The Highland Folk Museum with the children and the dog

Aviemore

Highland Folk Museum – Thatch, Sweets and the Dog Too

A few hours.

The route

The Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore is an open-air museum of more than 35 rebuilt buildings, telling how Highland people lived from the 1700s to the 1950s, from a thatched township in the pinewoods to an old school.

There's a play park, an old-fashioned sweetie shop and costumed interpreters, and dogs on a short lead are welcome everywhere outdoors. It's a free family day in Badenoch that the dog can share.

Before you go

Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
2 miles awayCairngorms Church Hill HouseSleeps 4 4 miles awayThe HayloftSleeps 2 4 miles awayKilliehuntly FarmhouseA place to stay

The day

Newtonmore

Thatched houses in the pinewoods, a quarter of sweets from an old shop counter, and a picnic by the play park with the dog beside you.

About four hours

Highland Folk Museum
The Highland Folk Museum is on the eastern edge of Newtonmore, off the A9. Entry is free, though donations are welcome, and there's no need to book. Parking is £3 a car, paid by card or contactless at the two meters, and the car park is locked 45 minutes after closing. The museum opens every day from 1 April to 25 October, from 10am to 5pm to the end of August and 10.30am to 4pm in September and October, then shuts for the winter. Across a site a mile long, more than 35 rebuilt buildings show how Highland people lived from the 1700s to the mid-1900s, from the thatched houses of the Baile Gean township in the pinewoods to the old school. You may meet costumed interpreters on the way. Well-behaved dogs are welcome outdoors on a short lead, but not inside any building, shop, café or toilet, so take turns to go in. Water bowls are around the site. Kirk's Store Sweetie Shop sells sweets by the quarter, 11am to 4pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and weekends, and every day in the school holidays.
The picnic area by the play park
Lunch
For lunch, take soup, sandwiches and cake from the museum café's takeaway menu to the big picnic area beside the play park, where the dog can sit with you while the children play. Dogs can't go into the café, and it has few seats inside. On a cold or wet day, the second picnic area, below Reception in front of the School building, has a covered space. To sit indoors together, the Wild Flour Café on Newtonmore's Main Street, open Tuesday to Saturday, welcomes dogs and has a kids' corner.