Merry Christmas, Mum!

With a milestone birthday coming up next year, we wanted to do something special for you this Christmas. Here’s the details…

Dates: 30th September - 4th October 2026

Invited: You, Alastair, your sons, their partners, and your grandson! (Also potentially Alastair’s Dogs!)

Location: Your sons have picked a shortlist of holiday locations in the Highlands. You just need to pick one from the list below.

What Do You Need To Do?

  • Review the options below. Click the pictures to see their respective listings. We’ll also leave some notes to give you an overview.

  • Let us know your choice ASAP so we can book it while it’s still available.

  • Book your holiday off from work.

  • …and that’s it! (for now, at least)

Expect day trips to visit local attractions, walks in the countryside, family dinners where we are all together, board games, & laughter.

We’re all really excited to spend some time together in a beautiful part of the world, celebrating you for your birthday!

Lots of love,

Ross & SJ, Murray & Lujain, Grant & Hannah.

Rivermill House, Drumnadrochit

Rivermill House, Drumnadrochit

Onnela Lodge, Strathcarron

Onnela Lodge, Strathcarron

An Cala, Nethy Bridge

An Cala, Nethy Bridge

Drumnadrochit

  • Distances & Nearby Attractions

    • 2hr 35m Drive from Perth

    • Drumnadrochit is a 20min walk. It has restaurants and cafes.

    • Loch Ness & Castle Urquhart nearby.

    • Inverness is 30 minutes drive away.

    • Loads of walks with varying levels of challenge and length.

  • Pet Friendly with a big garden if Alastair wants to bring his dogs.

  • Lots of cosy nooks.

  • A bath.

  • Decent sized kitchen, but a medium sized dinner table.

Nethy Bridge

  • Distances & Nearby Attractions

    • 1hr 50m Drive from Perth

    • A few restaurants within 10 minutes drive.

    • So many good walks nearby, including the Abernethy Nature Reserve.

    • 20m drive to Aviemore, where there’s shops and restaurants etc.

  • Pet Friendly. Garden size is hard to judge, but it does lead down to the river.

  • Smaller kitchen, but a massive dining table for family dinners and board games.

  • Hot tub

  • 2 of the bedrooms have en-suites

Strathcarron

  • Distances & Nearby Attractions

    • 3hr 30m Drive from Perth

    • 1hr 30m Drive from Inverness

    • Lochcarron is a short drive away and has a Spar, but otherwise we’d need to bring all our provisions with us.

    • Some nice walks, but they skew a little more challenging here. Might need to travel a little bit to find easy ones, but we’d have the entire Applecross Peninsula within striking distance.

    • Very close to Loch Carron, where you can go out on boat trips to see dolphins and seals.

    • Eilean Donan Castle is 30 minutes away, and Skye is very easily reached in about the same time.

  • Pet Friendly.

  • Lovely modern looking kitchen, although the dining table looks to comfortably seat 6. We may need to squeeze to fit 9.

  • Definitely the best equipped house of the three, in terms of modern conveniences and comfort. Would definitely be the best spot if we were to get rained in.

  • En-suite and bath.