Scottish Highlands

The Scottish Highlands were our destination for this half term holiday. When we were invited up there to join the Gilfillan clan in Aviemore, we jumped at the chance, because we knew it had all the ingredients for a perfect family holiday. It's very important to us that our holidays are fun and educational for our kids, but interesting for us too. Even though the weather wasn't great, the focus of the holiday was outdoorsy. Who would expect anything less in a setting like that with Claire and Ross in charge. Neither of us have visited that neck of the woods which made it an exciting destination. It's great when you arrive at your destination and it's obvious that you're somewhere entirely different!


We spent the first half of the holiday staying with them at Abernethy Bunkhouse, and when they left we moved to the somewhat more luxurious Hilton Hotel. It was great seeing old friends again and the best part of the bunkhouse was that the six kids who could run amok as we had the place to ourselves. I love watching my boys making friends and enjoying themselves with other children, especially when they are our friends' kids. We ate haggis, salmon and scotch pancakes (and we also had a good old South African braai complete with marshmallows). The highlight of the Hilton was the on-site forest playground, swimming pool, putt-putt and the fun house. If you're ever in Aviemore do yourself a favour and go to The Old Bridge House for delicious food and a huge selection of single malts!

Hiking around Nethy Bridge

I met Claire and Ross through the Rhodes Mountain Club and did many a hike with them while I was at university. So a hike on the first day seemed like an appropriate start to the holiday. They kept things simple for the sake of the kids and concocted a loop from where we were staying. It was great walking along the icy river and through the moss clad forests. I was amazed that all the kids kept walking for 3 hours. It must have been all the playgrounds that we came across along the route - not totally co-incidental I might add. I was also impressed when we ended up back at the bunkhouse as promised!

Exploring the tranquil Loch Garten

Loch Garten is famous for the Osprey Centre but unfortunately our timing wasn't good so we didn't see any. We still had a great time going for a stroll and a play on the banks of the lake. The water was like a mirror in the low afternoon sunlight which gave it a truly magical mood!

Skiing The Lecht in The Cairngorms

We were hoping to do a bit of snowboarding/skiing but there wasn't much snow around. Weird considering all the snow in London in the week before. There was, however, enough snow for the kids to enjoy themselves on the slopes. We were thrilled that Nicholas picked up where he left off last season. We even put Danny on skis and dare I say he was a natural. I love the fact that my little boy was definitely the smallest ski boy by far on the mountain. I have the sweetest video clips which I hope I'll be able to upload sometime. In the meantime here are some animated gifs to give you a preview!

Picnic at the picturesque Loch an Eilein

Rothiemurchus is like the Interlaken of Great Britain. It's an adventure paradise for the outdoor adrenaline junkie, so I definitely think we'll head back there sometime when the boys are older; and maybe in the summer will be a better idea. There are so many tempting activities on offer. This time we opted for a relaxed walk and picnic at one of the lakes. I must admit that we were lured in by the blurb that Loch An Eilein was voted one of the best picnic spots in Britain!

Searching for Monsters at Loch Ness

No trip to the Highlands would be complete without looking for Nessie. The boys are convinced that she is on holiday (thanks to a book about Hamish McHaggis). We all enjoyed finding out more about the mystery at the Loch Ness Visitors Centre. You can just imagine all the questions we were bombarded with afterwards. Loch Ness is huge a lake and doesn't have a ring road so we didn't make it all the way around but we had a lovely time exploring the western bank!

Going wild in the Highland Wildlife Park

We were pleasantly surprised by the nearby wildlife park. Besides it's spectacular setting it boasted a great collection of both Scottish wildlife and endangered animals of the World's mountains and tundra regions. We saw bison, yak, elk, reindeer, snow monkeys, snowy owls, weird camels and sheep and the boys' favourites polar bears, amur tigers and wolves. It turned out to be rather educational for all of us!

Imagining what Ben Nevis looks like on a sunny day

We thought a detour to see the highest mountain in the British Isles and do some walks around at the base would be worth it. We should have checked the weather. We couldn't even see where the road disappeared to let alone catch a glimpse of Ben Nevis. The lovely pictures and maps in the visitors center did the trick for this trip. Nicholas is determined that to put the South African flag on the summit one day so I guess we'll go back there at some point. The drive from Fort William towards Glasglow passed through some stunning scenery - probably the best we saw - eventhough it was shrouded in rain and mist!

With conversation, games, books, dvd player and i-gadgets the boys didn't mind the 9 hour car journey there and back. They really are dream travellers whatever the mode of transport. People talk about holidays without kids and actually I wouldn't like to go anywhere without my boys. They make any trip that much more exciting and worthwhile for us!