Kildrummy Castle

There are so many castles in Aberdeenshire and I’m still discovering ones we’ve never seen, like Kildrummy Castle, which is where we went today. It’s a ruin but in its hey-day it was known as the “noblest of northern castles”. I’m not exactly sure what is meant by that but one thing is certain, Kildrummy Castle was once a very impressive fortress, with impregnable stone towers, and a drawbridge. It was built in the 13th century and witnessed many battles until its demise during the Jacobite rising in the 1700s.

This is all that remains of one of the towers where the Lords lived. You can see how thick the walls are in the cross-section of the circular wall.

The kids like playing hide and seek at ruins like these.

The timber bridge in the next photo is where the drawbridge once stood.

I love the plants growing up this stone wall.

About 5 minutes up the road from Kildrummy Castle are the Kildrummy Castle Gardens. These look gorgeous but are not run by Historic Scotland so you have to pay to get into both places. We only saw the gardens from the bridge above as we were hungry and wanted lunch, but I got a couple of nice photos from the bridge. I’m sure we’ll go back for a proper look.

The drive to Kildrummy Castle is magnificent. All the heather is in flower right now and it gives the hills a purple hue which looks lovely from a distance.