A Well Deserved Break!

Last week I had a well deserved break and headed off to the north of Scotland for my hols with Mr Bunny.  My aunty kindly called in on 'The Farm' to feed the creatures whilst we enjoyed a busy, but restful week away.

We chose to stay in Gardenstown near Banff, along the Moray Firth, an area of Scotland we haven't really explored before and we fell in love with it!  Gardenstown is a fishing village and you have to take some pretty steep roads to get down to the sea!  We were staying in an old fisherman's stores, The Wee Hoose, which has been converted into the perfect, cosy holiday cottage for 2 with spectacular sea views. 

Gardenstown

The village was full of quaint cottages, a pub and a local shop called Gamrie Larder which sold the cutest pottery houses of which we bought 3 and 1 for my aunt.  They now have pride of place on my fireplace!

This area of Scotland is a great place for walking and wildlife spotting.  We took a walk up to Troup Head, an RSPB nature reserve on the cliffs and spotted ganets, guillemots and puffins - they are super cute. 




Troup Head

We regularly called off to see the seals at Portgordon who bask on the rocks quite close to the land.  We also had a close encounter with a deer who ran straight infront of the car one night - luckily we stopped in time although a stiff drink in the pub was called for after that. 

The highlight of the entire holiday for me were the dolphins at Spey Bay.  We spent many hours there in the hope that we might spot them and eventually we did.  I got so excited when I saw them that I feel over in my rush to get closer.  We were very lucky as we watched them for around half an hour feeding and playing in the bay and it was awesome.  To see dolphins in the wild is so special and I will cherish those meories for the rest of my life!  The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society have a vistors centre at Spey Bay where you can find more out about dolphins and the local wildlife, including osprey and otters, as well as a little shop.  The volunteers in the centre are full of information and are very passionate about the dolphins - they were very keen to chat to everyone.  I adopted a dolphin, Mischief, whilst I was there to.



Sunset at Spey Bay

Amongst other activities we went on a boat trip, to the Glenfiddich and Glen Grant distilleries and to the Speyside Cooperage as well as popping along to local villages and catching up with some of our friends. 
I took my crochet with me but only managed  a few rows on my shawl as it was all a bit non-stop.  I started a scrap book whilst away and will share it with you all when it is complete later on this week.

I hope you are all enjoying this extra long weekend and eat plenty of cake!