Posts for March, 2025

Get involved in a free family-friendly crafting project to build a large tabletop model of a remote landscape in the Cairngorms during the Easter holidays!

We’re bringing the landscape to us! Join us in creating a collaborative 3D cardboard contour model of Loch A’an, a remote and difficult to access place deep in the Cairngorms Connect landscape. Through cutting, gluing and layering cardboard, an accurate topographical replica becomes something we can touch, imagine and learn about.

Drop-in anytime to one of five sessions we’re running during the Easter holidays. Get involved, create cardboard creatures and invent your own little landscapes too! All materials are provided.

We invite you to join us for a celebration of Ballindalloch Distillery, Whisky and Estate, an unmissable afternoon of Whisky, food, music and fun. Think Festival within a Festival!

Your ticket includes use of a free shuttle bus service running from Elgin, Rothes, Craigellachie and Aberlour for those who want to fully enjoy everything we have to offer at our Ballindalloch Estate BBQ.

Come and explore our beautiful Single Estate Distillery and discover what makes us unique in Speyside: our traditional manual production process and the circular economy within the Estate of our natural resources and by-products. From the very outset, the production of our Whisky was always destined to be “hands on”. With a clear commitment to tradition, the Single Estate nature of our process allows us to control every aspect of Whisky making. From the barley we grow at our Home Farm to the draff fed back to cattle across the Estate, we craft our Whisky in a way that generations past would have recognised.

Your ticket includes access to the Distillery production area, where you can discuss Whisky making with our highly skilled production team. You will be joining us for an afternoon of Ballindalloch Single Malt Whisky drams, food from our Ballindalloch BBQ featuring Aberdeen Angus meat, the breed closely associated with Ballindalloch (a delicious vegan option will be available too), all catered by Calum’s Kitchen.

As a family owned and working estate, the Macpherson-Grants invite you to experience many aspects of estate life through various fun activities. We will have archery, golf challenges, and live music. Also, as Chieftain of the Aberlour Highland Games, current Laird, Guy Macpherson-Grant is looking forward to watching you join in some caber tossing and other Games sports. With so much to see & do, we guarantee you a great afternoon at Ballindalloch.

You can use your ticket to secure a discount in our shop, with the opportunity to purchase our exclusive Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival bottling!

Featuring artworks by four brilliant female artists – Helen Bruce, Penny Godlington, Shona Cammack and Tania Mackie. These paintings are inspired by the shoreline, sea and sand.

The Rotary Club of Spey Valley is proud to present its second Charity Classic, Sports and EV Car Tour on Sunday May 11th 2025 sponsored by Arnold Clark Mercedes-Benz.

Starting in Aviemore the route of approximately 150 miles takes participants to The Moray Coast, lunch at Cullen returning to Aviemore through Speyside. The tour will conclude with a meal, presentations and prize giving.

Entry is free with donations Macmillan Cancer Support – because cancer can affect the patient’s life in so many ways the charity does whatever it takes to give people the support they need.

CRY- Cardiac Risk in the Young– works to reduce the frequency of young sudden cardiac death (YSCD) and offers support to families affected by YSCD. Every week in the UK at least 12 young people die of undiagnosed heart conditions. CRY is a UK registered charity founded in 1995.

The Rotary Club of Spey Valley – supports local, national and international charities as well as local causes.

Outside dance event by Cairngorm School of Dance

Open air community market lots of different stall for people to browse

Can you find all the eggs? Head to Highland Wildlife Park this April to egg-splore their family friendly Easter trail.

Complete the trail and win a prize!

Book tickets to Highland Wildlife Park today! Trail sheets are £2 per person.

For further information please contact events@rzss.org.uk.

Join us this Mother’s Day for a tour about our animals and the roles mum’s play! With the opportunity to get crafty with enrichment and get insider knowledge on our animal collection.

11am meeting point at our polar bear statue in the main car park. Tickets include entry to the park for the rest of the day.

For further information please contact events@rzss.org.uk.

Saturday, March 29th, SkyHide, Tomintoul
Partial solar eclipse, 10:00am-12:30pm
Cairngorms Astronomy Group – Public Solar Eclipse Observing Event

Join us at the Tomintoul SkyHide for a public solar eclipse observing event! Drop by and safely view a partial solar eclipse with the Cairngorms Astronomy Group (CAG).

🔭 Date & Time: Saturday, March 29th, 10:00am
📍 Location: Tomintoul SkyHide at the Field of Hope
🕶 Safe solar viewing equipment provided

This spring foraging course is an invitation to learn about the edible and medicinal spring plants found in the grounds of Blair Castle & Gardens. Spring is a special time for foraging and this walk will give us time to celebrate the best of this season, as the plants wake from the winter providing the first flowers, leaves and nutritious seeds of the growing season.

The course consists of a 2.5 hour foraging walk, in which you will learn lifelong identification techniques, inspiring recipe ideas, and a wealth of ethnobotanical tales.
During the walk we will move through a variety of habitats – woodland, meadow, hedgerow and garden – taking time to connect with each surrounding environment, noticing their changing flora and subtle variations in character.

We will finish up with a wild tea and homemade cake and biscuits in Hercules Garden, with time to revise the plants learnt and how best to store them for future use.
All participants will also receive a personalised PDF containing information about all the plants met.
 
This course will give you:
How to safely identify over 15 edible and medicinal spring plants and trees
Methods and techniques for how best to work with them as food and medicine
A time of mindful walking among beautiful grounds
Exciting recipes to regularly include wild plants in your meals
What to bring:
Shoes that are comfortable and waterproof
Wet weather gear in case of rain
A basket or container

Meeting point:
Meet on the green in front of the castle, next to the ‘The Cannon’ coffee cart.
Date: 10th May 2025 or 11th May 2025
Time: 10.30-13.30
Cost: £45, kids go free.
 
FAQs:
Are children allowed?
Yes, but one child must be accompanied by at least one adult. (16+).
Are there toilets?
Yes, toilets can be found in the Banvie Hall next to the restaurant.
Are dogs allowed?
The pace of foraging walks is quite slow, so if you think your dog will be bored by lots of standing still – then this might not be the walk for them!
 
About foraging expert, Tamara Colchester
Over the past eight years, Tamara has studied wild plants, she explored how people can live off the land in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in the UK. She has gained incredible knowledge of plants, their food and medicinal benefits, and how our dietary needs change with the seasons.