For a woman who loves to travel, my knowledge of geography is rubbish. Example- I once suggested to my husband that we could road trip it from Northern Germany to Moscow. I didn’t realise Poland and Belarus were in the way and overlooked that Russia is bloody massive. Why am I admitting to this ? To make the point that I always know where I want to go, but I don’t always appreciate the scale of things getting there. That’s what happened with our Easter trip to Orkney. Having booked ferries and a cottage, Mr THL then pointed out that to drive from Edinburgh up to the ferry port would be upwards of five hours.

That’s upwards of five hours crammed into the car ( bigger car or roof box required asap) with the kids and the dog. The thought of that had me hitting the internet to find a good point to stopover and break the journey. Hello, Invergordon.

Invergordon. A small town in the Highlands known for it’s distillery, for the oil rigs that line the Firth on which it sits and for being an access point to the many attractions of the Highlands, particularly for thousands of tourists who sail in aboard cruise liners every year.

What the place should be known for ; a fantastic mural trail around the town and the beautiful Delny Glamping for those making more than a day of it.

The murals of Invergordon were created as a result of action by a dedicated group of local volunteers that go collectively by the name of Invergordon Off the Wall. The images were created by local people in partnership with professional artists to create an out-door gallery that reflects local history, culture and natural environment. The trail currently consists of 17 murals.

As much as we enjoyed exploring Invergordon, that part of our trip was the Brucie Bonus. Our actual destination being a short drive up the road to the sanity saving stopover at Delny Glamping. Pitched as ‘Luxury Glamping ‘, the site is located on the grounds of Delny House and is made up of a small village of unique wooden huts spread around a communal BBQ hut and a pirate themed play area. We were welcomed like old friends and within half an hour  of arriving, the lovely Claire had all three kids ( including the hard-to-impress teens) exploring the site and following clues to complete an Easter Egg hunt. Minus mobiles or tablets. She has a magic touch, that woman.

Lodgings for the night came in the form of a ‘Muckle Bothy’. The dog friendly accommodation is a beautiful marriage of style and function with two bedrooms,  shower and toilet, flat screen TV and tea/coffee-making facilities. The whole place, accommodations and communal areas, has a high standard of finish. Time, thought and money has been invested to put some real heart into the place. Think all the best bits of camping blended with all the best bits of a nice hotel stay and that’s what Delny Glamping is. For smaller Parties there are also smaller bothies or ‘Wee Nip’ lodgings that look like whiskey Barrels. Brilliant.

 

 

We passed the evening exploring the fields around the site with the pup and getting acquainted with the other Delny residents, a pair of Pygmy goats and a variety of chickens and geese. I don’t care how old you are, hanging out with goats is fun.

As the night closed in under a stunning sunset, we joined some other guests in the BBQ hut . Bit of an ice breaker when our puppy stole one of their burgers. Luckily, they saw the funny side. Small world kind of  conversation  when we discovered that they, like us, were a military family. And that they were currently posted in Germany, which was our last posting. They were headed South to Edinburgh as we were heading up North towards Gills Bay to take the car ferry across too Orkney. I hope they enjoyed the onward journey as much as we did ours… but that’s another story for another day.

Helen x