| Sites to see,
places to visit
But there's nothing to do! This is a refrain I've heard
from folk time and time again. And my reply is always the same.
Nothing to do? You're not here long enough to sample all the delights of
the area, should I book you to come back next year to see the rest?
Stand outside the bothy on a calm day and listen.
Don't say anything, just listen. Listen to the birds, the wind in the
trees. Occasionally you might hear a tractor or one of the few cars we get
down our road, but other than that you won't hear any man made noises. And
if you are here during the winter. Stand outside on a clear night and look
up. Did you know there were that many stars in the sky? And if you
are very lucky, you might see the Northern lights. If its predicted to
show we'll tell you when you arrive and if we see it, we'll come and get you.
There are lots of hills and mountains close to us, so there is a walk to suit
everyone. If you are young and fit, you can drive out to the cairngorms,
or cut across country towards Ballater where there are several challenging
walks. Closer to home, there is Tap O Noth or Bennachie, both are nice
less challenging walks, but that depends on your fitness. You can always
stop to "admire the view" if you need to catch your breath.
If you don't fancy an upward struggle, Beggshill Bothy is
only 25 miles from the coast. There are lots of great coastal walks.
And who knows, if you keep an eye on the sea you might see dolphins.
What's the first thing you think of when you think of
Scotland? Ok, after whisky, what's the first thing? Yep,
Castles. We are on the castle trail. We've got several close to us, the closest being
Huntly
castle, but there's also
Leith Hall,
Kildrummy Castle...the list is endless.
If you want to see something even older, there are a lot of fabulous
standing stones in this part of the world.
- Distilleries and Brewerys
Whisky. The Beggshill bothy is 15 miles from
Dufftown, which is the
whisky capital of the Highlands. On a driecht day, what's better to lift
the spirit that a tour round a warm, dry distillery. And by the end, you
might end up with a bottle of something golden and warming. If you've had
your fill of whisky, then you should check out the Cairngorm brewery, they
produce brilliant Scottish ales.
Its well worth spending half a day wandering around Huntly. Although we
now boast those big multinationals Tesco and Asda on the outskirts of Huntly,
they haven't yet driven out the wonderful local shops. We have a couple
good local butchers and bakers, the Huntly gallery sells weird and wonderful
stuff. There is of course the obligatory whisky shop, but you should also
check out the green grocers on Gordon street, the official seller of Rizza's
icecreams. Mmmmh, Rizzas ice cream. Next to it is the co-op with the
best selection of alcohol anywhere in the district. Don't forget Dean's of
Huntly, the best shortbread in the area. And if you need a curry, then
Cafe India is probably the best in the whole of Aberdeenshire. And they'll
do a take out too.
- Cook yourself a Scottish feast.
Not far from here there is another small glen where the local farmers have
gotten together to produce tasty foods grown and reared in an ethical manner.
Food from the Braes is made up of three companies Scottish Freshfoods, Mortlach
Game and Huntly Herbs. Give them a call and arrange a visit or they might
even deliver everything you need for a feast. Huntly Herbs has an online
shop. Click here to check it
out. You'll need to put in your postcode for it to calculate how far you
are from each shop. Search on Huntly Herbs to find them.
Pronouced kayleigh, you can not come to Scotland
without experiencing a ceilidh. Don't worry if you've never danced
before, its easy. Before you know it, you'll up on the floor doing
eightsome reel, dashing white sergeant and the Boston two step. And at
the end of the night, if you've still got the energy, you can join in with
the Arcadian strip the willow. Once you've finished that, you'll know
its time to go home.
If you want to see tossing the caber or piping
competitions, then the highland games are for you. And there are always
plenty of men in kilts.
There is a lot of wildlife in our region. Around the
bothy there are plenty of birds, in addition to the more common garden birds,
there is goldcrests, siskin, barn and tawny owls and roe deer in the woods.
Up on the hills, its possible to see Red deer, ptarmigan, crossbill and if you
are very lucky the capercaille. We also have the
peregrine centre
just by Huntly. There is also the
Huntly Falconry centre as well.
This is a very very cool day out. There are loads of fish that live in
the seas around Scotland, the environments go from the splash zone to the deep
sea. They have feeding sessions which are not to be missed. Divers
go in to the big tank and hand feed the denziens of the deep. Its amazing.
You can even stroke a starfish.
You will have never seen anything like the spotty bag shop. Take a
middle east souk, stick it in a warehouse on the NE coast of Scotland selling
British stuff and you might have a close analogy. Its in Banff, next to
Macduff, so check them both out on the same day. I challenge you to go
there and not buy something.
The
Scottish tourist
board is also a good place to check for things to do.
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