Posts for February, 2024

Soak up all the Six Nations actions right here in the lounge as we will be showing all the match’s live! Special menu item of loaded fries available to order during each match.

Meet Van Coo: the curly-haired bull missing part of his ear, just like his namesake! In 2021 he wandered into the creative imagination of local artist Joanna Wilson. Here he was joined by other creatures of the Cairngorms before finding form in the expressive mixed media for which Joanna is best known.

An award-winning artist of international acclaim, Joanna grew up among these glens before work and study took her far and wide, from the Hayward Gallery and the Albert Hall to Yale University. Coming home to set up her studio in Grantown-on-Spey reconnected her with her Highland roots. This limited edition of originals and prints represents a unique opportunity to own a lighthearted example of her work that celebrates this land and its inhabitants.

A solo exhibition of Joanna’s abstract figurative work can be found in the O P E N S P A C E gallery.

Come along and see our NEW Contemporary Art Gallery In Grantown-on-Spey.

HEARTSONG Contemporary Abstract Expressions

OPENSPACE | THE VAULT Contemporary Art Gallery + Exhibition Venue.

OPEN EVENING Fri 23rd 4-7pm
Open Mon-Sat 9-5PM

Family quiz night. Come along and test your general knowledge with Martin our resident quiz master. Suggested donation of £1 per person, raising funds for charities.

The ‘Sunshine State’ of Florida is the fifth most species rich in the United States, with a bird list of over 500 species, including restricted local specialities like Roseate Spoonbill, Swallow-tailed Kite, the quirky Limpkin and Anhinga, the bizarre Black Skimmer and the endemic Florida Scrub Jay. Florida is also home to seven woodpeckers, eleven different herons and egrets, in a range of sizes from the tiny Least Bittern to the Great Blue Heron, a dazzling variety of colourful warblers and the highest concentration of iconic Bald Eagles in the lower 48 states, while the state bird is the Northern Mockingbird. Besides all these amazingly tame and approachable birds, offering unrivalled photo-opportunities, there is a wealth of other wildlife, including Bob Cat, Racoon, Armadillo, Gopher Tortoise, various turtles and butterflies and thousands of American Alligators. So, let’s hit the trail!

With palm-fringed white sandy beaches, lapped by calm warm crystal clear turquoise water, the Seychelles are said to be the most beautiful islands in the world. This isolated archipelago, a thousand miles from anywhere, has twelve of the world’s rarest endemic birds, like the superb Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher, and is a magnet to spectacular crowds of literally millions of seabirds, which can be enjoyed at incredibly close range, ideal for photography. This talk includes the wildlife of five different islands, Praslin, Mahe, La Digue, Cousin and fabulous Bird Island, with its frenetic colony of around 1.5 million Sooty Terns and Esmeralda the world’s largest giant tortoise, weighing 6 hundredweights and thought to be over 200 years old! Bird Island is definitely one of my favourite places on the planet. So, come along and see for yourself.

An evening talk with a difference, TV Presenter and Naturalist Nick Baker will have a bucket of pond water and an electron microscope. We will find out what is lurking unseen in our ponds and find out more about their life cycles and stories, a fascinating insight into a hidden world.

This talk is a tour of the best that Namibia has to offer for wildlife and covers a variety of scenery and habitats from coast to desert.

A look at the wide variety of habitats of this country and it’s associated birdlife. The talk also takes in some historical sites such as Petra , Jerash and some ancient castles from the period of the crusades.

Being a TV presenter who pontificates about wildlife seems like a fun and exciting gig. It is also a very public job with all the pressures that brings, and just like Marmite, everyone either loves them or hates them! Having worked as a presenter on a variety of programmes across a number of channels, puts Mike in a unique position to talk about the hard work, attributes and resilience needed to make a living from this uniquely bizarre profession.