Sarah heads North (part 1)
April 7, 2011 : General Team Building
Visit Scotland hosts a number of familiarisation trips throughout the UK as part of their ambitious annual programme of events. Such trips aim to educate attendees on what different areas have to offer in terms of established as well as new and up and coming venues and events.
Their most recent trip was to Inverness, Scotland, and I was lucky enough to be invited. So after a pleasant train ride with East Coast Services getting to know my fellow guests, we headed to The New Drumossie Hotel for a show around and lunch. Set in a striking listed art deco building, this Highland hotel is located 10 minutes from the centre of Inverness, and can accommodate small intimate groups and cater for up to 600 in their conference and meeting space.
We were then taken to see Castle Stuart, the new home of the Scottish Open. The course itself looked like it has some fairly tricky tee shots and impressive fairways to play, and there’s a very welcoming Clubhouse to relax and relive your round – be it good or bad!
For a more modern activity, our hosts treated us to a game of Laserstrike at Wildwoodz Paintball Park. Laserstrike is an alternative to paintball and uses infra-red beams instead of paint, making it suitable for participants of all ages and, from my point of view, a less painful experience than paintball!
Next we visited Achagairn House, a stunning mansion recently refurbished to a luxury standard. The house stands in 15 acres of grounds and has 24 individually designed bedrooms for a maximum group size of 55. It also has a fantastic ballroom which can cater up to 160 guests so if you’re planning a dinner or celebratory event in the Highlands this is definitely a venue to consider.
We checked in to our overnight accommodation at the Kingsclub, a contemporary development within the Kingsmill Hotel grounds. The Kingmills Hotel boasts conference and meeting space along with 83 bedrooms, while The Kingsclub offers a choice of luxury air-conditioned bedrooms, a beauty spa, mezzanine lounge and business centre all within a city centre location.
We then headed out for a dine around town style of evening, or “supper safari” as some of the other members of the group named it. Starters were served at the Columba Hotel, mains at the Glen Mhor Hotel and then the greatest number of desserts I have ever seen at Contrast, part of the Glenmoriston Town House. The dessert platter included a chocolate and butterscotch fondue, creme brulee, beetroot souffle and several others!!
To finish of the day, we walked across toEden Court, considered to be one of the best equipped arts centres in Scotland, for coffee. A very impressive building with plenty of opportunties to take over some of the space and create your own unique event or make use of the Victorian features to impress your guests.
So with such an action packed Day 1 what was there left to see and do on Day 2? Well you will just have to wait until next month to find out…
Maximillion organises team building, conferences and team development programmes in Scotland and across the UK for groups of all sizes. If you would like any further information about what we do, please call us on 0131 333 0066 or make an enquiry.