Dufftown Attractions

On a lonely hill in the middle of an Iron Age fortress site about 3mi/4.8km southeast of Dufftown stand the remains of Auchindoun Castle. A well-preserved curtain wall surrounds the L- shaped tower house which was built by Robert Cochrane in the 15th century.

The picturesque ruins of Balvenie Castle, once the seat of the Comyns family, date from the 13th C. The fourth Earl of Atholl extended the tower house at the end of the 15th C and added an ornate battlemented clock tower. Mary Stuart is said to have stayed at the castle in 1562 and Cumberland's troops stopped off here on their way to Culloden in 1746.

Coopers can be seen at work in Craigellachie's Dufftown Road. Oak from the American states of Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee is used in the production of wooden barrels that are expected to last for 40 years or more. Old barrels are often burnt as firewood in salmon smokehouses.

The Telford iron bridge (1814), the work of Thomas Telford, stands at the north end of Dufftown. It is guarded by two stone towers and until 1973 when a new bridge was opened it was the main crossing point over the River Spey.