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As a child Lesley McArthur had no idea her family owned the historic Glen Clova Estate – let alone that she would run it with her father one day.

“We had a tenant who ran the hotel at that point,” she recalls.

“Mum and dad didn’t have anything to do with it, so there wasn’t any reason to tell us that we owned it.”

It was Lesley’s paternal great-great-grandfather who bought the estate in 1922 when it was a sheep and sporting estate.

But when the tenancy came to an end at the turn of the millennium, her parents Hugh and Jane Niven decided to take the reins.

The couple gutted and renovated the hotel, situated in the Angus part of Cairngorms National Park, turning it into a 10-bed hotel and a 32-bed hostel.

While Hugh ran the estate, Jane ran the kitchen, becoming known for her signature homemade sticky toffee pudding.

Lesley, who attended Dundee High School and then studied business management at an agricultural college in York, officially joined the business in 2010.

It was a “prime time” to get involved, as the hotel had just opened six new lodges – bringing the total to eight.

Initially, 39-year-old Lesley, who now lives near Broughty Ferry with her husband Stephen and their three children, worked out front.

She says: “I was helping clean rooms, I was serving drinks, I was waiting on tables.

“I would even do a little stint in the kitchen as well, helping prep desserts and starters.”

But these days she takes a hands-off approach.

“I’m more of a sounding board for the manager to work with,” she says.

“I go up once a week, I do most of the social media postings online, and I work alongside the manager, helping her with running the day-to-day business.”

What’s her dad’s role?

“Well dad’s the boss,” Lesley laughs.

“He is the purse sting holder.”

And while her mum has taken a step back, 67-year-old Hugh, who Lesley says enjoys staying busy and active, shows no signs of doing so.

While her younger siblings – Margaret Reid, 38, and Michael Niven, 35 – aren’t heavily involved in the hotel, they are shareholders like the rest of the family.

Michael also runs Clova Farms in the glens alongside his dad.

It is an exciting time for the four-star hotel, which is only growing in popularity and has recently unveiled a stunning new barn for weddings, corporate functions and events.

The impressive 400sq ft can host up to 170 guests.

While Glen Clova has long been a favourite for weddings in its indoor function suite, the new barn elevates the experience by providing more space and a dedicated area for receptions.

Lesley says: “We created a function suite within the hotel in 2015.

“But there wasn’t an area for a drinks reception.

“We also struggled to accommodate any guests who weren’t involved in the wedding.

So we needed a purpose-built events space to allow us to host weddings and events a lot more easily.”

She adds: “The function room wasn’t quite big enough for a lot of the wedding inquiries that we were getting.

“We could accommodate weddings of 100, whereas the barn space gives us the flexibility of weddings of up to 170.”

While working with family can have its “challenging moments”, Lesley smiles, it is ultimately great for the hotel.

She explains: “We’re able to make decisions about the business quite quickly, whether its expenditure or problem-solving, etc, because we’ve got a good working relationship and we’re a family unit.”

Asked about the secret to Glen Clova Hotel’s longevity, Lesley says: “Ultimately, (Glen Clova’s success) is down to the team who are so accommodating for guests and are working hard every day and delivering what needs to be delivered.  And what needs delivered is good customer service.”

She adds that the location is also a key aspect of its success.  “The customers keep coming back and those getting married are attracted by the location and the scenery.”

Ironically, it is Glen Clova’s remote location – 20 miles outside of Kirriemuir and one hour from Dundee – that also poses the most difficulties.

“It’s quite challenging for us to hire part-time members of staff because people have to travel to get to us,” Lesley says.

“Spending money on fuel and things like that is more expensive, so it’s not necessarily worth their time to work part-time with us.”

Extreme weather conditions can also cause issues.  “In the wintertime, there can be no snow with us down here in Dundee – be it can be three feet deep up in Glen Clova.

“And so then getting staff and guests up to the hotel to operate as normal can be very challenging.”

Thanks to its location, the hotel, run by a team of around 20, is also required to have its own water supply.

“That’s an expense that other businesses wouldn’t necessarily have if they’re not in a location like ours,” she says.

Hospitality is a demanding industry, Lesley says, often with long and anti-social hours.

This is exactly why she won’t be pressurising her children to take over the business one day.

She says: “It would be great if one of the kids did want to get involved with it at some point.

“It’s a great little business for someone who has a passion for the hospitality industry.  But it can be quite a consuming business.

“Who knows what the future holds?  We’ll just have to wait and see.”

This article appeared in The Courier on 30 August 2025