Fyvie Castle and Haddo House – Two Grand Houses on the Level
A day.
The route
Two of Aberdeenshire's grand houses in a day, for anyone with a wheelchair, a walking frame or a pushchair, and for the dog too.
Fyvie's front hall, gardens and tearoom are step-free, and its towers rise over the lawn. In the afternoon, Haddo House is entered without a step and has a lift to its first floor for the guided tour, with a country park all round it.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book Haddo House's 3pm guided tour (Friday to Monday until 21 December, about 75 minutes) by ringing 01651 851440 before you go, and ask then whether a private function closes the house that day.
The day
Aberdeenshire
A morning at a castle of towers and turrets by its loch, with lunch in its tearoom. The afternoon is a tour of a Georgian house, then a stroll in the parkland round it.
About six hours
Fyvie Castle
An attraction
Fyvie Castle's car park costs £5, free to National Trust for Scotland members, and there are disabled spaces beside the castle and by the tearoom. Until 1 November it opens Wednesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 4pm. At weekends you can go round on your own until 1pm, then by guided tour at 1.45, 2.30 and 3.15; from Wednesday to Friday it's guided tours only, every 45 minutes from 10.45am, up to 15 at a time and first come, first served. From November to 20 December it opens on Saturdays and Sundays only, for tours at 11am, 1pm and 2.30pm, then shuts until early February. Tickets are £18 for an adult and £40.50 for a family at the time of writing, free to Trust members. The front hall is step-free, but there are steps to the rooms beyond, so a wheelchair sees the hall, the gardens and the tearoom. Dogs on a lead are welcome in the grounds. Lunch is in the castle's own tearoom, which is step-free, with last orders at 3.15pm.
35 min by car
Haddo House
An attraction
It's 35 minutes' drive south-east to Haddo House. Come in by Tarves and the Raxton crossroads on the brown signs, because the Trust says sat-navs can send you up private drives. The country park's car park is pay and display, £5, and free to Trust members on a house tour. The house is seen only on a guided tour of about 75 minutes, at 11am, 1pm and 3pm from Friday to Monday until 21 December: ring 01651 851440 to book a time, or book at the shop. Take the 3pm after lunch at Fyvie. The front door is step-free, there's a lift to the first floor, and the shop, the courtyard café, the toilets and part of the garden are step-free too. Tickets are £18 for an adult at the time of writing, free to Trust members. The country park round the house is open every day, dawn to dusk, and dogs are welcome there. The house sometimes closes for private functions, so ring before you set out.
If it rains
Fyvie's front hall and tearoom and the whole of Haddo's tour are under a roof; Fyvie's gardens and Haddo's country park are out in the weather.
Photograph by Haddo House (National Trust for Scotland) via Google