Discover 7 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Craigellachie (United Kingdom). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Craigellachie Bridge, Strathspey, and Aberlour House. Also, be sure to include Speyside Cooperage in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Craigellachie (Scotland).
Table of Contents
Craigellachie Bridge
Bridge in Scotland. Craigellachie Bridge is a cast iron arch bridge across the River Spey at Craigellachie, near to the village of Aberlour in Moray, Scotland. It was designed by the renowned civil engineer Thomas Telford and built from 1812 to 1814. It is a Category A listed structure.[1]
Strathspey
Region. Strathspey is the region around the strath of the River Spey, Scotland, split between the Moray council area and the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area of Highland.
The term Strathspey usually refers to the upper part of the house from the source of the Spey down to the capital, Grantown-on-Spey, whereas the anglicised form, Speyside, refers to the area from Grantown-on-Spey to the mouth of the river at Spey Bay. Recently there has been some controversy over attempts to anglicise the name into Spey Valley. The tourist area from the south starts at Dalwhinnie and continues North along the A9 towards Newtonmore, Kingussie, Aviemore and on towards Grantown-on-Spey. The Canadian merchant Robert Simpson, founder of Simpson's department store, was born there in 1834.
Speyside is one of the main centres of the Scotch whisky industry, with a high concentration of single malt distilleries in the region, including the Glenfiddich and Balvenie distilleries.
Scotland's Malt Whisky Trail is a tourism initiative featuring seven labouring very hard Speyside distilleries, a historic distillery and the Speyside Cooperage. The concept was created in the early 1980s. The region is a natural for whisky distillers because of three benefits: it is close to barley farms, contains the River Spey and is close to the port of Garmouth. The region also hosts the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival.[2]
Aberlour House
Aberlour House is a country house near Aberlour in Moray, Scotland. It was built in 1838 by William Robertson for Alexander Grant, planter and merchant from Aberlour, after his return to the UK. His niece, Margaret Macpherson Grant, lived in it after Grant died, and it was later home to John Ritchie Findlay of The Scotsman newspaper and his descendants. It was requisitioned for military use during the Second World War, and after the war was sold for use as a preparatory school for Gordonstoun. The school was later moved into Gordonstoun's estate, and the building was sold to Walkers Shortbread, who restored and renovated it, and now use it as their head office. It has been designated a Category A listed building.[3]
Speyside Cooperage
The Speyside Cooperage is a cooperage located in Craigellachie, Aberlour, Scotland. Its visitor centre, the only such in Britain, is part of the Malt Whisky Trail, started in the early 1980s.
Each year, it produces and repairs nearly 150,000 oak casks used by the surrounding Speyside Whisky distilleries, as well as distilleries elsewhere throughout Scotland.
Owned by the Taylor family since its founding in 1947, the cooperage was sold in 2008 to the French firm Tonnellerie François Frères.
According to a 2012 BBC article, visitors to the cooperage can view the making of a cask from start to completion, employing "traditional methods and tools for creating exceptional casks from American oak, many of which are sent around the world".[4]
Address: Dufftown Road, AB38 9RS Craigellachie
Craigellachie Village Council
Address: Craigellachie Village Hall, Craigellachie
Arndilly House
Arndilly House is a 1770 house in Banffshire, Scotland, in the parish of Boharm. It lies between the River Spey and Ben Aigan.
It was remodelled in both 1826 and 1850.
It is a category A listed building with Historic Scotland.
It was remodelled in the Scots baronial style in 1850 by the Aberdeen architect James Matthews.
It was the seat of the MacDowall Grant family in the 18th and 19th centuries, including David McDowall-Grant.[5]
Glenallachie distillery
The Glenallachie Distillery is a malt whisky distillery on Speyside at Aberlour founded in 1967, which sits at the foot of Ben Rinnes. Previously, the distillery mainly produced whisky for blends however has since been relaunched as a distillery known for its fruity, single malt expressions. In July 2017, it was announced that Chivas Brothers agreed to sell GlenAllachie to former BenRiach MD Billy Walker, Trisha Savage and ex-Inver House Distillers MD Graham Stevenson, who came together to form The GlenAllachie Distillers Company. It is now one of Scotland's few independently owned and managed distilleries.[6]