Craggan Outdoors News

The weekend of 23rd-25th July 2010 saw Craggan Outdoors illustrate its flexibility & ideal nature as a relaxed venue for a variety of functions. Friday night saw us host a pre-wedding party for 75 guests. The glorious summer evening weather saw folk spread out across the lawn outside the Clubhouse, enjoying each other’s company, the buffet & bar, with the backdrop of golf course, fishery, Cromdales & Cairngorms.

On Saturday it was the turn of the Scottish Old Skool Escorts (http://www.scottisholdskoolescorts.co.uk/) to end their Highland Tour 2010 rally at Craggan Outdoors. After a day of driving around enjoying the roads & scenery of the Highlands, 30-odd superb examples of Mark I & II Ford Escorts parked up on the lawn beside the car park. After a day of driving the BBQ went down well, & the bar was well frequented! Roll on to Sunday morning & they’re all back again mid-morning to relax with tea, coffee & bacon rolls, & to show off their vehicles to each other, & also to a number of inquisitive & admiring locals.

So if you’re looking for a venue in the Aviemore - Grantown-on-Spey area of the Scottish Highlands for your function, then give us a call, send an email or just drop in & say “hi” to find out how Craggan Outdoors could be just the place!

Needing to get your archery qualification? Then you’ve come to the right place! Craggan Outdoors, Scotland’s TripAdvisor.com top-rated outdoor activity centre, will be running a GNAS Archery Leader course from Monday 26th-Thursday 29th April 2010.

Course cost will be £249, with this to include GNAS registration, along with course fee, materials, equipment, & tuition from the man that wrote the text book…..GNAS Senior Coach Philip van Buren (www.archeryleaders.co.uk).

A residential option is also available. The course plus four nights self-catering bunkhouse accommodation costs £299. Additional nights are also available at £15.

Craggan Outdoors is located at Grantown-on-Spey in the central Highlands, & is easily accessible from anywhere in the UK. We are minutes off the main north-south A9, 3 hours from Glasgow & Edinburgh, & 30 minutes from Inverness, as well as being on the main road from Aberdeen across the Highlands. Mainline rail services come to nearby Aviemore, & Inverness Airport - offering services to many UK airports - is just 45 minutes away.

Interested? Then don’t delay as these courses always book up quickly. Call 01479 873283 or email info@cragganoutdoors.co.uk to find out more &/or to book your place.

Craggan Outdoors has teamed up with the nearby Grant Arms Hotel to offer a bit of winter luxury in combination with our fantastic activities.

The Grant Arms is Grantown’s most historic hotel, & boasts a visit from Queen Victoria amongst their previous guests. Completely refurbished & upgraded in early 2009, The Grant Arms offers a combination of modern luxury & tradition. Located just five minutes drive from Craggan Outdoors, it is the ideal base for those that fancy a break away from it all, treating themselves to a few days to sample the autumn/winter delights of Grantown & the wider Strathspey/Cairngorms area, & expending a bit of energy on an outdoor activity or two with Craggan Outdoors.

For further details & to book, click on http://www.grantarmshotel.com/promo-detail.php?PromoID=12

In a new development for Craggan Outdoors, early July saw the centre become a film location for the first time, playing host to a ‘young carers’ group that were enjoying a respite break that centred around the making of a short film.

A joint project between Borders Young Carers and specialist film company VOMO (Voice of My Own), the group spent a week at Craggan Outdoors making the film, with a script developed from the collective life experiences of this particular group of young carers, young people who each care for mentally or physically ill, drug or alcohol dependent parents &/or siblings.

The group worked long hours from Monday to Friday in what were mostly far from ideal weather conditions, filming at a range of locations around Craggan Outdoors, & also in Grantown-on-Spey itself. Departing on Friday the group seemed very pleased with what they had achieved.

The team at VOMO will now be hard at work editing the several hours of film that they shot into the finished 10 minute production. The film is due to premiere in Edinburgh in September.

Four months after taking over Craggan Outdoors, owners Keith & Jill Ballam are pleased to announce that the renovation & redecoration of the 27-bed bunkhouse & 6-bed bothy accommodation is now complete.

The bunkhouse, originally converted from its former life as a farmhouse in 2007, has benefited from a top-to-bottom paint job, along with an upgrade of lighting, & the addition of storage units in the bedrooms, a drying area, & finishing touches such as curtains & blinds & an increased range of appliances & utensils in the kitchen. A growing library of magazines, books & games is also available.

The bothy, previously a typical bare stone walled building throughout, has quite literally been transformed inside. Now dry-lined & fully insulated throughout, a luxury bathroom fitted, lighting upgraded, & a finished off with light, bright paint-job like the bunkhouse, the bothy is now a fantastic little bolt-hole for small groups, or an extension of the bunkhouse for larger groups. Take a look at the accommodation pages of the website to check out the photo galleries of both properties.

Commenting on the achievement Keith said: “We are really pleased to be able to add what is effectively a new bunkhouse & a superb little bothy to the choice of accommodation in the Aviemore-Grantown area of the National Park.” He continued: “We’ve already been pleasantly surprised at the levels of enquiries & bookings that we’ve had since New Year, so now that we’ve officially ‘launched’ the accommodation as open, we are looking forward to an ever increasing quantity of enquiries. Sitting atop the Glenbeg Estate, yet only 5 minutes outside Grantown, & with golf, fishing & outdoor activities ‘on tap’, there really can’t be many better places to stay in Speyside, or indeed the whole Highlands!”

Following the recent addition of indoor climbing, massage and yoga - all available now! - Craggan Outdoors is pleased to announce that pony trekking will be a new activity for summer 2009. The pony trekking season begins at the start of May and runs through to October. Bookings are now being taken for a choice of 1 and 2-hour treks. For more details, click on the pony trekking page under the ‘Activities’ drop-down menu.

Why not make a day of it, and combine pony trekking with one or more other activities, along with a nice freshly prepared lunch in our Clubhouse Cafe?! Or even a ’stay and play’ break - overnight, for the weekend, or longer - that combines a stay in our recently renovated bunkhouse and bothy accommodation with your choice of activities. Tell us what you fancy and we’ll tailor a break specifically to meet your requirements.

Watch this space for further additions to Craggan Outdoors’ already wide range of exciting activities, with mini-quads (for 6-11 year olds) and grass sledging expected to follow in the spring.

Needing to get your archery qualification? Then you’ve come to the right place! Craggan Outdoors will be running a GNAS Archery Leader course from 4th-7th May 2009. Course cost will be £285, with this to include GNAS registration, along with course fee, materials, equipment, & tuition from the man that wrote the text book…..GNAS Senior Coach Philip van Buren (www.archeryleaders.co.uk). Lunch on each day of the course is also included in the price.

Self-catering accommodation is available in Craggan Outdoors’ recently renovated & redecorated bunkhouse or bothy, with cost being a very reasonable £15 per person per night.

The course is already booking up, so don’t wait any longer….call (01479 873283) or email (info@cragganoutdoors.co.uk) Keith now to book your place.

Preparations for the 2009 season continue apace! As part of those preparations Craggan Outdoors is pleased to announce the addition of three new activities - indoor climbing, yoga and massage - that are all now available to book.

Indoor climbing now complements the outdoor rock climbing that the centre has long offered. The wall offers a great opportunity for those that are new to climbing to learn the basic techniques whilst away from the vagaries of the Scottish weather, and with the comfort of being just a few feet off the ground, with a padded floor for extra reassurance. Prices start at £25 per person for a 1 hour instructor-led session.

Yoga is renowned for promoting health & well-being, so we think that it’s a great fit (excuse the pun) with our more energetic activities.  Great for improving energy levels, muscle tone, joint mobility, suppleness and core body strength, yoga can be a perfect start or finish to a day, weekend or week of activities. Over the course of an hour, morning or afternoon, our qualified instructor will guide you through elements of a range of yoga styles, including Ashtanga, Iyengar and Shadow. Prices start at £20 for a 1-hour instructor-led session.

There can’t be a better way to recover from a day or weekend of outdoor exertion than with a massage. Our qualified masseuse can offer either a remedial and sports massage to aid recovery from the aches, pains and strains of activity, or a relaxing Swedish Ling massage to end your day in style. Indian head massage is also available. Prices start at £29 for a half-hour session.

Commenting on the new activities, owner and Managing Director Keith Ballam said: “We are really excited to have added these three new options to our already wide range of activities. We feel that they are an extremely complementary fit with what the centre already had on offer, and give enhanced quality and choice for new customers, whilst offering something new to try for repeat clients.” He concluded: “We expect to add another two or three activities by the start of the season at Easter, so watch this space for further announcements!”