Duffus Castle – A Keep on its Mound and a Coffee Hut
A few hours.
The route
Duffus Castle is a ruined stone keep high on a great grassy mound, ringed by its old moat, with the flat fields of the Laich of Moray stretching away on every side.
It's free to visit. Finish with a coffee and a slice of home baking from the little green shepherd's hut beside the car park. Allow an hour or two.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
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The day
Duffus
A ruin you can see for miles across the fields. Walk up to the keep, look out over the Laich from the top of the mound, then settle in with a coffee by the hut.
About an hour and a halfAbout 0.5 miles on foot
Duffus Castle
An attraction
Duffus Castle is signed in brown across the farmland north-west of Elgin. Park in the castle's car park and cross the little bridge over the moat. The first castle here was timber, raised on its mound in the 1100s, and the stone keep came about two hundred years later. Part of its tower has since slid down the side of the mound, so you can look right into its walls. Climb the wooden steps to the top for the view over the Laich of Moray, then wander round the bailey wall. It's free and open all year, with no staff and no toilets, and the steps and the mound are not for wheelchairs or buggies. Dogs are welcome, and children love the mound.
About 3 min on foot
Kula Coffee Hut
Coffee
Coffee is back by the car park at the Kula Coffee Hut, a green shepherd's hut at the castle gate, with tables outside under a canopy. It serves barista coffee, speciality teas, hot chocolate, home baking and Stew 'n' Drew's ice cream from Hopeman. From spring it opens Thursday to Monday, 10am to 4pm, then every day in high summer and about four days a week over the winter, so check its Facebook or Instagram page before you go. Dogs and children are welcome.
If it rains
The castle is open to the weather, with nothing under a roof, so on a wet day keep the walk short and take your coffee under the canopy by the hut. In heavy rain, Elgin Cathedral, a short drive away, is the better bet.
Kula Coffee Hut, a café in Duffus.