Our friend Megan is a huge fan of Highland cows (also known as Heilan coos), so we made several attempts to see them while on our trip to Scotland. We did get to see them a couple of times, but we all wanted to go one further by having some kind of Highland cow experience, rather than just seeing them from a distance.
We ended up getting lucky because there was the perfect opportunity to do that on our drive to Inverness. Close to the banks of Loch Ness, you can visit Drumbuie Farm B & B and Quila Cridhe Tearoom. In addition to being a farm, bed & breakfast and tearoom, they provide the opportunity to feed Highland cows for only £5 (~$7) – an absolute bargain!
We decided to stop in at the tearoom for lunch before meeting the cows. With only a dozen or so tables in the tearoom, it gets full very quickly and we were lucky to snag a table for four. You can book a table ahead of time here, but they do have walk-in tables available on a first-come, first-served basis which is what we did.
Their food menu isn’t extensive, but they have a mini afternoon tea option with your choice from one of three types of sandwich along with a scone, cream and jam, plus tea or coffee, or a handful of toastie options. There are various other hot drinks, soft drinks and mocktails as well.
The four of us each ordered a mini afternoon tea which didn’t take too long to arrive despite it being busy.
Shae doesn’t care for tea and coffee, so she ordered a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows which was served in an adorable mug.
What was also adorable was their Highland cow cupcake that we ordered separately (I think it was one of the daily specials).
The cuteness doesn’t end there. There were some Highland cow salt and pepper shakers that they sell in their gift shop. They were sold out at the time, but Shae managed to find them at a store in Aberdeen where we stayed a couple of nights later.
After polishing off that food, it was time for the most important part of the visit – feeding the Highland cows! Drumbuie Farm offers timed Coo Lovers Experiences that you can book here; that’s described as:
This highly coveted up close private experience (the famous one from all the videos & photos) is run out of hours 9:30am-10am. You get 30 mins with the coos where you can feed and touch them with a guided talk about the farm and coos in the lower walled area. You do not need to provide us with how many people will be apart of your party. As long as they all show up at 9:30! Your group is the only one there in the morning and there is no limit to people!
That costs £20 (~$27.30) for adults and £10 (~$13.65) for children and sounds like it’d be a lot of fun. We’d come across that option too late, so we didn’t get a chance to do that ourselves.
The great thing is that the regular Highland cow-feeding experience is available as a walk-in experience with no reservation needed. All you have to do is pay your £5 (~$7) inside and you’ll be given a cup of bread. You then head out back to feed the cows.
The cows are very keen to enjoy the bread, stretching out their oversized, sandpapery tongues.
I broke up my bread pieces to make the experience last longer.
Shae decided to take a different approach. Almost a year to the day before our visit to Drumbuie Farm, Shae and I had visited the Olympic Game Farm in Washington State, USA. There, we’d gotten to feed bread to all kinds of other animals, including bison. She’d decided to go Lady and the Tramp-style with one of the bison by feeding it bread held in her mouth.
You can probably see where this is going! Yep, she popped some bread in her mouth and fed one of the cows that way.
The photo above doesn’t fully capture quite how…intimate…the moment was though, so here’s a quick video of it:
If you want to extend your time with the cows, you can buy more bread and keep going. However, we had other places we needed to get to that day and so we sadly had to make a move, saying farewell to the coos.
We had a wonderful time at Drumbuie Farm B & B and Quila Cridhe Tearoom. If you find yourself in Inverness or near Loch Ness it’s definitely worth a visit, especially if you’re interested in feeding Highland cows.
Saga 2025 Trip To London, Liverpool & Scotland – All The Posts
Here are links to all of the posts in this series:
- Saga 2025: Trip With Friends To London, Liverpool & Scotland – An Intro
- Saga 2025 Day 1: London – Police Station Hotel, British Museum, Dinner In Darkness & Abbey Road
- Saga 2025 Day 2: Liverpool – Cavern Club, Hard Day’s Night Hotel, Cocktails & More
- Visiting The Kelpies In Falkirk, Scotland By Day & By Night
- Saga 2025 Day 3: Falkirk – Kelpies, World’s Only Rotating Boat Lift & More
- Saga 2025 Day 4: Drive From Falkirk To Fort William – Castles, Distillery, Monument & More
- Hotel Review: Inverlochy Castle Hotel In Fort William, Scotland
- How To Watch The Jacobite Steam Train On Glenfinnan Viaduct (Harry Potter Hogwarts Express Train)
- How To Find 6 Harry Potter Filming Locations Near Fort William, Scotland
- Jacobite Steam Train Review: What It’s Like Riding The Hogwarts Express
- Saga 2025 Days 5-7: Fort William – Harry Potter, Castles, Waterfalls, Mountains, Distillery & More
- Review of The Two Byres – Vacation Home On The Isle Of Skye, Scotland (Booked Via Cottages.com With Wyndham Points)
- Talisker Cask Draw & Tasting Experience – Fun, Tasty & Strong!
- The Three Chimneys Restaurant Review
- Saga 2025 Days 8-9: Isle Of Skye – Whisky, Fairies, Castles, Waterfalls, Views & More
- A Tearoom Where You Can Feed Highland Cows? Yes Please!
- Saga 2025 Day 10: Skye To Inverness – Coos, Castles, Nessie, Another Whisky Experience & More
- Saga 2025 Day 11: Inverness To Aberdeen – Standing Stones, Pyramid, Castle & More
- Saga 2025 Day 12: Aberdeen – Time Travel, Castles, Coos & More
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