Recommend me your best 'hidden Scotland' things to do!?

[Glitterkitten24]

Hello all,

Looking for some ideas from fellow Scots/ those with good knowledge of Scotland!

We are holidaying in a campervan in Scotland this year- We've done it before and actually it's a thoroughly enjoyable holiday to have with a toddler! (Much to my surprise!)

We are a bit of an outdoorsy family, enjoy geocaching, walks, nature etc but also love seeing 'the sights' like castles, attractions etc.

I've been on all the websites researching where we want to visit on our trip and have all the usual suspects listed.
I'm looking for your recommendations of interesting/ special things to do or see which are not in all the guide books.

Please let me have any ideas you have- our route isn't confirmed yet so we can change it about to accommodate any particularly brilliant places that we hear about!

Thank you!

or Cluny kids?

www.clunyclays.co.uk/kids/

Pucks Glen in Cowal.
Amazingly awesome place.

Was coming on to say St Cyrus beach but beaten to it. It's lovely but a steep climb.

Yes to Pucks Glen, lovely.

Stay at Elie holiday park at She'll Bay and do the coastal chain walk, it's also a good location to visit Anstruther, St Andrews etc. I've also heard that Faskally outside Pitlochry is also a good site to stay on with a swimming pool for the kids and loads to do round about.

Shell Bay not she'll bay!!

Gin - we did the sea safari boat trip from Arbroath last year. Quite pricey but worth it. We didn't see any dolphins but lots of seals. It was great seeing the cliffs and caves from a different perspective.

I was going to make some recommendations until I looked them up to see if they were still open to visitors and saw how much they now charge. I would echo a previous poster's advice to join the National Trust beforehand if you're not already a member or it might cost you an arm and a leg to visit some places.

Im not sure what the proper name of it is (it's called "the outdoor museum" in our house) but the museum of highland life in Newtonmore is great and it's free! It's especially great as a stop-off if you are heading up the A9, Theres a good park for the kids to run around in and a nice wee cafe.

Is that the place with the long low white joined cottages and the large farm equipment standing outside? If so, I've been there and it's great.

I know the Dornoch area reasonably well - it's definitely worth taking the A9 that far and beyond.

Echo pp re Dunrobin. You could do the forest trails at Shin too (half an hour west) where there used to be a branch of Harrods in the middle of nowhere, complete with waxwork of al Fayed dressed as highland laird, complete with adoring dog - it burned down and I don't know if it has been replaced. At the right time of year you can see the salmon leaping upstream; all year it's picturesque and lovely clean air.

Dornoch beach.

Portmahomack beach is better for toddlers, mind you, more scope for digging/paddling and more sheltered. Stop off at Tarbat Ness (for interesting Pictish archaeology) and/or the lighthouse point (for rock scrambling and seal spotting) en route.

We took a toddling DC1 to a livestock auction (don't ask) just off the A9 North of the Black Isle. Exhibition on livestock droving through the ages. Small boy absolutely awestruck by all the s'eep.

Oh, ahem, and I know a lovely PYO just outside Nairn (Wester Hardmuir). Again, big hit with greedy DC1.

Piffpaff, I think that's the one I was trying to remember Newtonmore, I remember driving through Pitlochry. We love it so much.

Does it have a school room, farm, old medieval thatch village through a wood and past a garage workshop? Oh and a curling hut near a lake.

They were relocating the cafe to bigger premises last time we where there. It's just brilliant.

There's something similar on the West Coast above Fort William but I can't remember it's name. Brilliant as well.

I love the amount of history in Scotland.

Absolutely do not go to 'Story Book Glen' near Aberdeen. It is a rip off and will give you nightmares.

Haha, I kind of like Storybook Glen - the kids absolutely love it!

it is massively shite though

That said, they've added a big softplay area and cafe to it and it's fantastic.

I've not done it yet but someone I know has set up a business of boat safaris from Oban to go see the basking sharks. Apparently you can snorkel with them if you fancy.

Can I put in a vote for Orkney since I am an Orcadian and Mills and Boon have just rated it as one of the World's most romantic places? I took my 3DD, including the toddler, to visit by car ferry last year. They loved it and took months to be dissuaded from their conviction that we ought to relocate permanently.

Fantastic clean empty beaches, wild geography and wildlife, the best Highland cattle, live archeological sites, great food, to name some of the attractions. What the girls really loved was that they really did feel that they were in another World!

I love Orkney and it's up there as one of my favourite places in the world.( I am very into archaeology though!)