Floorplans and designs for the perfect shooting lodge

There are a wide range of factors that contribute to a great day out on a game shoot. The host, as we have discussed at length before now, is one. The company is another, as is, to a slightly lesser extent, the quality of the shooting itself. However, we believe that the backdrop to the day’s activities can elevate the ordinary into the extraordinary. A characterful gunbus, a stunning landscape or an amazing setting for lunch can stick in the mind as much as the best bird of the day or the funniest anecdote.

In September 2021, I recorded an episode of The GunsOnPegs Podcast with Tim Crump, founder of Oakwrights, award-winning oak-framed building specialists. The episode was optimistically titled “The Ultimate Shoot Lodge Episode”.

Broadly, it consisted of me, the MD of GunsOnPegs and Tim getting a bit tiddly and overexcited while describing the most outrageous shooting lodge we could think of. You can listen to the episode on the podcast platform of your choice, or use the embedded player below.

The building we imagined sounded so totally ridiculous that I thought it would be largely impossible to create in reality. With its sweeping driveway, carports, multiple seating areas, vast windows, cavernous entrance hall, two-tier patio space (complete with hot tub), bar, dining area, and ten bedrooms, in my head the entire thing was an exercise in the absurd.

Designing the perfect luxury hunting lodge

But, last week I received an email from Sally at Oakwrights. Attached to that email was a pdf containing architect-style drawings of our imaginary dream hunting lodge. I eagerly pored over the drawings… was everything we had called for there?

The first thing I noticed was that the highly skilled draughtsmen and -women at Oakwrights had mocked up the drawings placing the lodge about halfway up a vertiginous valley - which Tim later revealed to be a highland glen -  with views down to an expanse of sea loch. The spires and peaks of the munros seem to frame the building, much as the oak beams of the interior create a natural frame for the views. A stroke of genius.

The shape of the building, with its central hall flanked on either side by the wings, means it seems to sit within the landscape. One of the advantages of oak-framed buildings is that they are such a traditional style of building that even new constructions seem to blend with their surroundings. Choosing the right roofing material for the location would further the harmony between building and landscape.

I will confess that I was slightly disappointed that my Viking-longhouse style central open firepit didn’t seem to have made the final design. I suppose of all the features that would have been the most impractical, given the weather and insulation implications of having a bloody great hole in the roof to let the smoke out. It seems that the gunroom also didn’t make the final designs, which was a bit of a shame, but then, we can’t have everything.

Essential features of a shooting lodge

Even without these features, the most important ones are there. The ground floor is a huge space, designed for that morning meet-up when beaters, keepers, pickers up, flagmen and guns all congregate for a warming drink and a bacon roll. 

It would also serve as a space where everyone regroups  at the end of the day’s shooting to mingle, exchange tales and dish out a bit of ribbing - so key to avoiding a ‘them and us’ feel to the day. This is, if the term is right for such a space, the shoot room.

The ground floor also features a large storage area and a meeting space, so it can act as a hub for the shoot management team, and could also be used for corporate away days outside the shooting season. 

Luxury shooting accomodation

One of the most imaginative features on the ground floor, and one that is made possible by the oak-framed design, is found on the wings which flank the main hall. Here you will find ten individual carports - one for each bedroom suite - with direct access to the room above. This allows guests to get themselves and their kit straight into their en suite lodge bedroom while protected from the worst of the weather. Coincidentally it also means that the view isn’t spoiled by a ragtag of 4x4s.

Where the ground floor is a communal space, the upper floor is more of a private space. The central open plan seating area gives way to, on one side,  a large dining room, and on the other a self-contained bar and snug. The upper floor is also home to the ten en suite bedrooms, which are found in the two wings. 

There’s also access to a balcony which commands views down the glen and gives access from the lodge down to the lodge’s private hot tub -  a perfect place to unwind and warm up with a glass of something after a chilly day in the field.

While our fantasy shoot lodge was really just a thought experiment, seeing the plans makes me think that someone really ought to commission it for their estate. The GunsOnPegs Lodge would give many a castle or stately home a run for its money when it comes to luxury shooting accomodation. would make a perfect base for shooting parties, or,  if positioned in the right place, near a good fishing lake or river, it would be among the most luxurious fishing lodges around: you could almost practice your casting in the main hall! Heck, it would make a pretty good ski lodge.

Tim came along to the live recording of the podcast at The Game Fair a couple of weeks ago, and he confirmed that the lodge would cost somewhere in the region of £1.5 - £2m to build, so it wouldn’t be a small project and would be out of reach for most shoots. That being said, I really hope that someone with deep enough pockets is inspired to pick up the design for a world class sporting lodge… and then invite me to stay!

To find out more, or how to go about designing your own dream hunting, shooting and fishing lodge, contact Oakwrights directly.