Deeply saddened and disappointed by my experience (lack of an experience) at this distillery today…read more As someone who has been to her fair share of distillery tours in her 20's and 30's, there is a certain level of flexibility and customer service that should be expected when visitors are coming from overseas. I feel like the rigid tour schedule and unyielding management style for dealing with tour groups could use more flexibility and understanding. Just because I can't make exactly when you offer a particular tour shouldn't mean you lock up the special room and not allow guests to try the special reserve bottles, especially when I budgeted to buy several bottles today if I enjoyed them! I shared my woes at the local bar and a couple on holiday recommended a few other distilleries in the area. I am happy to take my hard earned money somewhere else. Just wanted to leave my cautionary tale.

Not our first time up here in the North - we always love to come back to this area. But we've never…read morevisited John O'Groats - this year though we made some time for a visit. It's often advertised as the Northernmost point - which it is actually not. That would be Dunnet Head. But it is the northernmost settlement (or village so to call). Also ferries to the Orkneys depart from here. The name comes originally from Jan de Groot, a 15th-century Dutchman who once plied a ferry from the Scottish mainland to Orkney, which had recently been acquired from Norway by King James IV. The signpost is not the original from 1964 but was erected after the Hotel re-opened in the 2000s and is now publicly accessible without any fees. And this landmark brings in a lot of visitors. Restaurants, cafés, souvenir shops, a distillery....it's all here. As the counterpart "Land's End" in Cornwall it's often compared to a touristy theme park. And yes, it completely caters to tourists and visitors. But still, it was worth a visit. Some shops were pretty fun, the ocean views are beautiful and there's also the John O'Groats trail - a nice path along the coast. And if you like it very much, then there's the colourful Hotel where you could stay at.

This is so much more than just a famous sign - it's a whole village built around the sign - with an…read moreold Victorian hotel, lots of whimsical murals, boats, a cute cafe and shops, a row of colorful houses, and even a whisky distillery! The John O'Groats sign marks the "journey's end" on the trek from the southernmost inhabited point in the UK (Land's End in Cornwall, England) to the northernmost inhabited point - John O'Groats village, Scotland! It's not actually the northernmost point in the UK though - that's nearby at a place called Dunnet Head. But it is the most northern village. The British even use the metaphor "from Land's End to John O'Groats" to signify a great, all-encompassing distance - kinda like how we American's say "coast to coast". It's a beautiful little village - very quaint and very windy haha! There's a little park which doubles as a trailhead for the 147 mile John O'Groats trail. It also holds the original bright red foghorn from the nearby lighthouse before it was automated. From the park, you can see the Orkney Isles in the distance and a line of very turbulent waves stretching from Orkney to the mainland - this is where the North Sea clashes with the Atlantic Ocean and is considered one of the most dangerous channels in the whole UK! I so badly wanted to get my drone up in the air but it was WAAAAY too windy lol. It's very remote but we got here doing the North Coast 500 route with Rabbies Tours (which is AMAZING by the way). We spent a few minutes in the cafe and shop - so many cute souvenirs and trinkets and very fun bottles of vodka and gin. We grabbed a coffee and a couple of pastries - all excellent! In the summer, a ferry runs from the village dock over to Orkney. Definitely worth a stop if you're doing the North Coast 500!