Nature & Environment
Latest Past Events
Moray Walking & Outdoor Festival (June 13–23, 2025)
Discover the wild beauty of Moray with the Moray Walking & Outdoor Festival, Scotland’s midsummer celebration of nature and adventure. With more than 50 guided walks, cycling routes, storytelling sessions, and historic tours, the festival takes you deep into the dramatic coastlines, ancient woodlands, and sweeping glens of the region. Whether you're a seasoned rambler or a casual stroller, there’s an outdoor experience tailored just for you. And what better place to rest your feet than Isla Bank House, a grand Victorian manor nestled in Keith—the gateway to Moray. Just a short drive from many event locations, Isla Bank House offers luxurious accommodation, period charm, and a tranquil setting after your day's explorations. Enjoy a warm bath in a clawfoot tub, a dram of Speyside whisky in the drawing room, or a book in the walled garden.
Guided Forest-Bathing Walk
Relax and restore in beautiful woodland surroundings by learning to practise natural mindfulness. Woodland themed tea, and snacks, included. Rediscover the woods and yourself. No water involved! Forest Bathing (also known as Shinrin Yoku) is a refreshing, relaxing mindfulness practice that allows you to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the woods. By following (optional) invitations to open our senses, the aim is to slow down, recharge, and connect to ourselves and the natural environment. Our session may include a guided meditation, some gentle sensory exercises, a restful mindful walk, perhaps a sit/lie down at some point, reflecting as a group, and then tea and snacks. The perfect antidote to a busy week! Led by trained Forest Bathing guide and local therapist Danielle Quist.
Hopeman Fossil Dunes and Trackways Tour
An opportunity to examine features of the late Permian Hopeman Sandstone Formation, including fossilised dunes and animal trackways, with local geologist Dave Longstaff. During this full-day event with Elgin Museum, you’ll examine the features of the late Permian Hopeman Sandstone Formation. Starting at the beach huts, we will see relicts of aeolian barchan and possible star dunes before examining a stretch of coastline that shows small faults, a range of soft sediment deformation features, fluvial and lacustrine sandstones, abandoned millstones and quarries, trace fossils and other sedimentary features. After lunch in Cove Bay (NJ 1594 7011) around low tide of 13:33, we will look at a well-studied fault zone and post-glacial caves. We will then go to Clashach Quarry to examine fossilised reptile footprints and glacial features before descending to the coast via a short path to visit an old sandstone quarry (1781), the old Clashach port, Jock Muldoon’s Cave and see some beautifully displayed sandstone cross-bedding and relicts of quarrying. When the excursion finishes, we will return to the beach huts via the coastal path; the expected time back at cars is 16:00-16:30.