Forgue – A Distillery Tour and a Castle of the Hays
A few hours.
The route
Two hundred years of whisky and a castle of the Hays, a short drive apart in the farm country between Huntly and Turriff.
The morning starts in a stone-built distillery in the glen of the Dronach Burn, with a tour and a tasting. Then it's east to Delgatie Castle, a tall tower house with painted ceilings and a broad old stair, and lunch in its own tearoom.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book the GlenDronach Distillery: the Valley of the Brambles tour
Book the Valley of the Brambles tour ahead on the GlenDronach's website: £25 a person, for over-18s only; tickets cannot be refunded or passed on, except when the distillery cancels.
The day
Forgue
It's a morning among copper stills and sherry casks, then up the turnpike stair of a lived-in castle, with soup and home baking to finish under the same roof.
About four hours
The GlenDronach Distillery
An attraction
The GlenDronach sits down in the glen of the Dronach Burn at Forgue, about six miles north-east of Huntly, and you park at the distillery itself. James Allardice, the local laird, founded it in 1826, so 2026 marks its 200th anniversary. Its old stone buildings are trimmed in red, with a glass-fronted still house of the 1960s at the heart of them. The Valley of the Brambles tour runs at 10am and lasts an hour: round the distillery and into a traditional dunnage warehouse, where the spirit matures in casks that once held sherry, then three of the flagship malts to taste. If you're driving, ask for a driver's pack when you book, so you can take your three drams away. The visitor centre's shop sells a wide range of the malts, and the tasting bar serves the flagship range and some of the oldest and rarest.
20 min by car
Delgatie Castle
An attraction
Delgatie Castle is about 20 minutes' drive east, two miles beyond Turriff. A drive through the woods ends in a free car park, and a path through the gardens leads up to the castle; a small car park by the entrance is there for anyone who can't manage the walk. Mary, Queen of Scots is said to have stayed three days here in 1562, and her room is on view. A turnpike stair of 97 broad steps climbs through eight floors of the Hays' tower house, rebuilt in the 1570s, past painted ceilings of the late 1500s with strange animals on them. Captain John Hay restored the castle from the 1950s on, and his own room guides are still on display. The Laird's Kitchen, the castle's tearoom, is along the passage, for homemade soups such as Cullen skink, light lunches, scones and cakes.
If it rains
On a wet day, the tour, the castle's rooms and the tearoom are indoors; the walk through the gardens is outside.
Make it a weekend
More days out in Aberdeenshire.
Photographs by Guglielmo B, mimi chan and ian ewen via Google