The Blog
The Blog
A Perfect Day in the Highlands: Exploring from Garmoran Square
**A Perfect Day in the Highlands: Exploring from Garmoran Square**
Welcome to Garmoran Square, your luxurious self-catering gateway to the stunning Scottish Highlands. Whether you're here for a weekend escape or an extended stay, the surrounding area offers a wealth of activities and natural beauty waiting to be discovered. Here’s how you can spend a perfect day exploring the Highlands, all within easy reach of your comfortable base at Garmoran Square.
Morning: Start with a Scenic Hike
What to Do on a Rainy Day When Staying at Garmoran Square
Introduction
The Scottish Highlands are renowned for their breathtaking beauty, but the weather can sometimes be unpredictable. A rainy day doesn’t have to dampen your spirits while staying at Garmoran Square. There are plenty of indoor and sheltered activities to enjoy, ensuring your holiday remains delightful and memorable. Here’s a guide to making the most of a rainy day during your stay.
Cozy Up in Your Cottage
Planning a Family Holiday in Garmoran Square
Planning a Family Holiday in Garmoran Square
Introduction
Dorlin Circuit Walk
Recently I put an Instagram post about my perfect evening walk and thought why just keep it to Instagram let’s turn it into a blog post too, so others can enjoy. As I started writing this, I came across two lovely articles from the past in the Oban Times that give some of the history of Dorlin and Dorlin House. I think all too often we are only interested in Castle Tioram and it is nice to hear some of the more recent history of the place.
The Great Glen Way – Corpach to Fort William
The Great Glen Way – Corpach to Fort William
Due to having a vehicle dropped off in Corpach and needing to pick up something in Fort William lead to me walking part of the 1st stage of the Great Glen Way.
A visit to the Ardnamurchan Peninsula
Day Trip No3
A visit to the Ardnamurchan Peninsula
Turing left out of Garmoran and heading towards Salen where you turn right and head down the Ardnamurchan peninsula.
A stop at Salen Jetty Shop for a coffee and cake before you drive further on is always a nice treat. As you drive along the side of Loch Sunart on the twisting and winding B8007 look out for Otters playing in the seaweed.
One of the first stops should be the Ardnamurchan Distillery, where they do visitor tours and tastings.
Dark Sky at Night
Dark Sky at Night!
Scotland has some of the largest areas of dark sky in Europe. Dark skies are found in rural areas that are free of urban light pollution. From a city centre location, we might see fewer than 100 stars with our naked eyes. Under a dark sky we can see over 1,000 stars. We are very fortunate it in Mingarry we can even see our own galaxy, The Milky Way, stretching across the sky.
Dark Sky places are areas or sites that have been officially recognised for their low levels of light pollution and good public access.
The Blue Doon - Mountain Bike Track
Lochaber, the Outdoor Capital of the UK has been renowned for its mountain biking tracks and trails. The Downhill Mountain Bike world cup event taking place at Nevis Range every year.
Nevis Range opened a new trail last year called The Blue Doon. This trail is accessible by going up the mountain on the Gondola. The Blue Doon is an intermediate level flow and one of the longest in the UK. Almost 5 miles long!
Kitchens and Desert Ideas
We have just finished the spring cleaning and it always amazes me when I pull everything out and got through the kitchen inventory as to how much we can actually fit in the kitchens.
There is everything from food processors, hand mixers, coffee machines, garlic press, juicers, cookie cutters and much much more!
Hopefully, there would be everything you needed for cooking up a real treat while on your holiday.
Day Trip Recommendations 1 - Isle of Skye
Day Trip Recommendations 1 – Isle of Skye
If you are looking for an introductory flavour of what Skye has to offer a day trip over using the ferry at Mallaig is a great way to get a feel for the island.
For details on ferry time see Ferries to Scotland & Scottish Isles | Caledonian MacBrayne | CalMac Ferries We always advise you book your ferries in advance as this is a busy route.
Spring Flowers
Spring Flowers,
As the days grow longer and signs of spring begin to show, colourful flowers emerging from the dormancy of winter bring brightness and hope. When out on walks and exploring Moidart and Ardnmaurchan there is an abundance of wildflowers at this time of year to be found. I think guests are generally pleasantly surprised by the variety and quantity they see.
On the walk up to Blain lochs the hillside as you walk through the woodland part is full of beautiful yellow off primroses, scattered all over the hillside.
Ben Resipole
During lockdown we tried to use our weekends as productively as possible and get in as many walks as possible, to keep up our fitness for when we would back to changeovers!
Ben Resipole was done on a Saturday back in early March. It had been a good few year’s since either of us had climbed it and Coll decided last minute to sit this one out. However, it would be Oran’s first big climb.
Exploring the local history in Mingarry and surrounding area
Exploring the local history in Mingarry and surrounding area.
This January we have been in lockdown like the rest of the country and we have used our daily exercise, especially at weekends, to go and explore the ruined villages not far from Garmoran.
Fishing In Moidart and Ardnamurchan
Using the blog this month to answer a question that is often asked by guests before they arrive
“What fishing is available in Moidart and Adrnamurchan?”
Enjoying the outdoors doesn’t just need to be about walking, beaches and the wildlife in the area, you can enjoy these with the added benefit of fitting in some fishing.
Dog Friendly Holidays
Dog friendly at Garmoran Square
We are always delighted to welcome well behaved dogs on holiday at Garmoran Square. We think pets are an extension of the family and shouldn’t be left behind or left out of the fun. We love dogs but unfortunately don’t have the time to have our own at the moment so always enjoy seeing the variety of different breeds that visit Garmoran, as this will help us decide upon which is right for us, when the time is right!
5 ways we are reducing Plastic at Garmoran
We are now painfully aware of the harmful impact of plastic pollution on our beautiful environment. What can we do to reduce our reliance on plastic is a question we have asked ourselves here at Garmoran as we start as new season? Here are 5 things we are going to do to reduce our plastic footprint
Family Friendly Outings when staying at Garmoran Square
Family friendly Outings when at Garmoran Square
We are often asked that we would recommend for families to do when staying at Garmoran Square, so here is our family friendly outing recommendations – tried and tested by young Master MacDonald!
Turing right out of Garmoran an into Moidart -
Remote Tranquillity - Jane Cumming found the perfect place for those wanting to take a break from the rat race – The Press and Journal Thursday March 15, 2018
Jane Cumming found the perfect place for those wanting to take a break from the rat race – The Press and Journal Thursday March 15, 2018
We were desperate for a short break. A couple of days away for some peace and quiet to recharge the batteries. But where would we find somewhere that would give us a change of scenery and opportunity to unwind?
We didn’t have enough time to travel anywhere where sunshine was guaranteed and we wanted something more relaxing than a noisy city break. Could Scotland, and the West Highlands at that provide the answer?
Autumn Rainbows, Ardnamurchan and Moidart, Scottish Highlands - by Amberpark
Autumn Rainbows, Ardnamurchan and Moidart, Scottish Highlands
Posted on 12th November 2017 by amberpark
Garmoran Square 10 years on.
Garmoran Square opened its doors for the 1st time in September 2006. Many of our guests ask what was the building used for before we converted it into the self-catering houses? We take that as a huge complement as it was a new build, built on a peat bog but styled to look alike a conversion of an old steading. We wanted it to blend into the rural country side setting.
Acharacle
Some Local History about Acharacle - The name comes from the Gaelic Ath Thorguil or Torquil's ford, following a battle in 1120 at a nearby ford across the River Shiel, between the Celtic-Norse warrior Somerled and the Norse invader Torquil. Here, Torquil was killed in the battle and his followers ousted from the area.
Scotland's Big 5 - Discover Scotland's Wildlife
2013 was Visit Scotalnd's year of nature in conjunction with SNH (Scottish Natural Heritage). To promote the year of nature the advertising campaign Scotland's Big 5 was developed. On the SNH website it shows you were in Scotland you can see the BIG 5 plus gives a great PDF fact information brochure on each of the above. What it does not tell you are there are very few places that can boast to being able to see all 5.
Run up to Christmas
Sorry for the lack of posts in recent months, The run up to Christmas is always a very busy time for everyone and that is no different for us here at Garmoran. Each year we decorate the houses with real 10/12ft Christmas Trees and decorate the outside with wreathes and lights. Mulled wine and mincemeat pies await the Christmas guests.
