Posts for November, 2023

Traditional Hogmanay Ceilidh in Braemar Village Hall with Graeme Mitchell’s Ceilidh Band. Bring your own Bottle!

Come and join us at Nethy House cafe for a wonderful evening of gin tasting with Shetland Reel Gin

This year our Festive Services will be held on Saturday 9th, Sunday 10th, Saturday 16th, Sunday 17th, Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd of December. There will be no further services in 2023 after the 22nd of December.

Enjoy festive family fun as you travel by heritage steam train through the stunning (and hopefully snowy) Cairngorms winter landscape. All children will have the chance to meet Santa at Aviemore Station, however this year there will be no presents.

Mince Pies 11am and 2pm

Ticket price includes travel, a cup of mulled wine and a mince pie (adults aged 16 and 17 will be offered a soft drink alternative). Child ticket price is a soft drink and a festive treat.

Afternoon Tea 2pm Only

Ticket price includes travel, and a festive themed Afternoon Tea with mulled wine (optional). First class option also available.

Dogs are not permitted in the dining areas. Travel only tickets can be purchased if you wish to travel with your dog.

First class Mince Pie options are also available, but only on the morning train.

Join us in Blair Castle’s Ballroom for a recital of piano, song and a little pipe music interspersed with excerpts from Kitty’s life story. The concert is to celebrate the centenary of the Duchess of Atholl (Duchess Kitty’s) election to Parliament, she was the first Scottish woman MP and you can read her full story here.

Musicians:

Dida Condria (International prize winner and finalist of Young Musician of the Year (Keyboard) 2022 Colleen Nicoll – soprano Muriel Johnstone and Lavinia Gordon – piano Garry West – bagpipes
When? Friday 8th December, 4pm – 5pm
Entry: £15, and includes tea and mince pies after the concert. Tickets can be purchased in advance here.

Music in Blair Atholl

Music in Blair Atholl was set up some 30 years ago as a small organisation with charitable status to bring classical music of a high standard to the Highlands of Scotland where it had little representation. At that stage Sebastian and Henrietta Thewes were living at Strathgarry where they had converted 18th Century farm buildings to include a small concert hall seating 100.

Since the sale of Strathgarry their concerts moved to Lude House, Blair Atholl, home of Andrew and Lavinia Gordon, and have now moved to the Ballroom of Blair Castle, with occasional concerts at the Village Hall and Kilmaveonaig Church, Blair Atholl.

We’re launching this winter’s snowsport season on Saturday 16th of December with a joint film night in Braemar Village hall.

On offer, 3 new freeride films by Faction Skis just released for the 23/24 season.

The evening kicks off at 7pm, so come along and dream a bit of how good your skiing is and how good the season is going to be.

There will be some prize draws and some new Faction skis to check out.

The event is licensed with a choice of refreshments available from the Braemar Brewery Co.

Traditional Scottish music provided by famed Shetland fiddle player Maggie Adamson along with some of her friends.

We meet monthly on a Friday to discuss and share your book recommendations.

Refreshments available for a donation.

The Glen Tanar Christmas Fair is back for 2023, and we’re more excited than ever to celebrate the holiday season with you! Join us as we bring together an incredible lineup of local producers, along with a mouthwatering selection of food and drink suppliers that will make your Christmas extra special.

Here’s what you can look forward to at our festive fair:

🌲 The Seed Box Ltd will be selling beautiful Christmas trees from the Walled Garden.

🌿 The Glen Tanar Charitable Trust is hosting two guided nature walks for children to explore the beauty of Glen Tanar this winter.

🌟 Emily From Fior will lead a magical Christmas Wreath Workshop, where you can create your very own festive masterpiece.

Glen Tanar has everything you need to ‘Wrap Up’ the holiday season in style. 🎁

Stay tuned for more updates and announcements. Tickets go live for the wreath workshops on Friday 10th November. We can’t wait to see you all again this year and make this Christmas the most memorable one yet! 🎉❄️🤶

Aims of the course
Birdsong may be the most difficult thing to grasp and yet is one of the most useful ways to identify birds, so the aim of the course is to help you feel more confident in the identification of a selection of our most commonly heard birds. A small number of species actually make up the vast majority of birdsong you hear and we shall focus on learning these, whilst also giving you a way forward in the ‘how to do it’ of learning songs and calls, with lots of tips and hints. We shall also cover the difference between songs and calls and explain why birds sing and call in the first place. ​

What to Expect
The course is based near Aviemore in the Cairngorms National Park and runs over two days, with a day in the ‘classroom’ and a day in the ‘field’.

The ‘classroom’ day will cover why birds sing and call and give you plenty of hints and tips on how to learn birdsong and how these can help your birdwatching.

The ‘field day’ will be in suitable habitat for a variety of species, to put into practice what was learned the day before.

Prior to the course date you will receive joining instructions detailing the structure of the weekend and what to bring with you. You will need binoculars and if you have a telescope, you may find it useful. We recommend the Collins Bird Guide for identification purposes, but if you have another field guide, please bring it with you.

Following our successful Winking Owl Wednesday Street Markets we doing a Christmas Market.
Some our usual vendors plus some new ones joining us for a day of Christmas Cheer. We will have music lights and refreshments. Come along for those last minute Christmas presents.