We have camped here in a tent almost every year
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We have camped here in a tent almost every year since 2006. It was a good site when we first visited and there have been a number of improvements over the years. (Don't let the photo on this website put you off. Have a look at the site on Google satellite view to see how well set out the site is).
First of all, this is a family-run site. The husband and wife that own the site are very friendly. The office as you come in to the site houses a well-stocked shop with a selection of gas cylinders, batteries, basic foodstuffs (selection of tinned and some fresh, such as bread), plus there is a freezer in the shop (I've only ever used this to get the owners to re-freeze my ice packs for my cool bags (which they do for free), but they may also have frozen goods in there, though I can't be sure of that). They are happy to help as much as they can and will bring you a slab or breeze blocks on which you can stand your disposable BBQ, or loan you an electric hook-up cable if your one turns out to be faulty ;-)
The site itself: There is a field for motorhomes, mobile caravans and static caravans. I've only ever stayed here in a tent, so I can only review the separate field that is used for smaller campervans and tents. This field has a number of electric hook-up points and a number of drinking water taps around the field. It is very well laid-out, with a gravel roadway around the edge and around the centre. There is some outdoor lighting that helps illuminate the gravel roadway at night, if you need to venture to the toilet block in the dark.
There are no designated pitches in the tent field – you can pitch where you want. It is a very pretty field, with a number of large pine trees along one edge. You can camp amongst the trees if you wish (though beware ‘the midge')! The tent field also has a number of wooden picnic tables with benches. These are not secured, so you can move them to wherever you wish to pitch your tent (assuming you don't pinch one that someone else has already positioned next to their tent, of course).
In between the two fields is an immaculately-kept facilities block. The ladies area contains 8 toilet cubicles, 3 showers and 6 hand sinks with mirrors above all the sinks. The showers are free and the hot water instant, with good pressure. The sinks have hot and cold running water and are always well stocked with liquid hand soap. All the sinks have plugs! (I know this is a strange thing to get excited about, but the number of campsites I've been at where you can't fill a sink because there are no plugs). The loos are always kept well stocked with toilet paper. There is a hair dryer (fed by a meter that takes 20p for a few minutes of drying time) and a hot air hand dryer. The gents is equally well-equipped with 4 urinals, 4 toilet cubicles, 3 showers and 6 sinks. All comments above re. hand soap, toilet paper, hair dryer and hand dryer, plugs, water pressure, cleanliness, etc. also apply to the gents. Both the ladies and gents washrooms have a single step up to enter. Good to see, though, that there is also a separate toilet/wet floor shower room, with a ramp for ease of access for lesser-abled folk. This also houses a baby-changing area.
For me, the piece de resistance in the facilities block is the washing/laundry area. This is a large indoor area between the ladies and gents washrooms. The washing/laundry area consists of 4 or 5 washing-up sinks, each of which has a draining board and a drainer. All the sinks have plugs. Over and above the sinks for dish washing, there is a large butler-type sink for hand-washing clothes, plus a top-loading washing machine/spinner (tokens can be purchased from the site office). There is an ironing board and iron (though, that always makes me laugh… I don't even iron at home, let alone when I'm camping), a tumble dryer which is meter-fed, a microwave (free of charge), 2 toasters (free of charge) and an electric kettle (free of charge). The indoor washing/laundry area is also used as a ‘campers larder' where you can leave foodstuffs, books, games, etc. – anything useful that you don't want to take home with you. Anything you leave behind can be used up, for free, by new visitors to the site.
I don't have kids, but for those of you who do, there is an enclosed children's play area down at the bottom of the tent field, close to the site office.
For nature lovers, we have seen red kites flying very low over the site, day after day during our last couple of visits.
Finally, the camp site is very convenient, situated in a very peaceful location but close enough to the A9.
For food shopping, there is a large 24 hour Tesco only 10 minutes drive up the A9 towards Inverness, as well as a Lidl, Iceland and Asda in Inverness itself.
Groceries aside, the campsite is well situated for touring around Loch Ness (Drumnadrochit, Fort Augustus), the Black Isle, the Moray Firth/Nairn area and, of course, Inverness itself. Within easy day-trip reach are such tourist locations as Findhorn bay and nature reserve, Cawdor Castle, Fort George, Culloden, Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle, the Clootie Well and the Clava Cairns.
Type of accommodation: Tent
Date: 13/06/2014
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