Grampian trail

Huntly Castle

This is a ruined castle and ancestral home of the chief of Clan Gordon. The L-plan castle has a five storey tower and attached great hall and is built on the site of an earlier motte fortress, the mound of which can still be seen. The site is open to the public and managed by Historic Scotland. It is located on the northeast of the town of Huntley/Hunndaidh off the A96 in Aberdeenshire. Delgatie Castle 12-this sixteenth century castle and grounds are owned by the Delgatie Castle Trust and open to the public. The castle has a keep, house and two wings with some sixteenth century painted ceilings internally. It is located just off the A947 Banff to Turriff road in Aberdeenshire close to Turriff/Baille Thurra.

Fyvie Castle

The earliest pasts of this castle date from the thirteenth century with the Preston Tower added in the late fourteenth/early fifteenth century, the Seton tower from the late sixteenth century and the Gordon and Leith towers from the eighteenth and late nineteenth centuries respectively. Charles 1 lived at the castle as a child which is said to be haunted. The garden and grounds are open daily throughout the year and the castle from the 1st April to 31st October. It is located about eight miles south from Turiff off the A947.

Castle Fraser

This Scottish baronial tower house dates back to 1575 and modernised in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The castle is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It is within large landscaped grounds and open to the public. It is located about sixteen miles from Aberdeen off the A944 about four miles north from Dunecht.

Drum Castle

This castle has a thirteenth century tower house with seventeenth century and Victorian additions. It is in eighteenth century gardens and owned by the National Trust for Scotland and open to the public from April to October. This castle is located about ten miles west from Aberdeen off the A93 west from Peterculter in Aberdeenshire.

Crathes Castle

This is a sixteenth century castle with eighteenth century added wing located off the A93 west from Aberdeen toward Banchory. The castle and grounds are open to the public daily from April until October and at the weekends only in the winter months. The harled castle is noted for it's painted ceilings and portrait collection. There are also extensive walled gardens.

Craigievar Castle

This early seventeenth century harled castle and grounds is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The seven storey castle is a fine example of Scottish Baronial architecture and is known for it's plasterwork ceilings. The grounds are open to the public throughout the year and the castle open for tours during the summer months. It is located off the A980 about six south from Alford/Athfort which is on the A944 in Aberdeenshire.

Kildrummy Castle

This is a ruin of thirteenth century castle that was the stronghold of the Earls of Marr and has been the site of several sieges. The ruins comprise of the remains of a hall and chapel with a curtain wall and four round towers. The site is managed by Historic Scotland/Alba Aosmhor and is open to the public daily from the 1st April to 30th September. It is located off the A97 southwest from the village of Kildrummy/Cionn Droma in Aberdennshire.

Glenbuchat Castle

This is the remains of a Z-plan tower house built in 1590. It is located about six miles west from Kildrummy along the A97 in Aberdeenshire. The castle and surrounding land are managed by Historic Scotland and open to the public.

Corgarff Castle 12

This is located about 13km west of Strathdon on the A939. It was built in the sixteenth century by a branch of the Clan Forbes and is surrounded by an eighteenth century perimeter wall. It served as a family home to the Forbes and was the site of an attack by the Gordons in 1571 which resulted in them setting fire to the castle and killing the Laird of Corgarff's wife, her family and servants. After the Battle of Culloden 1746 the British Army used the castle as a barracks to hunt down Jacobite sympathisers. The castle is now open to the public for 1st April to 30th September daily and from 1st October to 30th March at weekends only.

Braemar Castle

This is a castle built in 1628 by the earl of Marr and is seat of the Clan Farquharson. The castle is now leased to the local community and has witnessed an ongoing programme of restoration. It is open to the public and located close to the village of Braemar/Braigh Mharr off the A93 about fifty-eight miles west from Aberdeen.

Knock Castle

This is a ruined four storey rectangular tower house from the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. It is located about a mile west from Ballater/Bealadair just of the A93 in Aberdeenshire/Siorrachd Obar Dheathain.

Tolquhon Castle

This is located of the A920 northwest of Pitmedden which is about twenty miles northwest of Aberdeen/Obar Dheathain. The castle was built in the sixteenth century and incorporates the remains of an earlier tower house and particularly noted for it's ornate gatehouse.

Loanhead of Daviot Stone Circle

This is a stone circle located close to the village of Daviot off minor roads from the B9001 and A920 north from Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. The circle is about twenty feet in Diameter with eight stones, two flankers and a recumbent. There is a Bronze Age cemetery to the east.

Balquane Castle

This is a ruined fourteenth century Tower House with later additions. It is located about two and a half miles west from Inverurie /Inbhir Uraidh off the A96 in Aberdeenshire.

Dunnottar Castle

This castle consists of eleven buildings built from the early thirteenth century. The keep is fourteenth century and other buildings added up until the seventeenth century. The ruined castle sits on the cliff top in a spectacular location south from Stonehaven/Cala na Creige along the Coastal Path from Stonehaven Harbour. It can also be accessed via the A92 and a footpath from a nearby car park and is open daily throughout the year.

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