one of Scotland’s most beautiful rural settings, all within easy reach of Edinburgh and many other parts of the UK."
The site includes the ruins of the 15th century Papple Convent, and Papple Steading originally sat within the Whittingehame Estate, whose Laird was AJ Balfour, the British Prime Minister between 1902 and 1905.
George Mackintosh bought Papple Steading, one of Britain’s finest historic “model farms” of the Agricultural Improvement Movement, in 2017, and will develop the historic farm into a business and visitor destination, community centre, while an agricultural heritage museum is set to open in early 2024.
In June 2020, Eggplant, the three-time Queen’s Award for Enterprise winning software testing business Mr Mackintosh founded in 2008, was acquired by California-headquartered Keysight Technologies for $330 million.
He previously founded audio, video and web conferencing business Geoconference in Glasgow in 1996, with the company being sold to Global Crossing – now CenturyLink – in 2000.
Mr Mackintosh was also the chairman of shellfish ex-porter Laeso Fish Limited, vice-chairman of the CBI’s SME Council, and remains an associate and former entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh Business School.
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