Glenlivet and Tomintoul in the Snow

Looking out the window this morning made me think of this video that I did a previous year as it looks exactly like this again today. It is a real change from earlier this week when I was out in glorious winter sunshine and no snow!

Late Summer in Glenlivet - What to do?

Glenlivet to the Ladder Hills

Ladder Hills by Scalan

We have had fabulous weather this week which has been much enjoyed by our visitors to Bluefolds in fact it has been too hot, but we are not complaining just looking for more. Driving around Glenlivet and the Cairngorms National Park has shown that lots of visitors from all over Europe and many from further afield are now enjoying spending time in this stunning area of Scotland. I lost count of the number of cars I saw from Continental Europe who are able to take advantage of the better exchange rate at present. I went in search of heather and I found it on the Ladder Hills; on Aanside and all the way to Cairngorm Mountain through the National Park. There are many great walks on the Glenlivet Estate. We have the walk booklet with details of where to park and the exact routes in each of the cottages. Find Late Availability at Bluefolds I love to walk by the River Livet and there are a choice of walks. Walk 3 starts from the Allanreid car park (near Tomnavulin) and is a low level one along the banks of the River with some walking over moorland. It is a 6 mile circular walk with great views to the Ladder Hills. The Malcolm Gillespie Smugglers Trail in the Braes of Glenlivet starts from Chapeltown and is also circular over the hills for 6 1/2 miles. The Glen Brown walk through forest, farm and hill track is a shorter 4 1/2 mile walk with views down Strath Avon and up Glen Brown and starts from the White Bridge Car Park. All the walks have boards at the start of them showing the routes.  Find more information about these fantastic walks on The Glenlivet Estate

Driving along Aanside

Ready for a hill walk on the Glen Brown Circuit.

Skies and Heather

Cairngorm Mountain near the mountain garden

Smugglers Walk in Glenlivet

The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival lasted 10 fun filled days this year with many distilleries not usually open to the public throwing there doors wide. As well as lots of whisky tasting in Dufftown, Elgin, Keith and many places in between. There was also a Whisky Fair in the Memorial Hall in Dufftown which was incredibly busy this year. There were ceilidhs and stramashes, Robin Laing and the Final Music Event was in the Alice Littler Park in Aberlour. This was a spectacular evening of music ending with a wonderful firework display sponsored by Walkers of Aberlour. It was a fitting finale. On Sunday we went out to enjoy the fresh air and beautiful scenery of Glenlivet following the Smugglers Walk guided by David Newland. It was a beautiful day and everywhere looked really green and fresh. It was great to learn about the edible plants that we see on walks without realising how important they used to be to people living in a remote area like this. Visiting Drumin Castle and sampling a dram of Benromach where the barley for the whisky was grown locally was good for the whisky lovers. I love to walk beside the River Livet and it was great to share the chance to see little dippers, ducks and other birds as we walked along. We saw a little dipper feeding her 2 chicks. We walked to the Packhorse bridge and met up with a photographer from Homecoming Scotland who wanted to record our walk. It was interesting watching him work and I got the opportunity to take some interesting photos as well. Steve gave a nosing and tasting here with The Glenlivet Nadurra which everyone enjoyed. We then walked by the Falls of Glenlivet (small, but beautifully formed) along to the Glenlivet Hall and then on a small side road round to the Croft Inn for a delicious lunch of homemade soup and delicious sandwiches. It was a wonderful walk. After lunch, I went with my Swedish friends, Paul and Kerstin to Tombae to see the primroses, dog violets and lots of other wild flowers.

Winter wonderland - Glenlivet at New Year

The hard frost over the New Year period has led to lots of beautiful sunshine which makes the short days seem a bit longer. December and January can be depressing with daylight not happening until around 9 a.m and it being dark again by 4 p.m. You have to rush out as soon as it is light if you want to take photos at this time of year and the shadows are very long by 2 p.m. I had some lovely walks beside the river Livet in Glenlivet and just loved the sunlight along with the frost.

December in Glenlivet and Speyside

The sunrises, sunsets and hoare frost that we saw during the Christmas and New Year was wonderful. The cold, dry weather was a joy. The visitors staying at Bluefolds Cottages had a wonderful time. 4 of them spent their days sking at the Lecht. We went for walks by the River Spey in Aberlour along the Speyside Way and down by the River Livet to the confluence with the River Avon. We met the local farmer going to check on his cattle in the field by the river. He too was enjoying the dry weather. He lives beside Drumin castle and said that there had been lots of visitors to it over the Christmas period. The collage shows the frosty view to Ben Avon along with a stunning sunrise and sunset and beautiful frosted leaves.

Autumn in Avonside and Glenlivet

This autumn it has been a joy to travel around Speyside from our holiday cottages in Glenlivet up to Tomintoul and along to the Victor Gaffney viewpoint which has stunning views to Ben and River Avon then back down to Glenlivet stopping off at the Packhorse bridge at Bridgend of Glenlivet where along with autumn colours, I found harebells still in bloom. We had a sharp frost in early October which suddenly gave us lots of wonderful colours. We also had the first snow of the winter lying briefly at Bluefolds cottages. Ben Avon and the Cairngorms have had a beautiful covering of snow for the last week.