Auchindoun Castle

Thanks to the tip from Roy Mathers of About Speyside, we enjoyed an off the beaten track adventure. Roy recommended we visit Auchindoun Castle which was not in any of the Scotland tour books we brought with us. Thanks to Roy's great directions and the map Duncan at the Highlander Inn printed for us, we were able to find the tiny road sign next to a dirt pull-off on a narrow winding road.

We parked our car in the dirt pull-off and started our one-mile walk up a farm road (top picture). The sheep on both sides of the road watched us with a little interest. It seemed they did not see very many strangers in their part of Scotland. When we reached the top of the hill we saw another sign that guided us through a gate designed to let people in to the field but not let the sheep out. At that point, we were in the fields with the sheep.

After walking up a driveway to an abandoned home and through a field of sheep, we were finally at the castle. The castle is built on top of one of the highest hills in the area so the views are amazing. The castle is also one of the few castles with the outer wall in tact. Our favorite part of this journey is that with the exception of the sheep, we had the entire castle and castle hill to ourselves. Being in a castle high up on a hill in Scotland with no sounds other than the breeze, a few birds, and the grazing of sheep was truly one of the highlights of our trip.

Auchidoun Castle was built by architect Thomas Cochrane, Earl of Mar. The earliest written reference to the castle was in 1509 when it was given to Alexander Ogilvy by his uncle.