🏰 Castle
Dunrobin Castle
📍 Sutherland
⏱ 2–3 hours
🎟️ Adults £14, children £8.50
🚐 Motorhome friendly
Dunrobin Castle is the most northerly of Scotland's great houses and one of the most spectacular — a fairytale confection of turrets and spires rising above formal gardens modelled on those at Versailles, overlooking the North Sea. The home of the Earls and Dukes of Sutherland since the 13th century, the current fairy-tale exterior was designed by Sir Charles Barry (architect of the Houses of Parliament) in the 1840s. The castle houses a remarkable museum of the Sutherland family's collections — including Pictish stones, Victorian hunting trophies and Flemish paintings. Daily falconry displays in the gardens are a highlight for families. The castle's association with the first Duke of Sutherland, who oversaw the brutal Highland Clearances, casts a complicated historical shadow.
The castle gates are directly on the A9 just north of Golspie — unmissable.