The old A9 route serves as Kingussie's main street these days, easily accessible from the new A9

Kingussie and Newtonmore, just 3 miles apart, are two attractive highland villages with spectacular mountain views, cafes and top quality visitor attractions, including a nearby wildlife park with polar bears! They sit south of the larger town of Aviemore, a busy hub for snowsports and mountaineering, and so have good access to amenities alongside a quiet, village feel. The name ‘Kingussie’ even means ‘head of the pine forest’, which really sums up these villages setting, in one of the last remaining strongholds of the great Caledonian Pine Forest.

Two of the area’s best visitor attractions are the Highland Folk Museum and the Highland Wildlife Park, both under 5 miles from the villages. The Highland Folk Museum is a fantastic re-created Highland village complete with 30 historical buildings, a working croft and even Shetland ponies! Occupying an 80-acre site, kids and adults alike love to explore and imagine what it would have been like to live in the highlands 300 years ago. The Highland Wildlife Park is home to polar bears, tigers, wolves, red pandas and more – all set in the spectacular Highland landscape. Thanks to the expansive site, the animals have acres to roam and the wolves even have their own woodland – so this is a very different experience to your average zoo!

Anyone who has driven this stretch of the A9 will recognise Ruthven Barracks, which sits just to the east of the road on a grassy hillock. This was a base for the British army following the Jacobite uprisings, built as a station to retain ‘law and order’ in the Highlands. The barracks were surrendered in 1746 after a heavily-armed Jacobite attack.

There are plenty of cafes in both villages to relax with a coffee and a cake – or even a parrot, if that takes your fancy! ‘Kara’ lives in Laggan Stores, west of Newtonmore, and entertains customers with her chatting. That’s when she’s not out hiking with her family!

For the chocoholic, there is a chocolatier in Newtonmore making delicious, homemade delicacies – perfect to treat yourself or to take home as a gift.

The area is a favourite destination for hillwalkers, with access to the Cairngorms plateau as well as woodland, lochside and moorland walks in all directions. Kingussie crags above the village are popular with rock climbers too.

Watersports enthusiasts will love nearby Loch Insh, where you can try your hand at sailing, paddleboarding, canoeing, kayaking or more. There is also a nature reserve on the loch’s edge, a special place to spot curlew, lapwing, snipe, whooper swan and more.

If it’s a picturesque Highland village with plenty to do and mountain views that you’re looking for, you can’t go wrong with Kingussie or Newtonmore.