Craggan Outdoors News

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.

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!”

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!”