Glenlivet and Moray

Glenlivet & Moray Slideshow: Elizabeth’s trip from Bluefolds Highland Holiday Cottages (near Glenlivet, Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom) to 10 cities Grantown-on-Spey, Brodie Castle (near Forres, Moray), Dufftown, Lossiemouth, Craigellachie, Findhorn, Aberlour, Portsoy, Cullen and Huntly was created by TripAdvisor. See another United Kingdom slideshow. Create your own stunning slideshow with our free photo slideshow maker.

Winter in Glenlivet

Thomas Telford bridge over the river Spey at Craigellachie

Walking on the Speyside Way near Craigellachie

Holidaymakers enjoyed the snow and sunshine in Glenlivet and Cairngorms over Christmas and New Year. The Lecht and Cairngorm ski resorts were very busy. The visitors to our cottages had to walk up the hill except for the lucky ones with 4 wheel drive! Since the New Year the snow and ice has gradually melted and the last few days have been warm, but there is a lot of winter left!

Watching the sun go down at Lossiemouth east beach

Lossiemouth east beach with view to Spey Bay

Blairfindy castle close to the Glenlivet distillery

Ducks on frozen pond at Cooper Park, Elgin

Snow, Snow and more Snow in Speyside

We had a very quiet Christmas admiring the snow which was not too much at this stage or so we thought. We decided to go for a walk by the River Livet as we often do over the Christmas period. First problem was the snow was too deep for us to park in the usual spot. We managed to park under Drumin Castle as Charlie, the farmer had been through it to feed his animals. However when I saw Steve disappear above his knees on the way down to the river, I decided the walk was off at least for that day. We were able to drive up to the cottages and popped in to see some of our visitors who have been having a great time sledging and just chilling out round the lovely fire in the cottages. We had supper at the Croft Inn and it was delicious, but they commented that the snow was slowing down the number of customers that they would usually have at this time of year.

We had a lovely sunny day between Christmas and New Year which made me rush out and take photos although parking was difficult and there was still plenty of snow. Now we are at the stage of wanting the snow to stop! It has snowed all day today. Steve went to Tomintoul and could not believe how much snow there is there. The good news for the ski resorts is they are having the best year for a long time with lots of sking over Christmas and New Year when the roads were open.

Trip to Cullen

Sunday was a day for relaxing away from cleaning holiday cottages. My young cousin Jennifer is visiting from South Africa and my friend Ann fancied a day out as well. As we drove past the Copperage at Craigellachie there was interesting light on all the empty whisky barrels. I just had to take a photo or two. We stopped briefly in Dufftown to see the Glenfiddich distillery and Balvenie Castle before heading over the hills to Huntly. The castle was looking wonderful in the winter sunlight. Jennifer went for a visit while Ann and I walked down to the river Deveron. It was flowing fast and looked very pretty. It was quite mild down by the river. Jennifer loved the castle with all its history and different architectural styles. Next we visited the harbour at Portsoy. The wind from the sea blowing into the harbour was cold! It felt like time for lunch, but most places in Cullen were closed. We went to the Cullen Bay Hotel. Our hearts dropped when we saw that they were very busy, but they were brilliant and were able to offer us a late lunch in an hours time . We made great use of the time by walking and playing and taking lots of photos on Cullen beach in the strong wind. We returned to Aberlour via Fochabers. Fochabers has some truly outstanding buildings. It was a lovely day out.