Aberlour

After the hottest Easter weekend ever a little bit of winter has returned and we saw patches of snow on the ground as we drove to Aberlour yesterday. It made me happy. I love the feeling of cold air against my cheeks and we didn’t get a lot of that this past winter.

We drove through Aberlour on our way to Glencoe in April and it looked pretty so we decided to go back and visit, which is exactly what we did yesterday. We spent a couple of hours there, had lunch, and went for a walk.

Aberlour is a little village about 1.5 hours’ drive north-west of Aberdeen in Speyside. It’s right beside the river Spey, hence the name Speyside. The full name for Aberlour is Charlestown of Aberlour. It has a distillery – Aberlour – and is also known for the Walkers brand of shortbread and biscuits which are manufactured there. There are several cafes and restaurants and all the business establishments we entered were doing a roaring trade.

We had lunch at The Gathering Place which is on the main street and has a yarn shop out the back. Hand-knitted garments and felted art adorn the walls of the cafe so it was like heaven for me. I spent ages pouring over all the different yarns and admiring the work of local craftspeople. The food was good too – I had the vegetarian breakfast without egg.

Across the road from the cafe is Spey Larder which was also full of customers and I could see why. There were so many delicious and fresh local foods and things you can’t buy in large chain stores.

Some pics of the village.

This next building is a pub/restaurant.

Can you guess what this next building is?

It’s a hospital!

It’s the most inviting hospital I’ve ever seen. Not at all clinical-looking although it could do with some soft landscaping in the carpark but then it is hard to make carparks look attractive.

The sign above the door reads: “The Fleming Cottage Hospital Founded by James Fleming R Distiller & Bank agent Aberlour ~ opened 1900”

James Fleming was the founder of the Aberlour distillery.

After lunch we went for a walk to Linn Falls which is a circuit walk of about 2 miles through lush forest. Part of the walk goes straight past the Aberlour Distillery which sends a lovely aroma of whisky-making through the forest. We’ve been to so many whisky distilleries now that even the kids could recognise the smell.

There are so many whisky distilleries in Speyside. I’m not even sure how many we passed on the road but I took a photos of this Speyside whisky distillery map in a shop window in Aberlour.

Over the River Spey in Aberlour is a lovely old suspension bridge – Victoria Bridge – built in 1900.