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!

Corkscrew rapid on the Findhorn

Craggan Outdoors, the TripAdvisor.com top-rated activity centre in the Scottish Highlands, is pleased to announce three new additions - paintball, white water rafting and a selection of art and creativity-based activities - to its existing range of activities. This follows on from the addition of indoor climbing/bouldering, massage, pony trekking, yoga and zip wire earlier in the year.

Speaking about the new activities, owner and Managing Director Keith Ballam, who along with his wife Jill took over at Craggan Outdoors last October, said: “We are hugely excited to be able to offer activities of the attractiveness and calibre of paintball and white water rafting. It is also good to be able to offer the art and creativity-based activities, something that we feel gives corporate clients something a little different to consider when looking at team-building, as well as new options for hen parties, school trips and other youth groups.” He continued: “It is our intention to carry on developing the range of activities that we offer at the centre, with the aim of creating a ‘one stop shop’ for potential clients so as they won’t feel the need to look elsewhere when choosing the activities that they wish to do during their time in Aviemore and the Cairngorms.”

The next addition is expected to be mini-quads for 6-11 year olds. The new 50cc quads are already at the centre, and work is currently ongoing to set up the new track and establish and test operating procedures. All being well the mini-quads will be in operation by the end of July.

Craggan Outdoors is the internationally renowned review website TripAdvisor.com’s top-rated ‘thing to do’ in Aviemore and the Cairngorms, and is ranked second across the wider Highlands, and also second across Scotland as a whole from almost 1,200 attractions that are listed. The centre is the top-rated outdoor activity provider in Scotland, with rankings based on the experiences of people that have visited. Craggan Outdoors is proud to currently have received nothing but 5-star ratings!

Following on from the 93% & 95% customer ratings in April & May, June was another strong month with a further showing in the 90s. Customers rated their experiences with Craggan Outdoors during June, giving an average score given of 9.2 out of 10, equating to a 92% rating for the period, demonstrating consistent service excellence over the first three months of the 2009 season.

As well as Craggan Outdoors’ own in-house customer feedback system measuring what people think of their time with us, independent review website TripAdvisor.com offers support to these findings, currently ranking Craggan Outdoors as the top-rated ‘thing to do’ in the Scottish Highlands, & indeed the whole of Scotland.

The latest in the series on monthly prize draws, made from all customer feedback forms submitted during the prior month, has also been drawn. The winner for June is Graeme Moffat who brought a stag group to Craggan Outdoors in early June to do white water rafting & clay pigeon shooting. Graeme wins a £25 activity voucher.

Following on from the 93% rating given by customers during April, analysis of feedback forms submitted during May shows an increase to an even better 95%!

On an ongoing basis customers are asked to rate their experience(s) at Craggan Outdoors out of 10, with an average mark - 9.5 out of 10 for May’s feedback - then being calculated at the end of the month & converted into the corresponding percentage score.

Commenting on the impressive figures, Managing Director Keith Ballam said: “We have a fantastic team that have been recruited as much for their high level people skills as for their technical abilities, & we all concentrate on delivering great experiences to our customers, be it on activity sessions, at our accommodation, or in the Clubhouse Cafe.” He continued: “This shines out in the feedback that we receive. Typical are the comments from the May prize draw winner Jillian Geddes - congratulations Jillian who receives a £25 activity voucher - who brought a hen party of 34 to us on the weekend of 23rd/24th May.”

Jillian’s comments were as follows: “I was really impressed with the organisation of our day. Everything ran very smoothly. Everybody really enjoyed all the activities, & the bunkhouse & bothy were an ideal setting for our evening activities. I had a great hen weekend, so thank you all!”

Don’t just take our word for it though…have a look at our reviews on TripAdvisor - click through from our homepage - to see what others have said about their time at Craggan Outdoors. Hopefully we’ll then look forward to welcoming your group for a similarly great time!

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!”

You probably spotted the logos on the home page, but confirmation that Craggan Outdoors can now be found on both Facebook & Tripadvisor. If you’ve been to Craggan Outdoors, then you can use both sites to let others know what you thought. Tripadvisor is a more serious site where you can read others’ reviews (none yet there at time of writing this….who’s going to be first?) of their time at Craggan Outdoors, & also add your own reviews. You can have a bit more fun on Facebook. If you like what we do then become a fan, post your photos & videos, & interact with other fans.