I’ve been here in Tomintoul before several times; one after seeing a cheap deal on Wowcher or Groupon, and the second time, when I did the Speyside Way with friends, and used the youth hostel here for several nights accommodation. Well worth it!
Whilst there in the youth hostel, I was told that not only did the village have many more people years ago, but that it was a Gaelic speaking one. He also noted that the pronunciation should be, “DAW men dowl”. Finally, he stated that many of the existing houses are now AirBnBs, and the village tends to come to life in the summer when more people are living there.
It’s an interesting place, with not only a distillery for Tomintoul whisky just before the village, but it also has a very basic, grid street system.
We came here for a quick hot chocolate after seeing that the hotel we had stayed at years ago, the Richmond Arms, was not only open, but was advertising their wares with a street sign.
I noted that the village square is still there, and has a “designer” hotel, a village shop, pub restaurant / hotel, The Glenavon, and a tourist info / museum building, that provides much needed info on this area.
For those interested, there is the nearby Glenlivet Estate (yes, the same name as the whisky!), where a myriad of activities take place.
CB
Curious Bystander 