We were impressed by the tranquil beauty of the Aigas property, a carefully restored Victorian estate and gardens. On our arrival, we received a warm greeting by the owners, Sir John and Lady Lucinda Lister-Kaye and their professional team of highly trained, good-humoured rangers. The delicious, plentiful meals and afternoon tea in the Great Hall of their mansion were wonderful; however, what we most appreciated was their commitment to enhance our knowledge of conservation, environmental issues, and the native wildlife and flora. The day trips afforded us a marvellous opportunity to learn about the geology and history of the Highlands. These were enhanced by evening lectures by Sir John and his team; visits to the blinds to see the badgers, re-introduced European beavers, and rare Scottish wildcats. We also enjoyed Sir John's historical house tour, the traditional music, and a magical evening of story telling. Perhaps our best day was spent with Sir John's son, Warwick, who normally devotes his time to managing Aigas. His knowledge of the local wildflowers, birds, and mammals in the nearby lochs and hills was astonishing: we watched golden eagles circling above the mountain summits; we saw the silhouettes of, native red deer stags on the hilltops, and watched peregrine falcon juveniles try their wings by targeting a fleeing kestral. We particularly appreciated the Aigas team's passion and commitment to environmental education, as well as their sensitivity and concern for people and this vulnerable planet. I admire their ethics, generosity and kindness toward their guests. We intend to return to this top calibre facility, which exceeded all of our expectations.

This was the first time we had really done any kind of wildlife watching since we were children, and we were very apprehensive about standing out and coming across as idiots. On the contrary, the rangers were so engaging and so patient in helping us to use binoculars, how to identify different birds and really help to build our confidence and enthusiasm. We were given really helpful tips fo the best time and places to spot the beavers and had some very successful hide visits, also seeing the pine martins and wild cats, as well as a host of red squirrels and a young greater spotted woodpecker who was beautiful The food was exception and whilst we were initially hesitant about communal meals, these quickly became the highlight of our time there and Lady Lucy and Sir John were the perfect hosts.

This was an exceptional week of fun, laughter, creativity and wildlife. Tutored by the outstanding Jay Griffiths (wild: an elemental journey; pip,pip etc) with additional teaching and talks from the owner and author John Lister-Kaye (song of the rolling earth, nature child). The wit, patience, knowledge and sheer genius of the tutors made this a fantastic learning experience without feeling a sense of pressure. The wildlife seen was exceptional with pine marten, bottlenose dolphins, red deer, red squirrel, golden eagles, otters, stone chat all seen along with the beavers on the loch which are part of an introduction experiment. They're busy creating habitat patches of fallen birch and adding to the structure of the ecosystem. The group was mixed with couples and singles, male female and a wide mix of ages. Al had one thing in common a desrire to write about the natural world, all succeeded in improving their skills. Brilliant!