Holiday Cottages:

The Glenlivet Area in Cairngorms National Park - Grampian Highlands, Scotland

Out and About in Speyside - Dufftown, Aberlour, Tomintoul, Elgin, Glenlivet

If you can tear yourself away from the views at Bluefolds Holiday Cottages to the mountains in the Cairngorms National Park, there is much to do in the local area from Glenlivet to Tomintoul, Dufftown, Aberlour and Elgin. Please remember to bring your binoculars with you for in the car and on your walks. Glenlivet is a fantastic area for viewing birds, wildlife and wild flowers for more details visit the Glenlivet wildlife site. After you have enjoyed the resident rabbits, sheep, birds, buzzards and deer, touring is easy from the cottages.

Elgin, our local town, has a beautiful ruined Cathedral, (photo right) as well as many shops and restaurants. The 2 main supermarkets are open 24 hours a day. From Elgin it is a short drive to Lossiemouth's harbour and beaches.There are stunning beaches all along the Moray Firth coast including Findhorn, Roseisle, Hopeman and Cullen.

The Glenlivet estate stretches between Bluefolds self catering holiday cottages and Tomintoul and is a remote area of outstanding natural beauty at the centre of the Cairngorms National Park. It has an excellent selection of walking and cycling trails including hill, forest and river walks. There is also an exciting wild farm walk where you can meet friendly reindeer (photo left), wild boar, red deer and soay sheep. This area is also ideal for dog walking. More Photos

The Speyside Way is only a short distance from Bluefolds. The Speyside Way is 65 miles from Aviemore to to Spey Bay with a spur to Tomintoul. Most of the route follows the river Spey. From Spey Bay where there is a wildlife visitors centre along to Aberlour (photo right) and on to Grantown on Spey. Salmon leap and are fished beside much of the route. Fly fishing here is an angler's dream. Aberlour is an attractive small town with a supermarket, a high class delicatessen, clothes and gift shops as well as some excellent pubs and restaurants.

Ben Rinnes at 840m is the highest hill in the Glenlivet area and is a Corbett, for Corbett baggers, with outstanding views to the Cairngorm mountains and the Moray Firth coast at Lossiemouth. The view of Ben Rinnes (left) is seen on the way to the cottages. The Cardhu distillery, home of Johnnie Walker is close to Aberlour.

Tomintoul the highest village in the highlands has a selection of restaurants and gift shops including A’anside studios with a great selection of Scottish gifts and the Whisky Castle and Highland Market which sells and amazing selection of whiskies and very attractive gifts at reasonable prices. Close to the Glenlivet Estate Office is an exciting free adventure playground for children.There are wonderful walks on the Glenlivet estate around Tomintoul and some stunning views to the River Avon and Ben Avon from the road to Grantown on Spey. The wildlife and wildflowers on the estate and all over the Glenlivet area are beautiful. Spring is a wonderful time to enjoy them fully.

The pair of Oystercatchers right spent at least 2 weeks deciding where to nest before choosing a field full of sheep and lambs close to the road! It is just a short drive to the Lecht ski area near Tomintoul, open all year round for a variety of activities. The Lecht has a wonderful new centre and is ideal for sking and snowboarding in winter and in summer enjoy tubing and go karts.

Dufftown Scotland is famous for 2 annual Whisky Festivals in May and September

On the way to Dufftown is the excellent 18 hole Golf course, which I am told is not for the faint hearted as there are some steep hills to climb, as well as golf balls to hit! The town also has an excellent butcher, baker, whisky shop, supermarket, a well known kilt maker and a wedding shop. Dufftown is at the very heart of the Malt Whisky Trail. (Photo of town centre with tower right) To get a better flavour of the whisky festivals you can read about them at the Spirit of Speside website or the Dufftown site. Dates for 2008: Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 29 Apr-3 May 10; Dufftown Speyside Whisky Festival 24-27 Septemeber 10

From May to Sep each year, there are Pipe band practices followed by whisky nosings on Tuesday evenings and Ceilidhs on Thursday evenings in either the Commercial Hotel or the Legion. The Glenfiddich distillery is open to the public (free) while close by is the picturesque ruined Balvenie Castle. with it’s renaissance facade beautifully maintained by Historic Scotland. Other local distilleries to visit and whiskies to taste include Macallan, Glen Grant, Glenfarclas, the Glenlivet (free tours), Aberlour and Cardhu. 9 miles in opposite directions are Dufftown (photo left of pipe bands marching trhough Dufftown after the Highland Games - last Saturday in July annually) and the highest village in the highlands Tomintoul, these attractive places have a selection of gift shops, pubs and restaurants.