Northeast Scotland - The Rough Guide to Scotland - page 378

Alford Valley Railway
Just north of Main Street, or a short walk east of the Grampian Transport Museum • April- June & Sept Sat & Sun 12.30pm-4pm; July &
Aug daily 12.30pm-4pm • Return trip £4 • T 07879 293934, W alfordvalleyrailway.org.uk
A couple of minutes' walk from the Grampian Transport Museum is the terminus for
the Alford Valley Railway , a narrow-gauge train that runs for about a mile from Alford
Station through wooded vales to the wide open space of Murray Park . he return
journey takes an hour.

10

ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION ALFORD AND AROUND

By bus Stagecoach Bluebird buses #218 and #220 link
Aberdeen with Alford (1hr 10min).
Tourist o ce The Grampian Transport Museum is home

to the helpful tourist o ce (April-Sept Mon-Sat
9am-5pm, Sun 12.45-5pm; T 01975 562650).

Craigievar Castle
Six miles south of Alford • Castle: April-June & Sept Fri-Tues 11am-4.45pm; July-Aug daily 11am-4.45pm; grounds: daily
11am-5.30pm • £12; car parking £1; NTS • T 08444 932174
Six miles south of Alford on the A980, Craigievar Castle is a fantastic pink confection
of turrets, gables, balustrades and cupolas bubbling over from its top three storeys. It
was built in 1626 by a Baltic trader known as Willy the Merchant, who evidently
allowed his whimsy to run riot here.

The Upper Don valley
Travelling west from Alford, settlements become noticeably more scattered and remote
as the countryside takes on a more open, familiarly Highland appearance. he Lecht
Road , crossing the area of bleak but wonderfully empty high country to the remote
mountain village of Tomintoul (see p.432), passes the Lecht ski centre (see p.433) at
2090ft above sea level, but is frequently impassable in winter due to snow.

Kildrummy Castle
Kildrummy, west of Alford off the A97 • Castle: April-Sept daily 9.30am-5.30pm; gardens April-Oct daily noon-5pm • Castle £4.50;
gardens £4.50 ; HS
Ten miles from Alford stand the impressive ruins of the thirteenth-century Kildrummy
Castle , where Robert the Bruce sent his wife and children during the Wars of
Independence. he castle blacksmith, bribed with as much gold as he could carry, set fire
to the place and it fell into English hands. Bruce's immediate family survived, but his
brother was executed and the entire garrison hanged, drawn and quartered. Meanwhile,
the duplicitous blacksmith was rewarded for his help by having molten gold poured
down his throat. he sixth earl of Mar used the castle as the headquarters of the ill-fated
Jacobite risings in 1715, but after that Kildrummy became redundant and it fell into
disrepair. Beside the ruins, the separate Kildrummy Castle Gardens are quite a draw,
boasting everything from swathes of azaleas in spring to Himalayan poppies in summer.

Lost Gallery
Four miles north of Strathdon • Wed-Mon 11am-5pm • Free • W lostgallery.co.uk
Ten miles west of Kildrummy Castle, the A944 sweeps round into the parish of
Strathdon , little more than a few buildings scattered along the roadside.
Four miles north of here, up a rough track leading into Glen Nochty, lies the
unexpected Lost Gallery , which shows work by some of Scotland's leading modern
artists in a wonderfully remote and tranquil setting.

Corgarff Castle
Corgarff, ten miles southwest of Strathdon • April-Sept daily 9.30am-5.30pm; Oct-March Sat & Sun 9.30am-4.30pm • £5.50; HS
In Corgarff, just off the A939, lies Corgarff Castle , an austere tower house with an