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- Clunie Cottage
  
  Sleeps: 4-6 people
  
  Our largest cottage is semi-detached and is all on one level. It’s especially bright and airy, particularly well suited to people with visual impairments. It has its own patio with bench seating and overlooks a small garden and bird table.
  
  Check Availability for Clunie Cottage
- Gairn Cottage
  
  Sleeps 4 people
  
  Our allergy free cottage so no pets are allowed. It’s a small and cosy cottage with an accessible ground-floor bedroom and second bedroom in the upstairs gallery. It opens onto the courtyard and has bench seating with planters just outside the door.
  
  Check Availability for Gairn Cottage
- Gelder Cottage
  
  Sleeps: 5 people
  
  Cottage opens out onto a riverside patio with views across the River Dee and Balmoral Golf Course. It has an accessible twin bedroom downstairs and second bedroom in the upstairs gallery.
  
  Check Availability for Gelder Cottage
- Girnock Cottage
  
  Sleeps: 4 people
  
  A detached cottage which opens out onto a riverside patio with views across the River Dee and Balmoral Golf Course. It’s all on one level and has two bedrooms. It has an accessible picnic table just outside the cottage.
  
  Check Availability for Girnock Cottage
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Green Tourism

The Manse Courtyard is ideally situated to enjoy a break in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park. To help you enjoy your stay and help have a look at our Environmental Policy and see how you can help when you Read our Responsible Visitors Charter

The Cairngorms National Park is an area of outstanding natural beauty and is home to a wide variety of wildlife including red deer, pine marten, red squirrel, capercaillie, grouse, golden eagle and osprey. To ensure the survival of all these precious species and to help maintain the beautiful surroundings Crathie Opportunity Holidays is committed to sustainable tourism practices.

Recycling – paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, cans and small batteries
Biomass Heating – we converted from oil to wood pellets in 2015
Solar panels – installed on new office roof to provide electricity for the office
Cleaning – we use and supply Ecover cleaning and laundry products
Water – bag it and bin it campaign, think before you flush
Waste – degradable bin liners
Stationery – recycled office products
Printer cartridges – empties recycled by one of our volunteers to raise funds
Postage stamps – saved for donation to Charity
Lighting – low energy light bulbs used where possible
Fair Trade – coffee, tea, sugar to welcome guests

For more information about sustainable tourism have a look at these links:

Julie C

01 Mar 2026

Cluine cottage, crathie We had an excellent stay at Cluine Cottage. The accommodation was fully equipped to support disabilities, with everything thoughtfully arranged to ensure comfort and accessibility. The staff were outstanding—friendly, attentive, and always willing to help. The house itself had everything we needed, making our stay both easy and enjoyable. Highly recommended. Shall return soon, Jules, malkie and Ann

Kevin H

4 contributions

24 Sep 2025

Kevin and Tricia visit to Crathie Opportunity Holidays I have a progressive muscle wasting condition (SMA 3) and we have been struggling to find suitably adapted holiday accommodation for sometime. I can honestly say Crathie was an unexpected gem of a find and we had the best holiday in stunning surroundings with great facilities ( ceiling hoists in bedroom and bathroom, wet room shower with shower chair, profiling adjustable bed and a Closomat toilet.). The staff and volunteers were great so friendly and helpful. An added bonus was that we were able to take Molly our springer spaniel with us too. We stayed in Clunie cottage which was lovely and had everything needed for a holiday let. The location of the cottage was stunning, a five minute walk from Crathie Kirk and just a few minutes extra to the gates of Balmoral. The cottage courtyard looks down onto the lovely and spectacular River Dee and there are lots of places to go for a walk without having to go on the main road. Braemar is about 9 miles away and Ballater is slightly closer at 8 miles both towns are lovely although my preference was for Ballater, it's a gorgeous wee town. There's a decent sized CO-OP supermarket in Ballater for all your grocery needs. I also need to mention the Clachan Grill in Ballater we had a couple of meals there and the food and service were exceptional.We were fortunate to meet a lovely couple who were staying in one of the other cottages when we arrived at Crathie. We had a great time getting to know Mike and Jean and they had lots of good tips for places to visit or restaurants/cafes to have a meal.As Maggie the manager told us we were very fortunate to be there during the warmest and driest summer on Royal Deeside for many years, but we will definitely be back, whether or not they can guarantee the weather because it is such a lovely part of the World and the people are so friendly. Crathie Opportunity Holidays provide the sort of accommodation that is so difficult for families and couples who have a family member with a severe disability to find. The best recommendation I can give is that we will definitely be visiting Clunie Cottage again the the near future.