Duff House – Through an Earl's Woods to the Bridge of Alvah
About 4.5 miles on foot.
Behind the great baroque mansion of Duff House, on the edge of Banff, the old estate woods run for a couple of miles up the River Deveron.
A path leads through them past an ice house and the Duff family's Gothic mausoleum to the Bridge of Alvah, built high over the river's gorge in 1772. It's about four and a half miles there and back, and it starts at a free car park with a play park beside it.
- Time
- Two to two and a half hours: about 7.2 km (4.5 miles) there and back on woodland paths and farm tracks, by the distances on the signpost at the car park.
- The path
- A good track at first, then woodland paths with steps and narrow, muddy stretches, and farm tracks beyond the mausoleum.
- Where to start
- The car park at Duff House, beside the playing fields, signposted from the A98. Free.
- When to go
- All year in daylight; lovely in autumn, when the beeches turn. Duff House is open Friday to Sunday from October to March and shut from 21 December to 7 January. From November to January set off by noon.
- Dogs
- On a lead near farm animals.
- Children
- A play park at the start, and the ice house and mausoleum make a shorter walk of a mile and a half there and back. There is a gorge at the bridge: keep children close.
- Toilets
- Public toilets, one accessible, beside the car park. None on the walk.
- Before you set out
- The grounds are open to walk. Duff House itself is open Friday to Sunday, 10am to 3.30pm, from October to March, and shut from 21 December to 7 January.
The walk
Park at Duff House, on the south edge of Banff and signposted from the A98. The car park is beside the playing fields and it's free, with public toilets, one of them accessible, right next to it and a play park in a clearing in the trees. A signpost at the car park points the way and gives the distances: the ice house a quarter of a mile, the mausoleum three quarters of a mile and the Bridge of Alvah two and a quarter miles. That makes four and a half miles there and back, a little over 7 km, and two to two and a half hours. The house is William Adam's, built between 1735 and 1740, and it's worth a walk round the outside before you set off.
Inside it's a gallery, open Friday to Sunday from October to March. It was James Duff, the 2nd Earl of Fife, who laid out these woodland walks along the Deveron from 1767. The Fife Gates, a pair of stone gateposts topped with carved urns, mark the way into the trees. The ice house is a turf-covered stone dome of about 1790 that kept the estate's food cold. The mausoleum, which the Earl built in 1792, holds the first five Earls of Fife.
It's kept locked, but it's a fine thing to come upon among the oaks and beeches. Beyond it the way runs on through woods high above the river, then across open farmland, to the bridge the Earl had built over the Deveron's gorge in 1772. The path has steps and some narrow, muddy stretches, so wear boots, and keep dogs on a lead near farm animals. From November to January, set off by noon.
If it rains
The trees give good shelter as far as the mausoleum, and that shorter walk works well on a wet day. The steps and narrow stretches beyond are slippery when wet.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Where to eat
The Platform and Annie's Cakery, a café in Macduff.
For further reading, before you go.