Cairngorms

West Dell

For six, with three bedrooms. Three nights at least.

Welcome

West Dell was the first building on the Dell of Abernethy’s ground, a crofter’s black house, and it still has its deep-set windows and axe-cut beams.

Visited and photographed by Hidden Scotland

It is the largest of the cottages and sleeps six, with a double on the ground floor and a twin and a double in the eaves.

The kitchen, dining table and sitting room are one open space with a wood-burning stove, and it opens straight out onto the main lawn, where children can run.

Good to know: dogs are welcome, up to two at £15 each, and the bathroom is a shower room.

Our home is your home, so relax, enjoy the peace and sink into holiday mode.

Polly and Ross

Good to know

Sleeps: Six, in a double downstairs, a twin and a double in the eaves.
Getting in: Self check-in, with full instructions sent before you come. Ask if you need to be early.
Changeovers: Mondays and Fridays, for a midweek break, a long weekend or a week.
Dogs: Up to two, at £15 each. On a lead in the grounds, never on the furniture or left alone.
Children: Cots, highchairs and fireguards on request. Never left alone in the house.
Included: The basics: linen and towels, heating and hot water, tea, coffee, sugar, salt, pepper and olive oil.
Logs: Set and often lit when you arrive; more at £7 a basket.
Parking: On the left as you come down the drive.
Quiet: Every house has a neighbour: keep it down after 10pm, and no amplified music.
Fire pit: £25 for two and a half hours, lit for you, with logs, rugs and blankets. Book ahead.
Shops: The Dell Grocer on site; Balliefurth Farm Shop and the Spar in the village; a Moray coast fish van, Wednesdays at 10am.

At The Dell of Abernethy

Dell Lodge under snow, its pale stone front and dormers seen through red autumn leaves across the white lawn.

Dell LodgeSleeps 8

Two king-size rooms and two twins
A farmhouse kitchen and a library

Check dates

South Dell, a white cottage with a stone gable and a slate roof, its sunny lawn edged by big trees.

South DellSleeps 6

The lodge’s old kitchen, with its granite range surround
A piano

Check dates

East Dell in spring sunshine, a low stone cottage with a red door and a mossy roof beside its garden and an old oak.

East DellSleeps 5

The most tucked-away cottage
An enclosed garden with a sit-ootery

Check dates

A wooden gate in a picket fence opens onto Little Dell's green garden, with cow parsley and a wooden bench beyond.

Little DellSleeps 2

The lodge’s old ballroom
The original pitch-pine floor

Check dates

Dell Cottage's sitting room, a fire lit in the open hearth, with teal sofas and sheepskins on an oak parquet floor.

Dell CottageSleeps 2

An open fire and oak parquet floors
A king-size bedroom

Check dates The whole placeThe Dell of AbernethyEvery house, the group calendar and what there is to do there.See The Dell of Abernethy

At the Dell

The Dell hosts its own evenings, workshops and weddings in the woods, for guests and for anyone nearby.

Fridays in the tipiThe Gather InnA pub night round the fire in the woodland tipi, most Fridays from 5 to 10pm, with pizza from Highland Slice. No booking: just turn up, and children are welcome until 8pm.

The stone fire pit beside the canvas tipi, a fire lit in it, with sheepskins on the stone seats and the pines behind.

For an eveningThe fire pitA stone fire pit beside the tipi, lit for you with logs, cushions, sheepskins and blankets: two and a half hours for £25, for guests in the houses. The spit-roast barbecue is £40.

The Dell Grocer's carved wooden sign hanging from a bracket on a weathered timber wall, the lawn beyond.

On the doorstepThe Dell GrocerThe Dell’s own shop, open Monday to Saturday, with sourdough most Fridays, easy meals, local produce and wine. Order 48 hours ahead and your house is stocked when you arrive.

A classic blue wedding car driving away down a road through the pine forest.

Among the pinesWeddingsA small number of relaxed weddings a year, among the pines, by a loch or out in the hills, with Dell Cottage for an elopement and the lodge for a house party.

Until 27 Nov: The Gather Inn, Friday nights: A Friday pub night round the fire in the Dell of Abernethy’s woodland tipi near Nethy Bridge, with pizza most weeks and no booking.
Sat 31 Oct: Halloween Party with the Wook: A Halloween dance party in the woodland tipi at the Dell of Abernethy with DJ The Wook, and a goody bag for the best costume.
5 Feb to 8 Feb: Ski Touring Retreat with Beyond Fitness: Three days of guided backcountry ski touring in the Cairngorms with Beyond Fitness, staying and eating at the Dell of Abernethy.