A Walking Holiday in Scotland, with Time to Speak English
Walk the Drover’s Tryst Walking Festival with Us
This is a small-scale holiday for people who want to walk Scotland in a way that feels local, thoughtful, and well chosen.
The week brings together two experiences that naturally belong side by side: walking through the landscape, and a private English workshop shaped around real conversation and shared activity.
You’ll spend part of the week taking part in a local walking festival, following routes selected and led by people who know where the best walking is. Outside the festival days, the week shifts into a private, real-world English workshop, built around conversation, everyday situations, and time spent together.
It’s a week for people who enjoy hiking, prefer local experiences over packaged itineraries, and want to improve their English through real use and conversation — a real alternative to classroom learning.
A combined walking holiday and real-world English immersion week in Scotland.
Three days are spent walking as part of a local walking festival.
Three days are dedicated to an English immersion holiday built around real-world English conversation, cultural activities, and light, responsive coaching woven into the experience.
The week combines three guided walking days within a local walking festival (one free day during the festival period), and three days of real-world English immersion through conversation, shared activities, and light coaching.
Arrival: Wednesday 13 May 2026
Walking festival days: Friday 15 – Monday 18 May 2026
English immersion days: Thursday 14 May, Tuesday 19 – Thursday 21 May
Departure: Friday 22 May 2026
For adults who enjoy walking in Scotland and want to experience the landscape through a local walking festival, not a standard tourist walking itinerary.
English level: intermediate and above.
Very small group: a maximum of three participants.
Based in and around Crieff, Perthshire — walking across hills, glens, woodland paths, and historic routes with local guides, and spending immersion days exploring Perthshire’s rich history, music, and craft traditions.
Why English Feels More Comfortable Here
This holiday brings together two distinct experiences: a local walking festival, and an English workshop.
During the walking festival days, you take part simply as a guest. You’re not introduced as an English learner, and there is no coaching or workshop activity during walks or festival events. These days are about walking, conversation, and enjoying being part of something local.
Outside the festival period, the week shifts into an English workshop. This isn’t classroom-based, and it isn’t about exercises or performance. Instead, the workshop is built around real-world conversation, shared activities, and situations that naturally invite language.
Activities are chosen deliberately to support expression — giving you something real to respond to, talk about, and reflect on. Coaching within the workshop is responsive rather than fixed: some people want light input, others ask for more direct guidance. The level is agreed together and can change as the week unfolds.
Price per person
per week, 2026
The Story of this Holiday
Crieff is where it is — and what it is — because of its past.
For centuries, this was one of Scotland’s most important market towns, shaped by the cattle trade that brought people, animals, money, language, and politics together each autumn. Drovers walked cattle south from the Highlands and islands to Crieff, following routes that still cross the surrounding hills, glens, and valleys.
One of those drovers was Rob Roy MacGregor. He drank in local inns. He knew these roads. His story, like many others, is part of the fabric of the town rather than a tale set apart from it.
Crieff has also known violence and upheaval. It was burned during the Jacobite period, and rebuilt. The movement of people through this landscape — for trade, for survival, for power — has left marks that are still readable if you know where to look.
The Drover’s Tryst Walking Festival exists because this history still matters here.
The festival brings people into the landscape through walking — not as spectators, but as participants. Routes are chosen because they offer some of the finest walking in Scotland, and because they make sense in relation to the land’s use, shape, and history. Each walk is organised and led by someone who knows the area well, and who understands how to move through it with care and judgement.
If you want to discover Scotland through walking, there is no better way than this festival: not by standing outside the story, but by moving through the land that made it.
What to Know About Our English Holidays
Before you decide if you want to book a Zoom chat, you may find it helpful to explore how we design our English holidays and support your experience.
→ Real-World English
How English develops through lived experience, conversation, and everyday moments — not classroom performance.
→ Discover the Mix that Makes a Blue Noun Holiday Unique
A simple visual diagram showing how activities, schedule and support combine across a week.
→ What’s Included
Practical details, support, and what your holiday fee covers.
Availability
This holiday runs with a maximum of three participants
Once places are filled, the week closes.
Festival walk tickets are booked once places are confirmed. Some walks have limited capacity, so availability depends on confirming the group in good time.
If you’re interested in this holiday, please book a short Zoom call to check current availability.
A Simple Next Step
If you’re wondering whether this holiday will suit you, the next step is a short Zoom call.
It’s a chance for us to talk things through together — for you to ask questions, share what you’re looking for, and get a feel for whether this way of working (and working with me) feels right for you.
The call also helps make sure expectations are aligned, so everyone arrives knowing what kind of week they’re stepping into.
These holidays aren’t designed to be booked on impulse — the Zoom call gives us both space to check that it’s a good match.
If this sounds like the kind of English experience you’ve been looking for, let’s talk it through.
Book a Zoom call to explore your holiday
If this week isn’t the right fit
Walking is a central part of all Blue Noun holidays.
If this particular week doesn’t work for you — whether because of timing, availability, or the walking festival format — you may want to explore other holidays where walking still plays a strong role, including:
→ Experience English in Scotland Holiday
→ Explore The Autumn Adventurer Outdoor Holiday
Both offer plenty of time outdoors, combined with real-world English in different seasonal and structural settings.
Learn more:
