Nairn Area

Brodie Castle

Nairn

Dallas Dhu Distillery

Area Main Page

Nairn lays claim to being one of the driest and sunniest places in the country. It became popular as a resort in Victorian times with the coming of the railway. Formerly a community of fishermen and farmers, Nairn has developed into a traditional seaside town, with its sandy East Beach and range of tourist facilities.

Fort George lies to the west of Nairn and looks directly across the Moray Firth to Fortrose. The huge site covers much of the headland and is a fascinating place to visit; here is a virtually unaltered 18th Century artillery fortification that cost more to build than Scotland's total Gross National Product for 1750 and was designed to ensure that, after the 1745 uprising, the Highlands were "pacified" once and for all (see our Historical Timeline).

East of Nairn is the village of Auldearn with its 17th Century Boath Doocot, or dovecote. Here you'll find displays about the Battle of Auldearn between Royalists and Covenanters which took place in 1645. A few miles to the south, the waters of Lochindorb surround a ruined thirteenth century castle.

Cawdor Castle, wrongly associated thanks to Shakespeare with Macbeth, is to the south east of Nairn and open to visitors during the summer season. Nearby is the attractive estate village of Cawdor.

Brodie Castle also provides an interesting excursion. The ancestral home of the Earl of Brodie, ownership has now passed to the National Trust for Scotland, though it is still the family residence. Next to the drive leading to the castle is a nice example of a Pictish symbol stone known as The Rodney Stone.

Forres, to the east, is one of Scotland's oldest agricultural towns and well worth a visit. Its centre is dominated by the magnificent St Laurence Church. It is home to one of the most remarkable Pictish stones in the country, the 21ft Sueno's Stone. Just south of Forres is the Dallas Dhu Distillery, maintained as a visitor attraction by Historic Scotland, while to its north is Speyside's smallest working distillery, Benromach.

Also north of Forres is the village of Kinloss, with its RAF base and the ruins of Kinloss Abbey. On the coast nearby is the attractive harbour and seaside resort of Findhorn, which is also home to the Findhorn Foundation, an international spiritual community founded in 1962.

In the remote upland area around the River Findhorn valley, south east of Nairn, is the intriguing Ardclach Bell Tower.