Conversant Traveller

Conversant Traveller Find out about unique and unusual places to visit, some fabulous places to stay, and hopefully have a giggle along the way.

Adventurous luxury travel, quirky places to stay + the great outdoors.

📍 Based in the beautiful Eden Valley
🏔 Local explorations in the Lake District, northern England + Scotland
🏰 Castles, mountains, beaches
🌎 Global travel too! Discover top tips for planning your own travel adventures, and learn about the experiences of others (often at their own expense) to help you decide where to go.

While in the Moray area, we stayed at The Cabin by the Castle, a charming little luxury retreat overlooking Duffus Castl...
02/01/2026

While in the Moray area, we stayed at The Cabin by the Castle, a charming little luxury retreat overlooking Duffus Castle on the Duffus Estate. It made the perfect base for exploring the coast and we loved being able to walk from the door to explore Duffus Castle at any time of day.

🏠 The cabin is bijou with everything you need for a weekend stay. Warm and comfy, it was great despite the winter weather, and we loved the covered deck area for discarding the waterproofs and wellies after a day out exploring. There was an amazing welcome basket too with lots of local goodies, one of the best we've enjoyed up in Scotland!

The other part of our Scottish adventure was over in Aberdeenshire, land of castles, rugged coast and some rather intrig...
01/01/2026

The other part of our Scottish adventure was over in Aberdeenshire, land of castles, rugged coast and some rather intriguing stones! First up was Findlater Castle, which sits precariously on a rocky promontory just east of the village of Cullen.

The current castle was built in the 1450s and later besieged by Mary Queen of Scots' forces when the owners rebelled against her in 1562. They lost, and heads rolled, as they often did in those days.

Keep an eye out for Findlater Doocot on the way down to the castle - it's apparently been here since the 1500s and has a lovely beehive shape.

🚗 Free parking beside the nearby farm buildings
🥾 It's a 10-minute muddy walk down a farm track to the coast, and from there you can scramble down the promontory to the castle itself. This last section of path is very steep in places and was extremely muddy after a bit of rain - we were both very surprised I didn't end up on my backside! It's probably better in summer when things are drier, but if you don't fancy tackling the path, you can still see the castle from the main coastal trail.

Another waterfall that turned out to be better than we expected was Black Water Falls near Garve. Just off the A835 this...
31/12/2025

Another waterfall that turned out to be better than we expected was Black Water Falls near Garve. Just off the A835 this makes a great stop-off if you're travelling from Inverness up to NW Scotland.

🥾 Short walking trails along the river and over the bridge for the best views
🚗 Free parking (Scotland is so good at this) and very clean (and warm!) toilets that were actually open in winter!

This is Victoria Falls. Not the one in Zimbabwe/Zambia, but the one in Scotland, on the southern side of Loch Maree! Nam...
30/12/2025

This is Victoria Falls. Not the one in Zimbabwe/Zambia, but the one in Scotland, on the southern side of Loch Maree! Named after a certain queen who visited the falls in 1877, this pretty cascade is worth a stop if you want a leg stretch on a long road trip.

🚗 Free parking
🥾 There are 2 short trails - one just up to the viewing area, and one carrying on and doing a circular loop. The loop only took us 15 minutes and had the best views looking back down towards the loch. Pleasant little jaunt!

Our base in Wester Ross was a restored ice house right on the coast, just outside the village of Laide. We couldn't have...
29/12/2025

Our base in Wester Ross was a restored ice house right on the coast, just outside the village of Laide. We couldn't have been closer to the water if we tried, which was perfect for wildlife watching no matter the weather. Many hours were spent on the comfy window seat searching for otters, while the dark evenings were perfect for stargazing without even going outside, before retreating to the sofa for movies and steaming bowls of stew beside the log fire.

Built around 1870, the Ice House was used to store winter ice to preserve salmon in summer, before it was taken by rail to sell in London and Edinburgh. Today, the Ice House blends Scottish fishing heritage and Scandi design to create a comfy, and rather good looking, coastal retreat.

If you're visiting Scotland in winter, it's so important to get your accommodation right, because with shorter daylight hours, you will be spending plenty of time cosied up indoors. We struck gold with the Ice House, and while we did spend most days out exploring the wilds, we certainly didn't mind returning to our base afterward.

❄️🎄HAPPY CHRISTMAS🔔🎁 Hope your 2025 wasn't too bad and that your 2026 will be even better! Enjoy the festivities if you ...
23/12/2025

❄️🎄HAPPY CHRISTMAS🔔🎁 Hope your 2025 wasn't too bad and that your 2026 will be even better! Enjoy the festivities if you celebrate, and here's to lots of happy travels next year, wherever you end up in the world.

I'll just leave you with this beauty while we head off to stuff our faces with mince pies for a few days - Gruinard Bay in Wester Ross is one of the most spectacular beaches up in this neck of the woods. There's pinkish sands, turquoise water, lots of unusual geology, and stunning views across to the Coigach Hills (where we were this time last year). Great spot for a wander to blow the cobwebs away!

🚗 Paid car park down by the sand, but several free (very scenic) laybys along the headland, perfect for car picnics with a view!

Across the other side of Loch Ewe from the Cove Battery is Mellon Charles, a quiet little hamlet with a historic past. T...
22/12/2025

Across the other side of Loch Ewe from the Cove Battery is Mellon Charles, a quiet little hamlet with a historic past. This is the old Boom Defence Depot, where the anti-submarine boom was tethered to protect the Arctic Convoy ships sheltering here during World War II. It's an interesting site, and you can still see the remains of the old jetty and the old concrete weights that anchored the nets to the bottom of the loch.

If you only have time to visit either Cove or Mellon Charles, I'd recommend choosing Cove as the setting is more dramatic, the drive there is stunning, and there's more to see. But if you do have time, it's worth taking a short detour to Mellon Charles to see the other side of the boom operation and piece history together a bit more.

If you're visiting Cove while you're up in Wester Ross, make sure you stop at the beautiful Firemore Beach on the way. I...
19/12/2025

If you're visiting Cove while you're up in Wester Ross, make sure you stop at the beautiful Firemore Beach on the way. It's one of the prettiest in this part of Scotland, with lovely views out across Loch Ewe. It's sandy, secluded, and a favourite with sheep and cattle, so you may not be the only ones on the beach! An impressive amount of sea foam while we were there too.

🚗 Free parking across the road from the beach

One of the reasons we came up to Wester Ross was to visit the Cove Battery, a World War II site on the shores of Loch Ew...
18/12/2025

One of the reasons we came up to Wester Ross was to visit the Cove Battery, a World War II site on the shores of Loch Ewe. During the war, the deep loch was used as a safe harbour for Arctic Convoy ships on their way to Archangel in Russia, with a boom strung across the mouth of the loch to stop enemy submarines from entering.

At the historic Cove Battery you can still see the surviving defences, including gun houses, observation posts and engine rooms. The site serves as a fitting memorial to those who made the ultimate sacrifice during the convoy missions, as well as those who lost their lives in a shipwreck at the loch entrance during a violent storm in 1944.

🚗 Free parking at the site
🥾 Don't miss the short stroll up the hill to the trig point for lovely views looking back down the loch

One of the most fabulous road trip views in Wester Ross is the route along the southern edge of Little Loch Broom, a sea...
17/12/2025

One of the most fabulous road trip views in Wester Ross is the route along the southern edge of Little Loch Broom, a sea loch just south of Ullapool. Just stunning!

I always say winter is a FABULOUS time of year to visit Scotland, and our trip up there last month proved it yet again. ...
16/12/2025

I always say winter is a FABULOUS time of year to visit Scotland, and our trip up there last month proved it yet again. Yes, we had some wild weather (perfect for cosy days by the log fire), and even a dump of snow, but for the most part the sun shone on the deserted beaches, the empty winding roads, and the peaceful forests that were still in the last glorious throes of Autumn. As always, we saw more deer than people. It was just how it should be.

We had a couple of bases, but first up was Wester Ross and its wild, rugged peninsulas up in the far NW of Scotland. One of our favourite adventures was this gorgeous circular walk from Mellon Udringle, an easy but undulating stroll taking in beaches, cliffs and plenty of squelchy moorland. It's one of those hikes where you're rewarded with lots of stunning views for relatively little effort, always a plus in our book. Saw some seals too!

🥾 Boots definitely required unless you love getting muddy
🚗 Free parking at Mellon Udringle Beach
🚶‍♀️ The beach circuit walk is 2.5 miles, with a little bit of elevation and several boggy bits but nothing too strenuous. It took us 1.5 hrs at a leisurely pace with lots of photo stops.

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