Priced at offers over £10.5 million or for sale in six lots, the 12,000-acre Tillypronie Estate near Tarland, Aberdeenshire, lies in a magnificent position straddling Deeside and Donside, an area which has been a magnet for sportsmen since the early Victorian era.

At its heart lies Tillypronie House, a spectacular 11-bedroom home, built in 1867 by Sir John Clark, the diplomat son of Queen Victoria’s physician, Sir James Clark. Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone and used to visit Tillypronie with her friend and confidant, John Brown. The house stands 1,152 feet above sea level, with spectacular views over the Dee valley towards the southern Grampian hills in the distance.

The estate has been in the vendor’s family since 1951, with the current owner, Philip Astor, having inherited it in 1984.

Tillypronie House looks out over several acres of sensitively designed and beautifully maintained gardens, comprising herbaceous borders, a rose garden, and heather beds leading down to a water garden. There is a rockery with alpine plants and a Golden Jubilee garden which contains trees, shrubs and plants of a golden hue, including a Dawyck Golden Beech planted by Her Majesty the Queen. The garden boasts many fine conifers, including one planted by the former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, and a collection of recently planted acers. For many years the garden has been open to the public on a twice yearly basis to raise funds for the charity Scotland’s Gardens.

Tillypronie Estate offers a remarkable variety of sport: driven grouse shooting; the renowned high bird Towie pheasant shoot; roe deer stalking, rough shooting and duck flighting; trout fishing on a number of attractive lochs; and salmon fishing on the river Don.

Historically, Tillypronie was one of the most prolific grouse moors in the Highlands, with a regular average of 2,000 brace a year during the 1960s and 1970s. There are four named beats and, while recent records have been more modest than in the past, increased investment in moorland management over the last five years has seen a steady improvement in the grouse bags achieved.

The Towie pheasant shoot has been developed with advice from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust and is regularly identified as one of the country’s finest shoots by the sporting press.

The Towie beat of the River Don provides 2.4miles of single bank salmon, sea trout and brown trout fishing with 12 named pools. Additionally, there are several very pretty trout lochs.

Tillypronie has welcomed many notable figures, including the American writer Henry James who described it as “this supremely comfortable house – lying deep among the brown and purple moors”, and went on to describe “the glorious view of sweeping hills and gleaming lochs that lies forever before the windows”.

Mr Astor said: “Tillypronie is a truly magical place, which has given huge pleasure to family and friends of all ages since I inherited it over 30 years ago. The house is one of those places that immediately conveys a sense of happiness; and I don’t think the garden has ever looked so beautiful.

“I have worked hard over the past few years to restore the grouse moors to something approaching their former glory, but I feel it is now time for someone else to continue that exercise. Meanwhile I am immensely proud to have developed a spectacular pheasant shoot, where discerning teams of guns have been eager to return year after year.”

Selling agent Robert McCulloch, Partner in Strutt & Parker’s Edinburgh office, said: “The style, setting and outlook of Tillypronie House is like no other in Scotland. Nestled discreetly in the hills above the Howe of Cromar, the panoramic views across Deeside are inspirational at all times of year. Standing on the Tillypronie terrace on a summer’s evening, sipping a glass of something chilled, is priceless in itself.