Ballindalloch Castle

Ballindalloch Castle stands beside the River Spey in Moray, a Z-plan tower house begun in 1546. The Grant family took possession in 1499 and have lived here ever since, adding Georgian wings in the 18th century and Victorian rooms later. A 17th-century dovecote and a 20th-century rock garden lie among the grounds, while the Spey and Avon rivers wind through the estate. The castle holds a notable collection of 17th-century Spanish paintings and keeps a famous Aberdeen Angus herd on its land. In 1645 it was sacked by the Marquess of Montrose after the Battle of Inverlochy, yet rebuilt the same year. A later laird’s ghost story tells how nightly demolitions stopped once building moved to the cow haughs. Visitors walk through rooms shaped by generations of the Macpherson-Grant family. The dining room is linked to the legend of the Green Lady. Outside, the rivers offer fishing and the distillery, opened in 2014, turns estate grain into whisky.