Castles & Estates
Aberdeenshire is packed with castles, country houses and large estates with farming, forestry and outdoor pursuits. Many of these are within an hour from Aberdeen train station and airport and offer accommodation, historic architecture and breathtaking landscapes, farming and forests. Western Aberdeenshire is in the Cairngorms National Park and hosts many castles and large houses that have been used as film & tv locations over the years. Balmoral is the perhaps the most famous and there are so many more. These offer great hospitality and welcoming communities.
Aberdeenshire’s castles and estates also have lots of space for film productions to set up, park and often have accommodation for crew.
Clifftop Castle Ruins
Dunnottar is a ruined medieval fortress castle that looks out to the North Sea. Built on a promotory, it’s packed with drama and blessed with astonishing light. Once a fortification for the Earls Marischal, one of the most powerful families in Scotland, its declined started when the dynasty sided with the Jacobites in the 18th century.
Slains Castle is a ruined 16th-century tower with Scots Baronial additions in the 19th century. The uniqueness is the extremely exposed position near cliffs alongside the ruinous state of formerly grandiose architecture. It may be no surprise that it served as inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Many famous castles and houses built by famous architects are all over the region. The National Trust for Scotland manage an impressive list and their film office is always helpful to filmmakers. One of the most notable is Craigievar: the pink tower castle. A bijoux castle, it has only one or two rooms on each floor and extraordinary plasterwork and history.
Contexts
Some castles are in fact more like houses, and some houses are more like castles. Banff Castle, redesigned by John Adam in 1750 is right in the centre of Banff and looks over the seafront. It’s distinctive yellow harling adds to the mix.
The Mar Lodge Estate, on the other hand, is used for a range of stories about nature from the heart of the Cairngorms.
Famous Architecture
Haddo House, a grand Palladian Style William Adam stately house not far from Aberdeen has grand entrance areas, drawing rooms, galleries and gardens.
Exclusive Use Properties
A number of large historic houses in Aberdeenshire are set up to be rented out for exclusive use. This gives film makers access to most rooms and sometimes other buildings on an estate. They can be serviced with a range of catering or activities for users. Often used for weddings, the off season means they have good availability for film and tv.
