I felt that familiar lift of the heart when I drove up to Aviemore not long ago. I was heading for the Macdonald Aviemore Highland Resort, a new, multimillion-pound development that has signalled fresh confidence in the area. Though the weather was dire, I travelled secure in the knowledge that comfort and good food awaited at the end of my journey.

In my youth, Aviemore was a supercool ski resort, but the advent of cheap holidays abroad put an end to the boom days when buses would bring thousands of youngsters north to ski all day and party all night. It was also (profoundly less interesting to a teenager), a conference venue, with a once modern conference centre that eventually fell into a decline and closed.

Aviemore’s fortunes may have wobbled, but the whole area soon began capitalising on new trends in outdoor adventure – not just skiing, but a whole raft of sports such as quad bike trekking and mountain biking. And a few years ago, together with Tulloch Homes and Bank of Scotland, hotelier Donald Macdonald saw the potential and bought the old conference centre, plus the mishmash of lodges and hotels, ranging from Post House to Hilton, that lay around it.

Now rebuilt, with a state of the art 650 seat auditorium, 1,000 square metre exhibition hall, smart meeting rooms and ballroom, the glossy new conference centre is already up and running and attracting multi-national companies and party conferences. Attached is an upmarket shopping centre (designer labels, deli delights, soap, candles, china) and the Highland Food Court for casual meals.

The hotel refurbishments are almost at an end, and together with some de luxe three bedroomed lodges they now form a campus of accommodation to suit visitors of all types: the Aviemore Inn, next to the conference centre, has a lively Italian restaurant; the Academy Hotel, with big family rooms, lays on entertainment for children throughout the summer; and the Macdonald Highlands Hotel, where I stayed, boasts beautifully appointed executive rooms and the resort’s ‘fine dining’ restaurant, Aspects. It is also conveniently connected to the leisure arena, with its light, bright lagoon pool, jacuzzi, sauna, gym and beauty spa.

Only the Macdonald Four Seasons Hotel remains to be completed (the rooms are being refurbished floor by floor), but like all the others, it is being given a quality makeover, featuring warm tartan fabrics, creamy walls and sleek bathrooms. I fell in love with my own chic and contemporary room in the Highlands Hotel, which had everything you could want and made a peaceful, comfortable home from home. My only complaint was that the modern bedside lights proved rather more decorative than functional; I had to hold my book at arm’s length to find enough illumination. (But I’m a sucker for style. I’m still not sure I would trade them in.)

I was impressed by the Aspects restaurant, decorated oxblood red the better to show off its snowy table linens. And the food served there was delicious; I enjoyed ham hock terrine and roast rib of veal with pea and mint puree and red wine jus my first night, and Speyside venison with red cabbage and parsnips the second.

When it comes to finding things to do in the area around Aviemore, you are really spoilt for choice. Virtually every outdoor activity you can think of is catered for by local companies such as G2 or the nearby Rothiemurcus Estate, and there are some less energetic pastimes on offer, such as astronomy or wildlife photography.

I’d heard about the Highland Wildlife Park, a few miles south at Kingussie, and decided to set off there first in the hope of seeing wolves. The park, under the auspices of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, features animals from mountain areas in Britain and elsewhere, and part of its acreage is given over to big drive-through enclosures where you can spot bison, wild asses or yaks along the way. Other animals, like the wolves – slinky and charismatic – can be seen from footpaths.

It was a pack of wild boar, in fact, who proved to be the stars of my visit. They raced up their enclosure to see if I’d brought food, and behind them bounced at least a dozen enchantingly striped piglets.

Although I knew the ospreys would not have returned yet, I also looped north to see the RSPB gearing up for a new season on its Abernethy Reserve at Loch Garten, setting up cameras yet again on the most famous osprey nest in Britain. Last year, the incumbent female, EJ, played fast and loose with an old flame, VS, so that when her mate Henry turned up, he found eggs already in the nest and kicked them out – a tale of love and loss worthy of a soap opera. Site Manager Desmond Dugan was understandably hoping things would be quieter this year.

The RSPB also runs an early morning Caper-watch from April to mid-May, which enables birdwatchers to view the rare big black grouse, the capercaillie, during its sensitive lekking period. A benefit all round, as the organised watch virtually guarantees visitors a sighting of the birds, while reducing the risk of them searching elsewhere and inadvertently disturbing this hard-pressed species.

Impossible to visit the Cairngorms and not take a trip up the funicular to see the great Cairn Gorm itself, the skiing mountain. This has been a good season for snow, confidently predicted to carry through into April, and the scene at the top was a delight, with tiny bundled up creatures on sledges, beginners making anxious snowploughs and more confident skiers swooping by.

There was just time on the way home to divert and take in the alpine nursery at Inshriach, which I had been told was a gem. Indeed it was – not just for the serried ranks of pots containing diminutive alpine treasures, but also for the wonderful home made cream cakes and scampering red squirrels on the feeding station outside.

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