Local Attractions

The Claymore caters for a wide variety of sporting interests. Using specialist knowledge of the area, staff are happy to arrange activities for guests.

The Claymore is ideally located for angling, boating, swimming, tennis, skiing, golf (with many courses in easy reach), off road driving, shooting, walking, bird watching and much more.

With over 25 golf courses within one hour to suit all standards and budgets, Nairn is renowned as the golfing capital of the North.

All arrangements are made for guests with a personal itinerary designed to create a golfing break of a life time.

Contact the Hotel for information about FREE Golf offers and discount packages, group rates and tuition inclusive breaks.

Nearby Attractions

Cawdor Castle
Cawdor Castle dates from the late 14th century and was built as a private fortress by the Thanes of Cawdor. The ancient medieval tower was built around the legendary holly-tree.

Although the House has evolved over 600 years, later additions mainly of the 17th century were all built in the Scottish vernacular style with slated roofs over walls and crow-stepped gables of mellow local stone. This style gives Cawdor a strong sense of unity, and the massive, severe exterior belies an intimate interior that gives the place a surprisingly personal, friendly atmosphere.

Culloden Battlefield
No name in Scottish history evokes more emotion than that of Culloden, the bleak moor which in 1746 saw the hopes of the young Prince Charles Edward Stuart crushed, and the end of the Jacobite Rising, the 'Forty- Five'. The prince's forces, greatly outnumbered by those of the brutal Duke of Cumberland, nevertheless went into battle with a courage which has passed into legend.

The Trust is restoring the battlefield to its state on that fateful day, and the Visitor Centre has a new permanent exhibition of weapons and objects associated with the Rising, as well as an audio-visual programme in six languages, bookshop and self-service restaurant.

There is a raised map for the visually impaired, an induction loop and audio-visual channel for the hard-of-hearing. Guided tours of the battlefield and Living History display in Leanach Cottage during the summer.

Brodie Castle
Brodie Castle is located 4.5 miles west of Forres and 24 miles east of Inverness on the east coast of Scotland. Having been badly damaged by fire in 1645, the castle was later rebuilt. The lime-harled building is a typical Z plan tower house with ornate corbelled battlements and bartizans.

If you know where to look, you can see cannon drain spouts and a sun dial built into the side of the keep. Today you can visit in the interior with its unusual plaster ceilings and see French furniture, paintings, European and Chinese porcelain, Japanese artefacts, toys and much, much more. There are many rooms open to visit on several floors so you need to allow a good hour to look around everything.

If you are interested in furnished interiors (as opposed to old castle ruins) then you will certainly enjoy your visit. At the end of your tour, don't forget to carry on through the tea room to the old kitchen and then when you exit the gift shop, the old dairy is outside to your left. There's also a picnic area, tea room and gift shop, adventure playground with timber fort for the kids, woodland walks, gardens and a lake.

If you have chance to visit during the Spring, the famous collection of daffodils will be in full bloom. Various events are hosted here throughout the year including theatre, musical events, teddybears picnic, ranger walks, flower festivals.

Fort George
Fort George sits behind its massive grass-topped artillery defences on an isolated spit of land jutting into the Moray Firth at Ardersier, 11 miles north east of Inverness. Conceived in the immediate aftermath of the 1745 uprising and the nearby Battle of Culloden that concluded it, Fort George was intended to be a once and for all solution to the threat posed by the Highlands, and the Jacobites in particular.

The Fort was built as a "state of the art" artillery defence to the design of William Skinner, by a team led by William Adam. Work began in 1748 and the final cost, of well over £200,000, was double the original budget and more than Scotland's annual GDP for 1750. The end result was nearly contemporary with, but utterly different from, later phases of development at castles like Stirling and Edinburgh.

The Highlands had given concern to the government since the Middle Ages. The inhabitants were viewed as generally unruly: but disaffection following the Cromwellian military occupation made matters worse. This led to the building of a large artillery fort at Inverness and a smaller one at Inverlochy. These both fell after the restoration of Charles II and though Inverlochy was rebuilt as Fort William, Inverness remained in ruins.Fort George offers a fascinating day out.

The bastioned defences with all their outworks are still intact and offer panoramic views over the Moray Firth and surrounding area. The original buildings are largely intact. The barracks house an exhibition of army life in the century following the building of the fort: and the artillery and staff blocks are home to the Regimental Museum of the Queen's Own Highlanders. In the grand magazine is the Seafield Collection of arms and military equipment. Something distinctly different for the castle collectors amongst us...

Loch Ness 2000
The Highlands newest and most advanced Visitor attraction is now open "LochNess" 2000', lets the visitor explore every aspect of "Loch Ness" the "Exhibition" uses the latest technology in graphics animations, special effect & digitial projection to give the visitor a unique expierence, never to be forgotten.

The centre encompasses a hotel, restaurant and bar as well as 7 themed shops a fully computer automated 6 room exhibition presentation. Free parking, toilets, bus parking and fully accessible for the disabled.

Location: The centre is 14 miles south of Inverness on the A82 road, and 20 miles north of Fort Augustus on the A82 road.Situated 1 mile from Loch Ness.

Tel: 01456 450573

Urquhart Castle
Castle Urquhart (pronounced "urkhurt") stands on a rocky promontary on the north shore of Loch Ness. As soon as you get here you cant help thinking, "Well, if I were going to build a castle to survey this wide glen, and the loch itself, this is where I'd build it!" In fact people were almost certainly here at least 4000 years ago.

At nearby Corrimony is a burial cairn dating from about 2000 BC. However, although some evidence has been found of a fort on this promontory dating from the Iron Age, and also remains from Pictish times, earliest written records for the existence of a castle date from the 1200's.

Dunrobin Castle
Dunrobin Castle is the most northerly of Scotland's great houses and is certainly one of the most majestic. It is the largest house in the Northern Highlands with 189 rooms, and is one of Britain's oldest continuously inhabited houses, dating in part from the early 1300s.

The history of the castle is quite fascinating and has seen the architectural influences of Sir Charles Barry and latterly Sir Robert Lorimer. The castle has been used as a naval hospital during the First World War and from 1965 to 1972 as a boys' school.

Dunrobin Castle is 50 miles north of Inverness on the A9, 1/2 mile north of Golspie. There is parking for 300 cars and 10 coaches.

Falls of Shin
The Falls of Shin are located some 4 miles south of Lairg at the head of Loch Shin - a long inland loch. The falls are famous for leaping Salmon and make an interesting destination for a day trip from Ullapool.

The scenery on route to the Falls of Shin is impressive as it is so desolate, harsh and bleak. Even in summer you can travel for many miles without seeing another car and only the sound of the buzzard or hen-harrier breaks the eerie silence.

Strathislay
The oldest distillery in the north of Scotland. In the 13th century Dominican monks used a spring nearby to provide water for the brewing of beer. The same water with a touch of calcium hardness and scarcely any peat character has been used in the distillation of whisky since at least 1786.

Strathisla, which has also been known as Milltown began its life as a farm distillery. It started to take its present shape from the 1820s onwards, especially after a fire in 1876. In 1950 it was acquired by Seagram.

Glen Grant
Glen Grant has been sold as a bottled single malt since the first decade of this century. It was well known in Scotland long before pioneers like Glenfiddich began to open up the English and international markets. Glen Grant is among the world's biggest-selling malts but much of its sale is in the younger ages, in the important Italian market.

Glen Grant was founded in 1840 and some of the original buildings remain. The distillery is set round a small courtyard with turreted and gabled offices in the "Scottish Baronial" style, probably dating from the 1880s. It is a quirky place, traditional in style despite expansions in the 1970s. Some of the stills are coal-fired.

The Glen Grant distillery is tucked away at the end of the main street of Rothes. It was founded by James and John Grant who were attracted to the location by the plentiful supply of spring water from the Caperdonich Well on the hillside above. The 'two highlanders' label depicts James and John.

Glenlivet
Come and visit us at the Glenlivet Distillery. You will find us in one of the most remote and beautiful of Scotland's inland glens. It lies in the heart of Speyside situated high up in the Banffshire Highlands about an hour and a half drive from Aberdeen airport (depending on the weather).

It is a wonderful area of Scotland with vast, sweeping hills and distant snow-capped mountains swooping down to lush green hills and tumbling, crystal clear rivers.

The Glenlivet visitor centre is one of only a few visitor attractions to be awarded 5 stars by the Scottish Tourist Board.

Whisky Trail
Follow the Whisky Trail and sample some of Scotland's best known malts including Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glenfarclas, Cardhu, Dallas Dhu, and Strathisla.

Kilravock Castle
Kilravock Castle (pronounced 'Kil-rock') dates from 1460. It is a unique and friendly Christian guest house in a truly historical environment.

The castle is situated between Inverness and Nairn, close to the Moray Firth with its stunning white sandy beaches, seals and dolphins.

From here, the whole of the Highlands opens up for you, with historic sites such as the neolithic Clava Cairns; Cawdor, Brodie and Darnaway Castles; Culloden Moor and Loch Ness just a few miles away.