Trail Of Turrets
If there’s something Scotland isn’t short of, it’s castles – and Aberdeenshire has some of the best
YOU could stay in a hotel when you visit Aberdeenshire. Or a bed and breakfast, or a campsite. Maybe Airbnb it like everyone else. Or you could live like a lord at Lickleyhead Castle. This 16th-century pile at Auchleven, near Insch, sits on the banks of the Gadie Burn and has been held by the Leiths, the Leslies, the Forbes, the Lumsdens and the Duffs – all powerful north-east families – at various points throughout its colourful history.
Game Of Thrones actress Rose Leslie – Ygritte in the popular HBO drama and the real-life wife of co-star Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow – spent her childhood here, before the castle and grounds were sold in 2019.
And today, it has to rank as one of the poshest self-catering holiday lets in Aberdeenshire.
There are eight bedrooms, a great hall, a library, a games room, a chapel, enormous open fires and a hand-carved Queen Anne four-poster bed.
Guests can roam across the four-hectare (10 acres) estate, sample paid activities – such as a mini Highland games – or enjoy a complimentary round at nearby Insch Golf Club.
And while most visitors are happy with self-catering, a butler, maids and a private chef can all be at your service if you want to go the full Downton.
With more than 260 castles, stately homes and mansions – more per acre than anywhere else in the UK – it’s easy to see why Aberdeenshire is known as Castle Country.
Scotland’s Castle Trail offers a greatest hits tour of some of the most scenic, fascinating and visitor-friendly sites, from Balmoral – with its royal connections – to tumbledown ruins.
The 230-mile route starts in Stonehaven and finishes in Alford, or vice-versa.
And if you’re a castles completist, a six-day itinerary should offer sufficient time to do them justice.
Dunnottar Castle will be at the top of most visitors’ lists. Its location, on a rocky headland two miles south of Stonehaven, is enough to take the breath away. And its history, from medieval fortress to the hiding place of the Scottish crown jewels, is straight out of a storybook.
More recently, the ruin has become one of the most iconic backdrops in Scotland, beloved by Instagrammers and stealing the limelight from stars such as Mel Gibson, who was here for the filming of Zeffirelli’s 1990 version of Hamlet.
Crathes Castle, near Banchory, is another stunner, inside and out. The interior is famous for its Jacobean painted ceilings and the resident ghost, the Green Lady.
Visitors can also lose themselves in the grounds, which stretch out from beautiful gardens on to a series of walking trails and a Go Ape! treetop adventure park.
Crathes Castle is run by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), as is Fyvie Castle, near Turriff, which contains 800 years of history and an incredible collection of furniture,
tapestries, arms and armour. William the Lion, Robert the Bruce and Charles I are among the guests whose footsteps you’ll be following in here.
It’s also home to a portrait collection, which includes one of the largest private collections of Raeburns in the world. Again, the grounds are as much a draw as the castle itself, with attractions including an 18th-century walled garden and Fyvie Loch.
Corgarff Castle is less well-known than some of the others on the trail. It’s certainly more remote, but it’s no less fascinating.
Dating from the 16th century, this imposing white structure in glorious Strathdon was converted into a barracks for government redcoat troops in 1748. Its last military use was to control the smuggling of illicit whisky in the early 1800s.
Today, it’s run by Historic Scotland and guided tours have to be booked in advance.
From the starkness of Corgarff, it’s a short journey to Craigievar Castle. This NTS property, near Alford, is said to be the inspiration for Disney’s Cinderella Castle and was a family home right up to the 1960s. Craigievar is regarded as one of the finest examples of Scottish Baronial architecture, all turrets and towers, and is crammed with historical artefacts and paintings. The grounds boast a Scottish glen garden, two waymarked woodland trails and a Victorian kitchen garden.
And last but not least, Balmoral Castle. Built by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, it’s been a holiday hideaway for generations of royals.
The grounds and gardens are open to the public daily and visitors can also take a peek inside the ballroom.
There’s a gift shop and coffee shop – and who knows who you might bump into on one of the Land Rover tours of the estate, or in the shops in nearby Ballater?