AN Indian tycoon whose Highlands holiday was so bad that he bought three Scottish hotels to ‘fix’ them is publishing plans to build an entire village.

If given the go-ahead Sanjay Narang’s scheme, in picturesque Glengarry, will see the creation of a cobble-stoned village replete with five-star hotels, a town square and, unusually for the western Highlands, an amphitheatre.

Last year Mr Narang spent £3 million buying three hotels and a reported £6 million more refurbishing them, after a disappointing experience with Scottish hospitality.

The 56 year old property tycoon had come from his home in Mumbai to hike in Inverness-shire with his sister Rachna, in April 2018. But after a day in the mountains, they were met with freezing rooms, ice-cold showers and microwaved meals cooked by a carpenter.

The food was universally atrocious, Mr Narang added. “They were charging us £120 a night and there was no hot water, no apology, nothing,” he added.

So dismal was an Indian tycoon’s experience of Highland tourism that he bought the three hotels to “show them how it should be done”. Within a month of his visit he had swooped on the hotels in bid to transform their fortunes.

Rokeby Manor, near Invergarry, opened in July this year. A month later the Cluanie Inn at Glenmoriston and the Whispering Pine Lodge, in Spean Bridge, were unveiled after being revamped.

Mr Narang decided on the project while still on his hiking trip, he said: “It was minus seven degrees one day and there was absolutely no hot water in the hotel.

“I called downstairs and the manager said, ‘The boiler has not been working since last Thursday and the guy can’t come to fix it till next week.’ “They were charging us £120 a night and there was no hot water.”

Rooms in the newly refurbished hotels, which have 80 staff, are available to holidaymakers all year round.

Explaining his latest project, Mr Narang said: “The intent was to find an absolutely jaw-dropping, beautiful location where there’s no sign of any other development, humanity, nothing. And in that location create a very old, 17th or 18th-century-style stone village with a main street, town square, a little clock tower, many shops.”

The shops will be made available to local producers and craftspeople, he said. “Local shops, where people can come and sell their products, where we just give them the space — and artisans and people who make things locally come and sell it there.”

Their proposal has been put to Glengarry community council and Mr Narang has said he will withdraw the plan if it is met with local opposition.

However he hopes the scale and nature of the plans will be welcome. The development would feature 100 cottages, a five-star hotel, four-star guest house and bed and breakfast while the free shop premises for local artisans will be centred on a cobbled-street market.

Mr Narang is well-known in Mumbai where he has an extensive property portfolio comprising hotels, restaurants and an air catering service. His long-standing collaboration with his younger sister Rachna, an interior designer, has seen her design for many of the hotels and eateries as they are constructed or redeveloped in Mumbai and cities across India.

Mr Narang’s “Skygourmet” brand in, operating in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata, has become the largest airline caterer in the country.

Now the pair plan to buy hundreds of acres of Glengarry Forest for the new project. About15 miles from Fort William the forest and sits on the River Garry, described as one of the most beautiful rivers in Scotland. Its wood-land is home to crossbills, red squirrels and native Scottish pine trees.

The forest is flanked by Loch Oich and Loch Garry as well as the small village of Invergarry, where walkers can visit a 17th-century castle

The refurbishment projects have not gone entirely smoothly however. This year Mr Narang began legal action against the builders he hired for refurbishments.

He alleges Douglas & Stewart, a construction company based in Aberdeen, misled him about the company’s track record and overcharged him for work.

Mr Narang’s company, Black Sheep Hotels, lodged a commercial action at the Court of Session, seeking damages of £3.8 million and claiming the true value of the work was £2.7 million.