Cairngorms glamping and hiking vacation in Scotland

Planet

We are very committed to protecting our local environment. Our local base uses a biomass boiler to supply all the hot water and heating. We also organically grow as much produce as we can in the grounds and recycle/reduce and reuse as much as we can around the property. Our fruit cages, for example, are built with wood removed from buildings demolished on the property.

We contribute to local environmental projects.

All our kitchen waste is composted and used on the garden. Along with some of the manure the ponies produce to help our vegetables and fruit make the most of the season.

We are committed to local wildlife projects such as the preservation of the Capercaillie and we use local wildlife hides to help raise funds for nature conservation. We are currently investigating working with Cairngorms Connect to help support the largest area of land managed for nature conservation in the UK.

We employ a local recycling business to uplift additional recycling not collected by the local council.
This trip is run on Leave No Trace principles and will involve the absolute minimum of motorised transport.

People

We are very lucky to live in such an amazing area. The local producers and activity providers here all deserve praise. We work closely with some of the best:

Andersons Restaurant is our closest local eatery, less than 5 minutes from our doorstep. If you're in the area you must stop by and eat there. Steve, the owner and head chef is very innovative and also owns a small coffee roasting business, a pizza horse box and is developing an additional ice cream business.

We also highly recommend a visit to the Cooperage if you're into whisky. It is the only working Cooperage (where they make a refurbish the barrels) with a visitor center. Most people haven't heard of it, but come back raving about it and saying how interesting their visit was. Rothiemurchus Farm Shop and Balliefurth Farm Shop are also not be to missed. We also have a local honey supplier: GG's Bees, they will deliver directly to us. We produce all our own preserves though rather than relying on others.

When there are local events taking place either in the village or around the area, we make sure to let you know and can purchase advance tickets where available. At New Year for example we encourage everyone to join us at the local street party.

We've chosen to add unique local pottery and wood working to our decor around the Lodge, though obviously we can't take these with us on the expedition. All the rugs round the Lodge are handmade by the owners using recycled "selvage" from local wool mills.