Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Former Highland primary school to be transformed into backpackers hostel

Dalwhinnie Community Council Chairman Bill Carr with the village's former primary school.
Dalwhinnie Community Council Chairman Bill Carr with the village's former primary school.

A 19th Century primary school in the Highlands is to be transformed into a modern, high-quality backpackers hostel – with ambitious plans for an additional glamping site featuring Mongolian yurts.

The former Dalwhinnie Primary School – which welcomed its first pupils in 1878 – closed its doors in 2012 following a downturn in the village population.

Mountaineering enthusiast Dr Lee Cleghorn, 40, from Alloa, has now outlined his desire to turn the derelict building into a bustling tourism venture, while maintaining its history and character.

He said: “I have been looking for the right place in the Highlands for probably close to four years now. I have been to 74 different countries around the world, so I’ve travelled a lot.

“I lived in New Zealand for two years and China for a year and I’ve stayed in literally hundreds of hostels around the world and always wanted to open my own.

“I would like to build my way up to one of the top-rated hostels in Scotland. I stayed in a hostel in China and I think it was 65 pence a night and the beds were made of concrete with a very thin mattress.

“I’ve also stayed in fancy hotels like Gleneagles and The Old Course Hotel, so right across the board. It’s offering a comfortable, friendly, place for people to stay for walkers cyclists and tourists.”


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J newsletter


The hostel will feature one large dorm room alongside two smaller rooms and two double or twin rooms. The existing toilet block will also be upgraded to include several shower cubicles.

Dr Cleghorn also plans to transform the open ground around the school into a small glamping campsite, featuring several Mongolian style yurts.

Bill Carr, chairman of Dalwhinnie Community Council welcomed the plans, saying: “It would be good for the village and for the school.

“There is little prospect of the school being reopened, I mean there are no children of that age in the village but even if there were, things have moved on.

“It’s good to see it being put to good use. It’s well removed from the main road through the village so I don’t see that being a problem. On various occasions we even had people knocking at the door asking if there is somewhere in the village.

“From a personal point of view and the point of view of the people I have spoken to in the village here, we would think that would be a good thing.

“It wouldn’t compromise any of the existing businesses within the village because the current bunkhouse is presently closed.

“Certainly from the conversations we have had, we would be in favour of the development.”