Fancy a trip to the beautiful Scottish Highlands? Fancy developing your taiko skills while you’re there? Come and have a taiko holiday!
I live in Lochinver, in the North West Highlands, a stunning area with fantastic hills, lovely lochs, white sandy beaches, and the world’s oldest rocks.
Taiko training in the Highlands
I’m an experienced taiko player and teacher and can create a bespoke teaching plan for you while you’re here. The schedule can be intensive and highly-focused or more relaxed with plenty time of time for exploring the area.
I have four taiko and a micro dojo — a lovely, bright room in my neighbour’s house — which I use for practising and teaching. The dojo is suitable for one or two students at a time, and there are local village halls available for teaching larger numbers, if you want to come as part of a group.
More details about my teaching along with reviews can be found here: learn taiko with Alison
Accommodation & activities
A variety of accommodation is available locally — glamping pods, hostels, B&Bs, self-catering cottages, hotels, etc., and I can advise on this.
There’s plenty to do other than taiko, with countless opportunities for walking (low-level or mountainous), cycling, kayaking, fishing (sea or freshwater), along with guided walks, talks, and boat tours. There are numerous historical and archaeological sites (including one of Scotland’s best-preserved brochs), fascinating geology (highlighted by the North West Highlands Geopark) and some of Europe’s darkest skies. There are several cafes and restaurants in Lochinver and we even have a sauna near Clachtoll beach.
Getting here
The nearest airport is Inverness, about two and a half hours’ drive away, which currently has direct flights to/from London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Belfast, Dublin and Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Inverness also has a bus and railway station with regular services to/from Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The North West itself has poor public transport, mainly consisting of school buses going to and from Ullapool. There are buses between Inverness and Ullapool but they’re timetabled to connect with the Stornoway ferry, not the local buses, so you’ll probably want to bring or hire a car, which you can do in Inverness.
Lochinver is on the legendary/notorious North Coast 500 route so some people come by campervan.
Get in touch
If you’re interested, email me and we can discuss dates and rates*.
* green tea and chocolate included