Screen printing at Glen Dye

Glen Dye estate sits on the banks of the River Dye, where conifers tumble onto moors patterned with cloudscapes. Get creative, explore the outdoors and settle into the local community on one of its new screen printing weekend workshops.

Glen Dye’s owners quip that “you can check in any time but can never leave”. It’s meant in jest, but when Caroline and Charlie Gladstone sold their London home and upped sticks to the 30,000-acre Highlands shooting estate in 1990, that is quite literally what happened. They have been here ever since – and who can blame them? The 19th-century estate on the banks of the River Dye, where untamed forest spills onto quiet moorland is, well, unleavable.

There’s a bliss to it, a sense of being in the wild. Of hands warming by open fires and dusk falling over heathery plateaus where buzzards soar. So irresistible was its pull that Caroline and Charlie took on an insolvent business, 20 derelict houses and a handful of farms in a tumbledown (not of the charming kind) state. Over 25 years, they poured time, savings and bank loans into slowly renovating Glen Dye, which has been in Charlie’s family since the 1840s.

In 2018, they opened Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages, and the results speak for themselves. Follow the long driveway between conifers and silver birch and you’ll come across eight properties. Among them is 19th-century North Lodge with a private riverside cabin, and a refurbished 1955 Airstream Caravan in a pine copse. Each residence comes with a wood-fired hot tub to plunge into after a river dip. You can be in the wild without being too far out there.

People come and they stay – though most do eventually leave. You can spend your time walking, cycling and running on the miles of tracks that lead from the doorstep. On the River Dye you can fish for trout, canoe and even swim (Glen Dye does dub itself the ‘home of the brave’). You might find yourself toasting marshmallows or sipping wine and stargazing. You’re sure to find your own kind of escapism.

And if you need inspiration for your prints, all you’ll need to do is step outside, drink in the air and gaze at the wildly magnificent view. No, you won’t want to leave.

For 2021, the estate has launched a series of weekend workshops to foster a sense of community – both locally and for visitors – and to make Glen Dye a hub for creativity and fun. The programme kicks off in July with The Compact Guide to Screen Printing, taught by print maker and colour specialist Gail Bryson, who has designed for brands such as Conran, Heals and John Lewis. The two-day course is available to book on five different weekends and is available to guests and non-guests alike. Expect to make new friends, stretch your legs and maybe even go for a wild swim.

Find out more

Glen Dye Estate

‘The Compact Guide to Screen Printing’

Two-day course for all abilities

£245 including lunch and all materials

Limited accommodation at Glen Dye may be available. Please check the ‘places’ section of their website for availability or email audrey@glendye.com.

https://www.glendyecabinsandcottages.com/shop/the-compact-guide-to-screen-printing