THE TURN OF THE CENTURY - NEWTONMORE'S HEY-DAY

Over the years, the village continued to grow in popularity as a holiday destination and as a venue for 'sporting' recreation. The large local estates encouraged the gentry to come and indulge the fashion for Huntin' shootin' and fishin'. The Royal seal of approval was given to the area by the frequent visits first of Queen Victoria, then latterly of King Edward VII. Queen Victoria passed through, and often stayed in, the area. On one occasion, the Royal party broke their journey and stopped for the night at the then staging inn at Dalwhinnie. When they asked for supper they were extremely disappointed to be served "two starved chickens". After the Royal couple had eaten, their servants had to make do with the left overs.

Queen Victoria, after many visits, decided to purchase a Royal residence in the Highlands, and the choice was narrowed down to either Ardverikie, by Loch Laggan (a reproduction of a painting by the Queen herself of Ardverikie Castle can be seen in the Clan Macpherson Museum) or Balmoral. Sadly, she chose to make her deciding visit to Ardverikie in the height of summer and found the midges to be intolerable, otherwise Newtonmore could now be enjoying the popularity of  Royal Deeside. It was during this period that many of the large houses in Newtonmore were built, initially as 'shooting lodges', by wealthy visitors from the south. Grouse and Stag shooting, along with fishing for trout and salmon are still a big attraction and continue to bring revenue into the area. Around the turn of the century, a stagecoach service ran from Kingussie to Spean Bridge, which is pictured, right, outside the then-named 'The Hotel', which became 'Main's Hotel' and. in 2005, Main's House care home.

The Spean Bridge Stagecoach outside 'The Hotel' c 1905