The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: August first, in the ultimate bed and breakfast.

Last time, we visited Dunfermline, the Scottish town where industrialist and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie was born. There's one other Scottish location that was near and dear to Carnegie's heart.

In 1898, he bought Skibo Estate, 20,000 Highland acres on the shores of Dornach Firth just north of Inverness, and built himself a regal residence. Skibo Castle, as he called his Xanadu, was fit for entertaining royalty, though his guest list was somewhat more egalitarian. Visitors who occupied the 15 ample bedrooms ranged from King Edward VII and LLoyd George to Booker T. Washington, Kipling, Paderewski, the Rockefellers, and Helen Keller.

The castle's decor was the epitome of late- 19th century coziness, silk walls and velvet sofas. Guests fished for salmon in Carnegie's streams, swam in his pool, and played golf on the course he had carved down by the sea. And each morning at 8:00, a kilted piper woke everyone by playing bagpipes under the bedroom windows.

After Carnegie's death, his daughter Margaret lived at Skibo for many years, but it eventually fell into disuse. Several years ago, a businessman purchased what remained of the estate and turned it into a very up-scale retreat and spa, where guests pay up to $750 a day to be pampered by the highest in Scottish hospitality.

The estate is smaller, but there are still some 7,500 acres left to frolic. Much remains as it was when Carnegie held court, including almost all of the original furniture. There are private salmon streams, sailing facilities, tennis, and Carnegie's original 18-hole golf course.

Skibo is certainly a regal setting for a real highland fling.

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