Wild Scotland invited travel blogger Katrina Stewart to enjoy a few days in Scotland, to nurture her need for adventure and freedom.
Scottish Hostels hosted Katrina on her trip, so she could have restful nights after her days out exploring and enjoying amazing activities.
Read all about Katrina's adventures!
Last month I partnered up with Scottish Hostels and Wild Scotland to show you just how wonderful and rejuvenating a winter break in Scotland can be.
We stayed at Comrie Croft - a lovely old Scottish farmstead set amongst the rugged hills and glens of the Southern Highlands - in a cosy, private ensuite family room complete with double bed for us and cute cabin beds for the kids.
As you’ll know if you’ve followed me for a while (especially over on Instagram), we’re no strangers to travelling all over Scotland. I love exploring this beautiful country and sharing it with my family and hostelling gives us an affordable yet homely way to do this. Comrie Croft is one of the most family friendly we’ve stayed in. The facilities were beautiful and our hosts gave us lots of recommendations for things to do locally that we otherwise would not have known about. They also welcomed us with a gorgeous hamper of local and organic food including eggs, fruit, milk and pastries from the local sourdough bakery.
We started our first day enjoying our breakfast hamper before heading out on a tour of the croft itself with owner Andrew. The croft has evolved over the years starting as farm before developing into the eco-sustainable enterprise it is now. The 261 acre estate comprises camping and glamping, the hostel and other self catering options, a cafe, farm shop and bike shop. It’s a mix of complementary businesses and infrastructure that not only serves guests well but is also a fantastic model of rural regeneration and enterprise. Andrew is clearly very passionate about the croft being a force for good in the community.
After a picnic lunch of local produce we headed towards Comrie and for a walk up to Deil’s Cauldron. Part of the lower walk is still closed following Storm Arwen (please check locally or on Walk Highlands for updates) but we headed to the upper section and followed the trail through an adventurous forest path before reaching the the ‘cauldron’ where the River Lednock cascades into a deep rocky gorge. From here it’s also very easy to add on a walk up to the Melville monument - a tall obelisk at which there are wide sweeping views across Strath Earn. Our kids sniffed out a tree swing and we spent a happy hour swinging and enjoying the views.
Upon return, the family returned to our cosy room to relax and change for dinner whilst l headed out with Comrie Croft’s resident nature expert Colin Harper. Colin is a fountain of knowledge on all things nature and also creates hand carved bowls and spoons which you can buy at the farm shop. We visited the proposed new bird hide and I learned about all the wildlife resident at the croft from beavers to red squirrels and various birds of prey.
A quick pit stop back at the room and we all headed out to Crieff for dinner at The Tower. The macaroni with haggis and sticky toffee pudding were particular highlights.
Sunday started with a walk up behind the croft to watch beautiful sunrise (hardly a chore at this time of year when the sun doesn’t come up before 8.30am). I can’t think of a better way to start my day than sitting with my family and taking in a beautiful sunrise. Every-time l do it, l wonder why we don’t do it more often. The sky started off a soft dusky pink before the sun peeked over the mountains to gently illuminate the scene in front of us.
