Brodie Castle – The Tour, the Grounds and the Playful Garden
A day.
The route
Brodie Castle is a pink-harled tower house of turrets and crow-stepped gables, in parkland between Nairn and Forres, and the Brodies lived here for over four hundred years.
A guided tour takes you through the family's rooms, and outside there's the Playful Garden for children and a carved Pictish stone by the drive. Lunch is in the Castle Café, in the old Victorian kitchen.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Culbin Edge, a mile away. Sleeps 4; next free Mon 9 Nov to Wed 11 Nov.
Then Boath Cabin, 4 miles away. Sleeps 4; next free Fri 16 Oct to Sun 18 Oct.
Book a guided tour of Brodie Castle
Book a guided tour of Brodie Castle on the National Trust for Scotland's website for about 11am: tours run every day until 31 October from 10.30am to the last at 3.30pm (on Saturdays the castle is self-guided until 2pm), at £16.75 an adult, £45 a family, at the time of writing.
The day
Brodie Castle
A morning at a castle between Nairn and Forres. A guided tour of the house, a wander in the grounds and the Playful Garden, then lunch in the castle's old kitchen.
About three and a half hoursAbout 1 mile on foot
Brodie Castle
An attraction
The Brodie Castle turning is signed off the A96 between Nairn and Forres. Park in the estate car park, which costs £5 for anyone who is not a National Trust for Scotland member. The castle is seen by guided tour, about an hour long, every day until the end of October, from 10.30am with the last at 3.30pm. On Saturdays it opens for self-guided visits until 2pm instead, with guided tours after. A ticket is £16.75 for an adult, and booking online makes sure of a place on the tour you want. The tower house was finished by the Brodies in 1567, and the family lived here until 2003. Inside are fine antique furniture and ornate plaster ceilings, mostly from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Afterwards walk the grounds, which are free, to the pond and the shrubbery. By the drive stands Rodney's Stone, a Pictish cross-slab two metres high, carved with beasts and the longest Pictish inscription known. Children will want the Playful Garden, full of sculptures of characters from the estate's past, among them Scotland's biggest bunny. Only assistance dogs go into the castle, but dogs on short leads are welcome in the grounds and the Playful Garden.
The Castle Café
Lunch
Lunch is in the Castle Café, set in the castle's old Victorian kitchen, so there is no drive to it. It's open every day from 10am to 4pm until 31 October, for hot and cold lunches, snacks, tea, coffee and cake. After 31 October the café and the castle tours close for the winter, though the grounds stay open.
If it rains
The tour and lunch are under a roof, so a wet day only shortens the time in the grounds and the Playful Garden: take a longer lunch in the Castle Café instead.