Family Nature Activity & Wildlife-Watching Holiday, Scotland

With your expert wildlife guide, discover (by land and sea) the only population of wild bottlenose dolphins in the North Sea plus seals, sea birds and a host of other wildlife. Go tide-pooling and beach combing. Be Ray Mears for the day with wild food foraging, wildlife tracking, fire lighting (without matches!), campfire cooking and shelter building. Get your creative juices flowing with nature journals, felting, willow weaving and a range of nature based games and art projects. We know that many children already care deeply about protecting wildlife and the environment and we aim to nurture this love and concern in a fun and engaging way. Parents tell us its wonderful to see their kids having such a great time without them having to organise any of it!

All fully-catered holidays are based at Newbold House, a delightful Victorian mansion, with a beautiful conservatory, comfortable lounge and large children’s playroom, set in terrific gardens and orchards and surrounded by accessible woodland. It is run by a small co-operative community whose mission is to " develop, practice and teach skills for sustainable living, in harmony with ourselves, each other and the earth". As well as the scheduled activities, there are opportunities to learn more about sustainable living and take part in community activities such as gardening and cooking. You can even book an on-site massage or other complementary treatment. There may be occasional relevant talks or films in the evenings or you can just organise some babysitting and walk to a pub in the nearby small town of Forres, one of Scotland’s oldest and most attractive towns. We are also just up the road from the internationally famous Findhorn Foundation ecovillage and community - the lowest carbon community in Europe and a fascinating place to visit and learn about sustainable living. This part of north east Scotland has an unusually mild and dry climate with some of the lowest rainfall and highest sunshine hours of anywhere in the UK. Luckily for us, this dryer climate also means that biting midges are rare.

The self-catering holidays are based at Tullochwood Lodges in a peaceful woodland setting. Facilities include a small loch with sandy beach, picnic and seating areas, BBQ area at the beach, outdoor badminton court and children’s play area with swings, wooden play house, climbing frame and large grass area for games