Ballater, Scotland: Paradise in the Highlands

After returning to Edinburgh for just long enough to do my washing I skipped town yet again - this time heading north to picturesque Ballater in the Cairngorms National Park.

Ballater is the town that serves Balmoral Castle, the Scottish home of the royal family. Balmoral Estate has been a favourite destination of the royals since it was purchased for Queen Victoria by Prince Albert in 1852. That Albert - what a keeper!

In her diary, Queen Victoria referred to Balmoral as 'my dear paradise in the Highlands' and it is not hard to see why. I didn't visit Balmoral itself, but the countryside surrounding it is stunning.

These days, as well as being popular with the royal family, Ballater and its surrounds are a popular destination for walkers, snow sports enthusiasts and tourists alike.

Gus, Yolli and I left Edinburgh for Ballater on Saturday morning. After driving a camper van that averaged 45mph for a week I know Gus was pretty thrilled to be back behind the wheel of his beast of a car. The trip was fairly speedy.

We arrived at the Craigendarroch Hilton (we're so classy) and settled into a very pleasant routine.

Sleep in, breakfast, obsess over unfinished jigsaw puzzles, go for a walk in the lovely countryside, further obsession over jigsaws, dinner, swim, spa, sauna.

It was a pretty fantastic routine.

My favourite pup.

These two!

As well as the very pleasing scenery, Ballater also had an abundance of cute wildlife. Most notably, our lodge always had red squirrels scampering around it. I had never seen a red squirrel before - they're so much nicer than their murderous grey counterparts! One morning there was a squirrel using it's tail as an umbrella and it was pretty much the most adorable thing ever.

I had a lovely couple of days with my Scottish family. It was, despite the rising panic about missing two weeks of uni, very relaxing. Sadly, I had to return to Edinburgh after just four days to hit the books. Or, more accurately, to avoid the books like the plague and tour Edinburgh's quality drinking establishments instead.

But let's not talk about that.

So much love.