When did I fall in love with this wild and beautiful haven…….
It’s difficult to say, as I was lucky enough to spend time at the cottage from pretty much the moment I was born, when this special place, already built by my parents in 1964, was the only building on the north side of the road beyond the (long gone) Craigard Hotel. My brother and I had so much freedom to roam and explore as we were growing up that I formed a deep appreciation of this outstandingly beautiful area and our wild garden.
A haven of tranquility when I continued to visit whilst a biology student in the big city (my chosen subject no doubt influenced by the wild beauty of Strathspey and the Cairngorms!), and a place I wanted to share with friends, whether for exploration, the peace, mountain action or just simply for a wee Highland Gathering (August BoGFest became legendary amongst friends……. for the right reasons, I think!?!). The wider family and our 2 children also took up my enthusiasm for the countless treasures of this unique area. Many others clearly thought it was a special place too, as Strathspey became an integral part of the new Cairngorms National Park in 2003.
Watching our children, and our friends’ children, experience the same freedom and opportunity for adventure that I had growing up has been a real joy. After 3 generations of use by the “clan”, the time came to share it with others too! However, we have made a few upgrades for guest’s comfort and enjoyment since you had to chip ice off the windows on a winter morning!! A true labour of love, started in 2013 and completed in September 2017……. although there’s always room for new ideas and improvement, and we strive to make your experience ever more memorable and enjoyable!
We have no doubt you will leave this magical area viewing the natural world in a totally different way, revitalised with a new sense of wellbeing!
Welcome and enjoy!
Derek and family
(PS. If you’re wondering about the name or where Glencoldon is, it’s not a Highland glen, but a made up name from 1964! My mum’s name (Glenna), my brother’s name (Colin) and my dad’s name (Gordon) combined. Alas, I wasn’t yet born to feature in the mix, but that may have been a wee bit tricky!
Contact Us
Please contact Derek any time if you have any queries, need further information or want to discuss anything at all:
[email protected] / 07968 177394
Sustainability First…….
Glencoldon Cottage provides self-catering accommodation within the Cairngorm National Park. In addition to ensuring that visitors have the most enjoyable and memorable visit possible, the owners believe that, in an area of such outstanding natural beauty, it is essential to achieve this whilst also delivering environmental, social and community benefit.
We recognise that many of the activities we undertake to prepare or run the accommodation have a range of potential impacts on the environment, and may also have local economy and community implications. We therefore understand our responsibilities in delivering positive outcomes in these areas, and are committed to continual improvement. Participation in the “Green Tourism” initiative, the world’s largest sustainable certification programme, will help ensure ongoing progress.
We were very pleased when our efforts to “build in” best practice / technology during the 2017 renovation and set-up resulted in a Gold Award. But, we have continued to find ways to improve and have now mapped a route to carbon neutral / “net-zero” operation. We were reassessed in summer 2022 and were very happy to meet the Gold standard again, as it has now become tougher
See detail and our “scorecard” here
If you would like further detail of our commitment to achieving sustainability, please access our Sustainability Policy + Carbon / Net-Zero Targets.
The story, so far………..
In 2016 – 17, the need to update and upgrade the cottage for future guests provided a fantastic opportunity to build in many environmental / low-carbon technologies for the future running of the property, as well as ensuring the construction itself was undertaken in a manner sympathetic to the local community, economy and wildlife.
Greening the Cottage + Minimising Our Footprint
Structurally sound and having already survived 50+ Highland winters, high-spec renovation rather than demolition was an easy choice in this remote and sensitive environment. The overall goal was to minimise the carbon footprint and any environmental impacts of materials, construction and ongoing operation, whilst looking to “offset” any with other ongoing positive sustainability outcomes. We literally started from scratch – an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) generated by an energy specialist highlighted a very poor F rating! Much work to do……
Fortunately, we quickly found a local construction firm, A W Laing, that would not only use local skills, but would go out of their way to understand what we trying to achieve, and use local materials we identified, even where not the “standard” material for the job. For example, whilst Siberian or Latvian larch cladding appears to be the industry norm, local “Scotlarch” from Russwood is increasingly a much more sustainable (knotty and characterful!) very local alternative.
Similarly, Scandanavian / Baltic wood flooring seems to be the standard material, but, having first checked out the reclaimed flooring options with Hargreaves, Cromartie Sawmill procured and milled us some local larch (FSC certified). This was expertly installed by Laing’s joiners / artisans, and transformed into something of real beauty using only natural plant-based oils. None of these options were more expensive than the “standard”.
Other 2017 Renovation Highlights
Laings also took on board our concerns about the impact of the work on the bat family living in the eves of the cottage! One of the highlights of the renovation appears to be that, not only was their well-being safeguarded, but they seem to be positively thriving! This is perhaps due to the improved shelter some of the thermal improvements provide – you can sit and watch them go out to catch their dinner as the sun goes down!
Some of the major improvements are out of sight, but crucial to the comfort of visitors in what can, at times, be a harsh environment. For example, levels of insulation above, below and in the walls behind the local larch cladding, are well beyond current building regs. spec, which not only reduces the amount of heating required, if any, but also ensures the cottage is still warm in the morning even after the frostiest of nights.
We realise that working towards sustainability will be an ongoing task, but some of the other features built-in during construction and set-up for letting included:
- Installation of at least A-rated appliances; eg. A+++ fridge freezer, which also uses Isobutane R600a refrigerant, avoiding ozone-depleting / global warming potential of CFCs / HFCs
- All furnishings (sofas, beds, tables, chairs), where not reclaimed / upcycled, were chosen for durability, FSC accreditation and carbon intensity (in production and transport). This has given a new lease of life to some dining chairs from an unfortunate café closure, and led us to gaining beautiful outdoor benches, hand crafted from local larch, from skilled artisans less than half a mile down the road!
- LED lighting installed throughout, and, possibly a favourite installed measure due to the difference made (literally turning night into day or, at least, where the sun doesn’t shine!) sunpipes built into bedroom corridor and north-facing kitchen
- Brazilian slate, surprisingly, seems to be the industry standard for fire hearths, despite several thousand miles travelled…. we changed the spec to Caithness stone (from just over 100 miles away), which has been a reknowned construction product for centuries.
- Thermostatically controlled high efficiency boiler system, minimised via wood-burning stove heating option, solar thermal panels for hot water, quality heat-gain windows and hefty insulation.
- All cleaners, from surface and toilet cleaning, to products provided for dishwasher and hand washing, are chlorine and phosphate-free and based on natural ingredients (they do the job, but minimise any impact in the River Spey!). We buy bulk and refill containers and dispensers.
- Electricity purchased from Good Energy, so we contribute to their mission of providing a sustainable solution to climate change through renewable energy systems.
- Banking undertaken with Triodos Bank, so we can even be sure (providing there is cash in our account!) that our bankers only lend to organisations capable of making a positive social, environmental or cultural impact.
- We have also tried to use recycled materials too, right down to the toilet paper! In the spirit of circular economy, A W Laing also bought into the vision of best practice, supplying surplus tiles from another job for the front porch and using larch cladding off-cuts to build into the balcony.
- As you might expect, waste recycling for guests has also been made very easy as part of the design, ensuring that, ongoing, we don’t send recyclable material to Highland Council’s diminishing landfill sites.
- Travel on your bikes or feet has also been made as easy as possible, with a bike shelter for security and safeguarding from the elements, and direct gated access to the forest behind the property and a huge range of walks (added freedom feels great, after years of leaping a deer fence!).
- Local food, culture and activity options are also highlighted for you, if you wish to buy into some local community action / hospitality while you’re here (but options too plentiful to list here – you’ll have to visit to immerse in the options!).
- Similarly, it goes without saying that there is a huge variety of outstanding nature and wildlife opportunities, which our cottage information will help you access, if you don’t have your own adventure already planned. These extend, literally, from seeing red squirrels, deer and an amazing array of birds from the comfort of the sofa or balcony (a Golden Eagle has been seen touching down in the garden – once! We can’t guarantee that unfortunately!!), to local salmon and capercaillie trails, and wider to the mountains, lochs and swathes of Ancient Caledonian Forest at Rothiemurchus.
Supporting Nature + Community
There are enormous ranges of habitats and species in the local area which we help to support in many ways. Have a look at our blogs where we highlight some of our support of our Wild Garden Wildlife.
You can also see what’s being done for nature around the National Park. To help further, we’re also experimenting with a novel and unique (so far, we think?!) initiative to let our guests contribute to the area where they have just enjoyed their holiday.
We became an official fund raiser for the Cairngorms Trust. The charity is involved in enhancing the whole Cairngorms area by funding environmental, cultural, heritage and infrastructure (path, bridge maintenance etc.) projects (#lovethecairngorms).
To put our money where our mouth is, we match fund any contribution our guests make!
So, if guests enjoy the amazing natural beauty of the Cairngorms area, and believe we have to do everything necessary to protect these special places and the species that depend on them, we hope this opportunity to leave something of real value behind, will be of continuing and increasing interest. We’re really excited to be involved!
Please see our BoG Blogs for everything from new fun activities to do locally and around the National Park, to our action to reduce carbon emissions, enhance wildlife and biodiversity, contribute to our community and reduce the impacts of everyone’s visit!
Carbon Footprint + Climate Action
Oil Elimination / Solar PV + Battery + EV Charging Installation
Due to our 2022 “Phase 2” energy system upgrades, it looks highly likely we will meet the Scottish Government’s tight national target 7 years early (perhaps even the 2040 target 17 early!). Recent calculations demonstrated that we had already reduced emissions by 68% to 2021 against our 2017 baseline. With the final stage of elimination of fossil fuels, and the implementation of a new solar PV system and other energy storage measures over spring 2022, data this year should show emissions reduction greater than 75% for all our Scope 1+2 emissions (Scot Govt target 75% reduction by 2030).
If you want to get into the numbers, please see our energy / water / materials consumption, waste generation, and Carbon Footprint data and calculations at our resource consumption + waste generation data pages and our derived current Carbon Footprint vs baseline, which also outlines our potential pathway to “Net Zero” by 2030.
Travel + Transport
As we also now start to try to reduce our carbon footprint beyond the cottage and wild garden, we will be focussing more on travel and transport emissions. We’ve started already by installing an Electric Vehicle charge point, optimised for solar, but an even better option might be………
Imagine going to sleep in London and waking up in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park, 6 miles from your cottage!
