Posts for May, 2023

The workshops which combine outdoor experiences with yoga, mindfulness and connection to nature are designed to make the outdoor and action sports space accessible to more people. During the two days, participants will learn the basics of route planning, navigation, and safety in the outdoors, as well as enjoying shared meaning-making, storytelling and yoga sessions.

We will be using the NEA pattern from Apple Green Cottage. This is a great unisex bag, ideal for carrying all your bits and pieces on a day out

We will learn how to cut material using pattern pieces
We will create our straps & two pockets before completing our bag

What’s Provided
Cotton Twill fabric (main body of the bag)
Equipment
Haberdashery

You need to bring
– 2 Fat Quarters (one for the front pocket & one for the inside of the bag)

BOOKING
Please book your place online – you can book multiple sessions & for multiple children.
No payment will be taken via our website. After booking you will receive an invoice (applying any discounts or split payment dates), your place is not confirmed until this invoice is paid

Once booked we will send you:
An invoice – this must be paid once received
Emergency Contact & Health Forms
Material Choices Form

Have fun & be creative!!

Mini Crafters is all about creative fun! Each week has a theme & is full of easy crafts and games.

Fantasy week is all about imaginative crafts – with a different magical creature each day:
Monday – Fairies
Tuesday – Unicorns
Wednesday – Dragons
Thursday – Mermaids
Friday – Monsters

All activities come with a range of options and are suitable for boys & girls – we encourage everyone to use their creativity and make it their own!!

All materials are provided. Where ever possible we will do our crafts outside!

BOOKING
Please book your place online – you can book multiple sessions & for multiple children.
For Mini Crafters you can book for individual sessions (£12 each) or select the full week for a discounted price (£50).
No payment will be taken via our website. After booking you will receive an invoice (applying any discounts or split payment dates), your place is not confirmed until this invoice is paid

Once booked we will send you:
An invoice – this must be paid once received
Emergency Contact & Health Forms

Setting off at around 7pm on the Saturday night from the Cairngorm Ski Centre Carpark, we will head onto the Cairngorm Plateau. As we do so we will witness the last light of the day and the sun setting at approximately 9pm. As we ascend into darkness, we will use torches and night navigation skills to summit the highest mountain in the Cairngorms, Ben Macdui.

At this time of year in the Cairngorms, the nights are short so it won’t be long until we are able to witness the sun rising again. Before this happens we will make time to appreciate the night skies with opportunities for night photography and, if we’re lucky, to witness the natural phenomenon of noctilucent clouds.

Before we head back down to the car park, we take time to enjoy the setting with hot drinks (brewed by your guide) This is a great opportunity to have a wee blether and take in the dawn from an elevated mountain setting.

Come and spend a night in and around our tipi, enjoying pizzas and drinks and good tunes with friends. We have a choice of four different delicious pizzas (vegetarian options available), a range of local drinks, spirits and snacks and some Smores to toast on the fire. We are hosting these evenings on the following dates:

Booking is essential so please get in touch to secure your spot and time. We hope to see you there!

Scottish landscape artist Shona Cammack is exhibiting a new body of original landscape paintings at the High St Merchants Gallery & Cafe in Grantown-on-Spey, from 1st June – 14th July.

Shona lives on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park and is a keen hill walker and outdoors enthusiast. She is inspired by the high mountains, rivers and pine forests of the Cairngorms as well as the more rugged landscapes of the west coast. She collects inspiration for her paintings while exploring these locations, often painting outdoors and working directly from the surroundings.

The paintings in this exhibition are inspired by her surroundings in the Cairngorms and recent trips to the Isle of Skye.

The exhibition will be open Wed-Sat 10am-4.30pm, Sunday 10am-4pm.
June 1st – July 14th.

See more of Shona’s work on her website at www.shonacammack.com and Instagram/Facebook @shonacammack_art

The internationally renowned, multi award winning singer comes to Braemar for a very special concert on the eve of the world famous Braemar Gathering.


About Julie
‘If snow could sing, it would sing like Julie Fowlis…’
…this is how her pure Northern voice was recently described by acclaimed nature writer Robert Macfarlane. Hailing from the Outer Hebrides and now based in the Highlands, Julie Fowlis is a multi-award winning singer whose music is deeply influenced by the Hebridean islands where she grew up and by the Highland landscapes where she now resides.


With a career spanning several studio albums and numerous high profile collaborations, her ‘crystalline’ and ‘intoxicating’ vocals have enchanted audiences around the world.


She will forever be recognised for singing the theme songs to ‘Brave’, Disney Pixar’s Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning animated film, set in the ancient highlands of Scotland. One of this songs was long listed for an Oscar in 2013. A winner of ‘Folk Singer of the Year’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Julie has graced stages around the world, from village halls in the Highlands to Carnegie Hall in New York, the Mozart Concert Hall in Vienna, The Philharmonie de Paris, Shakespeare’s Globe in London and the World Festival of Sacred Music in Fez, Morocco. She has collaborated with the BBC Concert Orchestra in the Royal Albert Hall for the Proms, sang live at the closing ceremony of the Ryder Cup in Chicago in 2012 to a TV audience of 500 million, an event that was only eclipsed by singing live at the opening ceremony of the Glasgow XX Commonwealth Games in 2014, to a TV audience of over 1 billion. Her voice has been streamed on Spotify alone over 120 million times, and has been heard in space on an official NASA astronaut playlist. She even has a lily flower named after her.


She was vocal coach for the Eric Whitacre Singers on the Dreamworks Animation ‘How To Train Your Dragon 3: The New World’ (Cressida Cowell, score by John Powell) in Abbey Road Studios, London in 2018. She is also an artist with a genuine curiosity and ability for cross-over, and regularly sings and records in other languages. She currently performs and records with the folk ‘supergroup’ Spell Songs. A natural collaborator, she has performed with artists as diverse as James Taylor, KT Tunstall, Chris Thile, Graham Coxon (Blur), Nicola Benedetti, Le Vent du Nord, Carlos Nuñez and Mary Chapin Carpenter.
A regular TV and radio presenter (BBC, SKY ARTS, TG4), she is also a sought after voice artist, most recently involved with the Penguin Audiobook release for The Lost Spells, the hypnotic film upstream (Robert Macfarlane, Rob Petit and oscar-nominated composer Hauska) and worked on the worldwide best-selling video game Assassins Creed Valhalla, with renowned Norwegian composer Einar Selvik.


She was Scotland’s inaugural ‘Tosgaire na Gàidhlig’ (National Gaelic Ambassador), an honour bestowed on her by the Scottish Government, and in addition to her BA and Masters degrees she holds an honorary Doctorate of Music from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.


Julie is the voice of Scottish Gaelic for the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights Project, which aims to record the declaration in every language in the world. From Abkhaz to Zulu, the declaration has been recorded in 529 languages to date.


‘icy beauty…a consummate masterclass in restrained delivery’ (Live review: Spell Songs, At the Barrier, 2021)


‘Sublime, magical’ FolkRadio 2022


‘Beautiful, haunting’ The Arts Desk, 2022


‘otherworldly Gaelic bird-singing…I fall, once again, completely under Fowlis’s vocal spell.’ (Live Review: Spell Songs, RedGuitarMusic, 2022)

Come for a Wildlife Wander with someone from our knowledgeable team to see some of the amazing wildlife that Summer brings to Insh Marshes.

The breeding season for birds is coming to an end, however there is still plenty of other life to be seen on the marshes and in the meadow. Colourful wild flowers include sweetly scented orchids, which attract beautiful butterflies and dragonflies. We will lookout for the scarce Scotch Argus butterfly which feeds on flowers like the sunshine-yellow Rock Rose.

Some areas may be rough underfoot. It is unfortunately not suitable for wheelchairs or buggies, and we recommend sturdy footwear.

Come for a Wildlife Wander with someone from our knowledgeable team to see some of the amazing wildlife that Summer brings to Insh Marshes.

The breeding season for birds is coming to an end, however there is still plenty of other life to be seen on the marshes and in the meadow. The heather should be in full flower and field gentian may be coming into bloom. Wild flowers like knapweed and scabious provide nectar for butterflies. We will lookout for the nationally scarce scotch argus butterfly which breeds on the reserve and can be the most common butterfly to be seen in August. Dragonflies like black darter and the impressively large golden ringed may also be seen.

Some areas may be rough underfoot. It is unfortunately not suitable for wheelchairs or buggies, and we recommend sturdy footwear.

A spectacular Ultra Trail race based in the UK’s largest National Park.
The route is predominantly on good tracks and paths and visits many iconic locations in the Cairngorms including Derry Lodge, Hutchisons Hut, the Lairig Ghru, Corrour Bothy, Linn o’ Dee and Mar Lodge.

Now in its third year, the race is fully supported from a great and experienced event team with a high finish rate and friendly staff.

Mar Lodge estate offers spectacular Highland scenery and is home to Britain’s largest National Nature Reserve. Numbers are therefore limited and are available on a first come, first served basis.

Date: Saturday 3rd June 2023 Distance: 60km Ascent: 1146m/3760′

Venue: Mar Lodge, Mar Lodge Estate, Braemar, Aberdeenshire AB35 5YJ. Mar Lodge Estate is 4 miles west of Braemar.

We are pleased to confirm that camping is available at the race venue on the Friday and Saturday nights. This is a very cost effective way re accommodation & based at the venue no additional travel is involved. Cost is £5 (TBC) a tent/camper van per night. Please note this is basic camping in a field, kindly provided by Mar Lodge Estate specifically for the event. Fresh water is available & toilets (portable toilets) are provided. There are no changing, washing up, shower facilities or electric provided. If you would like to book camping at the venue please email: info@highterrainevents.co.uk