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.

Summer in Glenlivet and area

It has been a busy summer with lots of visitors staying at Bluefolds Holiday cottages and also lots staying at my home. This has given me many chances to get out and about and to see the area through visitors eyes. I had a wonderful trip via Cullen to Troup Head to see how the Gannets were doing this year. There seemed to be lots of large chicks, some already having lost all their fluff and looking very similar to the adults except for black spots on their wings. The walk out to the RSPB reserve at Troup Head is wonderful itself with views over the Moray Firth and round the headland to the small fishing village of Pennan. There always seems to be a wide range of butterflies flying around and I managed to photograph 2 different ones. I just love the isolation of this headland and the beauty and drama of the changing scenery. Many other seabird nest there during the season including kittiwakes, razorbills, guillemots and puffins, but I was too late in the season to see much beside the beautiful gannets. Troup Head is the only place in Scotland where you can visit the gannets on land - all other gannet colonies such as the Bass Rock are on islands.

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.