Teacher Travels – Scotland

The team at Point to Point Education have found your next holiday spot!

For our teachers who love to travel and are looking for somewhere to explore during the UK school holidays, we have just spent some time in Scotland, and we think you’ll love it!

We decided to take a few days and drive from the Highlands to Edinburgh.

We flew into Inverness (good hack flying into a smaller airport) and picked up the rental car. You definitely need a car here.

We drove to the Culloden Battlefield as our first stop off. This was only 20-minutes from the airport.

The Battle of Culloden, fought near Inverness in Scotland on 16 April 1746 was the climax of the Jacobite Rising (1745-46). The forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, attempting to reclaim the throne for his family met a British army led by the Duke of Cumberland, son of the Hanoverian King George II.

We did the 45-minute walking tour with a guide, which was the best way to do it. The museum on entry is a good place to walk through first to give you some background on the history here.

This was a really interesting activity, and I highly recommend it.

We then drove 5-minutes down the road to visit Clava Cairns. Part of Outlander was filmed here.

Clava Cairns are a well-preserved Bronze Age cemetery complex of passage graves; ring cairns, kerb cairns and standing stones in a beautiful setting.

We carried on and visited the Loch Ness – this was just over an hour or so away, but in the direction of our accommodation

As one of Scotland’s most iconic landmarks, visiting Loch Ness is one to add to the bucket list. Steeped in history and based in the stunning Scottish Highlands.

There are nice little cafes and pubs here also, so you can definitely spend a few hours here and it’s great to see.

The next day we drove to Pitlochry and had a night here. The drive was beautiful!  It was raining and misty but still a highlight.  If the weather had been better, the views would have been amazing. There are so many walking tracks and hikes which we would have loved to have done if the weather permitted.

Pitlochry is a town in the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland, lying on the River Tummel. It is historically in the county of Perthshire.

It’s such a beautiful little town, very picturesque with lovely little houses, colourful gardens and lots of little cafes, shops and pubs.  This is a must do stop off when you drive this route.

The last stop was Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a must do place to visit.  We were there in September and it was still very busy. Any tours you want to do you’ll need to make sure you book in advance.

We stayed near the Royal Mile, which was an easy walk into the area. You can easily wander along the Royal Mile for a day and pop into all the little shops and soak in the atmosphere. Victoria street just off the Mile is also worth strolling down.

Edinburgh Castle is a must do. We booked tickets the day before and picked up a headset. You can easily spend 3-4 hours exploring the castle and learning about its history.  We queued for about 45-minutes to see the crown jewels. This was good but was just one crown.

We then did a little 45-minute tour of an underground close – we chose https://www.realmarykingsclose.com/

This gave us a perspective on what life was like in the 1600s. You go underground and look at the houses that families stayed in and hear stories of what living conditions were like.

Again, these tours get sold out, so be sure to book the day before.

The next day, we walk over to Dean Village https://edinburghtips.com/dean_village.html. This was about a 45-minute walk from the Royal Mile but was a nice morning on the back streets. Dean Village is in the Stockbridge district, which until the nineteenth century was an independent village in the shadow of Edinburgh. The village was also known as The Water of Leith Village, as it was situated directly on The Water of Leith, the main river that flows past Edinburgh to the seas via the Firth of Forth. Dean Village was best known for its many mills which were used to grind grain.

We had two and half days here and loved it.  We then got the train to London which took 4 hours, so this is an easy holiday for teachers to do either in the UK school holidays or even for a weekend. Just pack a jacket as the weather can change very quickly. We also had to invest in some umbrellas when we were there!