Aberdour Castle and Gardens

It began in the 1100s as a plain hall-house and passed through three great families, the Mortimers, the Randolphs and the Douglases, one of whom was a Regent of Scotland.

The Douglases raised the old hall into a tower and added range after range, so that today roofless ruins stand beside buildings that still have their roofs. Inside the later wing, the great hall lies under dark timber roof trusses, and there is a painted ceiling and a worn spiral stair.

Outside is the real delight: a walled garden, an orchard, and great grass terraces stepping down the slope, with a stone beehive doocot at their foot. It is a lovely, peaceful place to spend a morning.