Posts for March, 2025

“Glenlivet it has castles three, Drumin, Blairfindy and Deskie”. This easy guided walk will take us to the 16th century tower house of Blairfindy and begins outside the iconic Glenlivet Distillery. On the walk in we’ll enjoy stunning views over one of Scotland’s most famous glens. You’ll learn a bit about Glenlivet’s rich history and some whisky history too.

Blairfindy Castle was completed in 1564 by John Gordon. In its heyday Blairfindy was a fine example of a three storey L-plan tower house and even today shows a remarkable degree of preservation. A project to stabilise Blairfindy Castle took place in 2019, funded through the Tomintoul & Glenlivet Landscape Partnership, a programme supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The castle is now open to visitors for the first time in decades and has been specially adapted to encourage nesting birds and pollinators.

The park will SPRING🪺🐥🐑 into life this Easter from the 31st March to the 21st April! Expect an EGGS-plosion of Easter themed activities, cracking competitions and prize giveaways. Our Wonderwood attraction has an Easter transformation and becomes Warrenwood! Where you can capture some truly unforgettable family moments at our interactive photo displays and trial multiple mini activities!

✨What are the daily Easter activities for 2025? See below👇

🐰Peter Rabbit themed egg hunt in Dinosaur Kingdom
🐣Chick Colouring Competition in The Butterfly House (Prizes: Easter Crafting Bundles)
🥚Golden Egg Competition in Bamboozeleum (Prize: Giant Lindt Bunny)
👒Easter Dress Up in The Growing and Shrinking Cabin
🐇Mini-Spring themed activities in Warrenwood (Wonderwood)

🌟Special Character Appearance🌟
Don’t miss the chance to get a photo with Peter Rabbit himself (5-6th April only)! He will be available for a ‘Meet and greet’ at intervals throughout those days at the Dinosaur Kingdom hut, so hop to it!

More egg-citing news, we are giving away a £200 Amazon Voucher! To the best Park photo sent in between the 31st March-21st April via our Facebook page. We can’t wait to see what our visitors are getting up to!

Plan NOW for an Easter adventure with 20 attractions to explore and amazing Easter fun for the whole family. All activities are included in the ticket, grab your great value day out experience by visiting us at www.landmarkpark.co.uk

Big news for all Peter Rabbit fans! The beloved character from Beatrix Potter’s classic tales is making a special appearance at Landmark Forest Adventure Park on April 5th and 6th, 2025! 🐰✨

Join us for a fun-filled weekend where you can:

📸 Meet & Greet with Peter Rabbit and capture unforgettable photos
🎨 Take part in fun-themed activities

Peter Rabbit will be appearing at intervals on each day, so don’t forget to bring your cameras! 📷
Meeting Peter Rabbit is included with regular park entry tickets. Don’t miss this magical experience!

🐰 We can’t wait to see you there!

🎟 Book your park tickets today! www.landmarkpark.co.uk

Returning for 2025 is our popular Bivvy Trek. We will once again be returning to Ben Macdui in what will be a unique experience on the UK’s second highest mountain.

This trek will start at 6pm (1800hrs) from the Cairngorm Mountain upper car park. This is slightly later than our usual treks with the idea we will reach the summit of Ben Macdui just before midnight, able to enjoy the late light of midsummer from the comfort of our bivvy bags. The following day we will have a relaxed morning with a cooked breakfast prepared by your guide, with a return journey via Loch Avon and a second Munro summit of Cairn Gorm.

A bivy adventure for us is all about feeling connected to the environment you wish to be in. Tents are great and offer a lot of comfort but once you close the doors you miss that immersive experience with what’s going on outside. Bivvying also avoids many of the issues surrounding pitching a tent, for example unsuitable ground or finding a large enough area to accommodate a group. You literally find the perfect spot, lay yourself down, watch the sunset or simply open your eyes throughout the night to gaze up at the sky.

Provided on this trek is a lightweight Bivvy (348 grams), cooking equipment, hot drinks and breakfast. We recommend you have a meal before setting off. Your guide will also provide and carry all safety gear including a large tarp for the group to sleep under if the weather is wet. All other equipment is to be provided by the client including sleeping bag and mat. This is a great introduction to minimalist wild-camping.

This lightweight 3 day trek in the Cairngorms includes 2 high wild camps and a more leisurely way of summiting the UK’s next 5 highest mountains, all over 4000 feet, after Ben Nevis – Ben Macdui, Braeriach, Carn Toul, Angels Peak and Cairn Gorm. Additionally there will be an option to summit the additional Munros of Devil’s Point and Carn a Mhaim. It will also give you plenty of time to fully absorb and appreciate the unique environments presented in the central Cairngorms.

Starting at the Sugarbowl our route will take us through the dramatic and narrow rocky pass of the Chalamain Gap before gently descending to the Lairig Ghru. We will then ascend into a true mountain environment over Sron na Lairig and our first summit of Braeriach (1296m 4250ft) followed by our first high camp near to the Wells of Dee [Source of the River Dee]. Once camp has been set up there should be opportunities to explore the stunning views westwards down to Loch Einich and eastwards across the dramatic corries down to the Lairig Ghru.

Day Two will take us around the edge of the vast An Garbh Coire and over Sgor an Lochain Uaine (Angels Peak: 1258m 4126 feet), above the hanging Loch Uaine, then steeply over Carn Toul (1291m 4234 feet) before crossing Stob Coire an t-Saighdeir before descending to the head of Coire Odhar. This should allow a quick ‘no pack’ ascent to the top of Bod an Deamhain (Devils Point: 1004m 3293 feet). Our route then takes us down past the world famous Corrour Bothy, across the River Dee and up the Tailleur Burn to our final camp on the shoulder of Carn a Mhiam. For the energetic, an evening packless walk along the ridge to the summit of Carn a Mhaim (1037m 3,401 feet), and back, will be offered.

Day Three leads us to the summit of Ben Macdui to the second highest mountain in Britain at 1309m (4293 feet). We will then meander ‘off track’ toward the atmospheric Feith Buidhe plateau region above Loch Avon with views down to the Shelter Stone area. The route will then take us over the northern crags above the Loch following a pathless, but easy ascent, to the popular summit of Cairn Gorm (1244m 4080 feet) before descending the less touristy Fiacaill a’ Choire Chais, and into the atmospheric enormity of Coire an t-Sneachda, before finishing our journey at the Cairngorm Mountain Ski Centre [Coire Cas].

This is a description of our intended route but it will be adapted as necessary in relation to weather conditions and the performance of the group.

Everything is provided – all food and wild-camping equipment.

Family fun day with trade fair, bouncy castle, pony rides and more. Finishes with a duck race at 3pm followed by a pipe band parade through the village.

A family fun day on the village Greens in the centre of Ballater on Royal Deeside involving over 50 trade, craft and food stalls, with entertainment for children including hook-a-duck, merry-go-round, bouncy castle and slide.

The Ballater Pipe Band and a 20-piece brass band will play throughout the afternoon, culminating in a giant inflatable duck race on the River Dee at 3pm and a Tote operates if anyone fancies a ‘flutter’ on one of the ducks

Following community engagement events in the summer of 2023, RSPB Insh Marshes has been working with consultants on detailed plans for the next stage of the River and Floodplain Restoration Project.

Join our drop-in sessions at the Lookout Hide for a cuppa and some cake, and find out about plans for the River Tromie, prior to us submitting a planning application.

10am-12noon, or 2pm-4pm

Everyone welcome!

How do I become an instructor?

The honest answer is it’s not for everyone, but if you choose to answer the call and step out of your comfort zone, the rewards and the personal growth you experience are beyond belief. Even if you don’t want to become an instructor, you can still immerse yourself fully in the experience of a lifetime as you complete the most empowering course on the planet… The Firewalk Instructor Training!

The time you spend with your fellow delegates during the training, will be one of the most challenging, but worthwhile experiences you will have… ever!

Training
Throughout The Firewalk Instructor Training, you will learn all you need to know to be able host and facilitate your own empowering events including firewalking, but you will learn so much more. You will learn about the nature of fear, and how it will affect your audience, and understand what tools and resources you can use to get the very best from everyone in the room!

Workshops
Team Building exercises
Eliminating Limiting Beliefs using metaphor
Breaking through Fear
Overcoming Obstacles and Barriers
The Power of Focus
Risk & Safety in your seminar
Hazards – Identifying and eliminating
Creating The Elements of your course
Fire building, safety & management
Firewalk preparation and delivery
Hands On Empowerment Training Classes
Firewalking
Glass Walking
Board Breaking with Bare Hands
Brick Breaking with Bare Hands
Arrow Breaking with your Throat
Steel Bar Bending with your Throat
Falling into Friends

Hands On Empowerment Training Classes
Firewalking
Glass Walking
Board Breaking with Bare Hands
Brick Breaking with Bare Hands
Arrow Breaking with your Throat
Steel Bar Bending with your Throat
Falling into Friends

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

March is a time when we can still see winter migrants like Whooper Swans and Greylag Geese. Wading birds will be returning in increasing numbers after their Winter absence so we may see or hear Oystercatchers, Curlew, Redshank and Snipe.

As we walk along the trail, woodland birds will be singing as they feel the stirrings of Spring. So we will listen and look for Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long Tailed Tits, Chaffinches, Mistle- and Song- Thrushes, whose songs may be joined by the drumming of woodpeckers.

Buzzards are fairly common and we may be lucky enough to see Hen Harrier hunting low over the marshes.

We will meet in the RSPB Insh Marshes Car Park – what3words: ///epic.youth.venturing and grid ref: NN775998

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

No way! GRINDURO SCOTLAND is a muckle dram of two-wheeled FUN in a laid back atmosphere finished off with a rocking PARTY OF Type 1 fun. (Well ok, you may suffer too.)

Picture it now… a weekend of celebrating all that is great about cycling, part race, part party, surrounded by the stunning scenery of the stunningly majestic Scottish Highlands… you won’t get bored along the route of Grinduro Scotland.

Come experience a Highland Adventure previously known only to insiders: one of secret paths, ancient military roads, winding trails, wooded climbs and gripping descents. All in good company to the familiar sound of gravel crunching beneath.

Grinduro: A 100km ride with the perfect blend of gravel and singletrack.
Grindurito: A half-distance ride for those looking for a more relaxed challenge.

Picture it now… a weekend of celebrating all that is great about cycling, part race, part party, surrounded by the stunning scenery of the stunningly majestic Scottish Highlands… you won’t get bored along the route of Grinduro Scotland.

Come experience a Highland Adventure previously known only to insiders: one of secret paths, ancient military roads, winding trails, wooded climbs and gripping descents. All in good company to the familiar sound of gravel crunching beneath.