Aberdeenshire's Castle Trail – Five Castles and Haddo House
Two days by car, from Aberdeen and back.
The route
These two days from Aberdeen take in five castles, each a different kind, and one great house.
The first day heads west by Echt to Craigievar's pink tower, in the hills south of Alford. Then it goes up Donside, the quieter valley north of the Dee, to the great ruin of Kildrummy and to Corgarff, a tower turned soldiers' barracks alone at the head of the glen. The night is near Alford. The second day runs north-east by Inverurie and Oldmeldrum into Formartine's farmland, for Fyvie's five towers above their loch, the Victorian rooms of Haddo House and the carved gatehouse of Tolquhon, near Tarves. From there it's 45 minutes back to Aberdeen. It's a trip of spiral stairs, plaster ceilings and roofless halls, with the hills of Donside and the wide fields of Formartine between them.
Before you go
The Kildrummy Inn, on the road back down from Corgarff and 15 minutes short of Alford, has four rooms and serves dinner, so bed and supper are under one roof; it's shut on Mondays and Tuesdays. Book once your dates are set.
8 miles awayTornahatnachSleeps 5
8 miles awayGreenstyleSleeps 6
8 miles awayDalgrassickSleeps 4
8 miles awayHome FarmSleeps 6
8 miles awayChapeltonSleeps 6
13 miles awayWoodendSleeps 4
13 miles awayWest MillfieldSleeps 5
13 miles awayJoiners CottageSleeps 4
13 miles awayGarden CottageSleeps 4
13 miles awayButler's LodgeSleeps 6
13 miles awayRowan CottageSleeps 2
16 miles awayTower O'EssSleeps 2
BallaterDarroch LeargA hotel
19 miles awayThe Bothy, GlendyeSleeps 2
19 miles awayNorth Lodge and River CabinSleeps 6
StrachanCuttieshillockSleeps 6
StrachanGamekeeper’s CottageSleeps 6
StrachanNo 2 Steading Cottage at GlendyeSleeps 4
StrachanThe Coach HouseSleeps 12
StrachanThe Corner HouseSleeps 6
19 miles awayNo 5 Steading CottageSleeps 7
19 miles awayNo 4 Steading CottageSleeps 7
StrachanThe Hay Loft at GlendyeSleeps 4
RothiemayBailies CottageSleeps 6
20 miles awayButlers CottageSleeps 4
RothiemayMidparkSleeps 2
RothiemayGate LodgeSleeps 2Book a table at the Kildrummy Inn
Book on its website or ring 019755 71227.
Ring 01651 851440 to book a tour time, or book at the shop on the day.
Day one
Donside
A day from the pink tower of Craigievar, in the hills south of Alford, up the Don to the great ruin of Kildrummy and on to Corgarff, standing alone under the hills at the head of the glen. The road climbs the valley castle by castle, with the Lecht ahead, and the night is back down the valley, near Alford. Leave Aberdeen at nine.
2 hr 37 min at the wheelAbout 88 miles
Craigievar Castle
An attraction
It's 55 minutes' drive west from Aberdeen, by Echt and past Midmar's stone circle, to Craigievar's car park in the hills south of Alford. William Forbes, an Aberdeen merchant who traded in the Baltic, finished the pink tower in about 1626, and its plaster ceilings are among Scotland's finest. You see it on a guided tour of about 45 minutes, which can't be booked: be there as it opens at 10.30 and take the first with room. There's no electric light upstairs, so a bright day shows it best.
30 min by car
Kildrummy Castle
An attraction
Kildrummy is 30 minutes' drive north, to the Don at Alford and up the valley. The castle shuts for lunch from 12.30 to 1.30, so eat first at the Kildrummy Inn, on the road just before the castle, then walk the 250-metre path up from reception. Built in the 1200s, it's a vast shield-shaped ring of towers above a wooded ravine. Robert the Bruce's brother Nigel held it against the English in 1306, and after the 1715 rising its earl fled into exile and it was left to ruin.
30 min by car
Corgarff Castle
An attraction
It's 30 minutes' drive up the Don by Glenkindie and Strathdon to Corgarff, a white tower alone at the head of the glen, 350 metres up a steep gravel path from its car park. Built around 1530, it became a government barracks after Culloden, ringed by a star-shaped wall with musket loopholes, and its soldiers later hunted whisky smugglers. Last entry is at 4pm. There are no toilets, so stop at the Spar in Bellabeg on the way. Coming back down the valley, the Kildrummy Inn serves dinner from 5pm.
If it rains
Much of this day is under a roof. Craigievar's tour is all indoors, and Corgarff's barrack rooms are inside the tower. Kildrummy is a roofless ruin on an open hillside, so keep it short in a downpour. For a longer dry hour, the Grampian Transport Museum in Alford, full of cars, motorbikes, buses and steam engines, is just off the road between Craigievar and Kildrummy.
Worth a detour
- Doune of Invernochty
The A944 runs right past it at Bellabeg. It's a great grass mound raised for the Earls of Mar in the late 1100s or early 1200s, ringed by a ditch where the Water of Nochty meets the Don. Park in Bellabeg, a short walk east of the mound, and climb it on the way back down from Corgarff, 20 minutes in all. The Lost sign, on the side road to the hamlet of Lost, is a minute away. It adds almost no driving.
- Poldullie Bridge
A minute west of Bellabeg, a single arch of rough stone crosses the Don. Cars can't cross it now: park off the A944 close by and walk on to it. John Forbes of Inverernan built it in 1715, and a tablet over the keystone still carries his name and the date; that autumn he followed the Earl of Mar into the Jacobite rising. It adds almost no driving.
Day two
Formartine
A day among the grand houses and carved castles of Formartine, the farmland north of Aberdeen. It starts at Fyvie, its towers rising above a loch, goes round the Victorian rooms of Haddo's Georgian house with a guide and ends in the courtyard of Tolquhon, 45 minutes from Aberdeen. Set off by quarter past nine.
2 hr 24 min at the wheelAbout 65 miles
55 min by car
Fyvie Castle
An attraction
From Alford it's 55 minutes' drive by Kemnay, Inverurie and Oldmeldrum to Fyvie, above its loch by the Ythan. Near Kemnay you pass the turn for Castle Fraser, one of Scotland's largest tower houses, which needs a morning to itself. By tradition five families who owned Fyvie each added a tower, and inside are a great wheel stair and portraits by Raeburn and Gainsborough. At weekends you go round on your own until 1pm. Eat early in the tearoom, and leave by twenty past twelve for Haddo's 1pm tour.
30 min by car
Haddo House
An attraction
Haddo is 30 minutes' drive south-east. Set the sat-nav to AB41 7LE, the Raxton crossroads north of Tarves, and drive in from there: the house's address can send you up private drives. Park in the country park, £5. William Adam's house was finished in 1732 for the Gordons, Earls of Aberdeen, and its rooms were redone in rich Victorian style in the 1880s. You see them on a guided tour of about 75 minutes: ring 01651 851440 to book the 1pm. Have tea after in the courtyard café.
15 min by car
Tolquhon Castle
An attraction
It's 15 minutes' drive south through Tarves to Tolquhon, a short walk up from its car park. A different William Forbes, the laird of Tolquhon, built it round an older tower between 1584 and 1589, and says so in an inscription on the gatehouse, where round towers and triple gunholes flank the door. It was built to impress more than to defend: look for the stone tiles in the hall and the prison in the south-east tower. Last entry is at 4pm. Aberdeen is 45 minutes' drive home by Pitmedden.
If it rains
Two of today's three are under a roof. Fyvie's rooms and Haddo's tour are indoors, and both have somewhere to eat. Tolquhon is mostly roofless round an open courtyard, so keep it short if it pours.
Worth a detour
- Tarves Tomb
On the way to Tolquhon the road runs through Tarves, and in its kirkyard, under a small shelter, is the tomb William Forbes made in 1589 for himself and his wife, Lady Elizabeth, the year he finished the castle. Their carved portrait figures are strikingly lifelike. It's open all year and free. It adds almost no driving; give it 10 minutes.
Where to eat
AberdeenGio's by La LombardaA restaurant
AberdeenMaggie’s GrillA restaurant
AberdeenThe Pig's WingsA restaurant
AberdeenMoonfish CaféA restaurant
AberdeenMa Cameron'sA restaurant
AberdeenContour CafeA café
AberdeenBooks & BeansA café
AberdeenChop Grill & BarA restaurant
AberdeenCafé BohemeA restaurant
AberdeenUnder the HammerA restaurant
AberdeenManchurianA restaurant
AberdeenYorokobi by CJA restaurantPhotographs by cookiesncandies and Michael McCarthy