Wild History and Whisky Tours

11/06/2024

A lovely start to the 2024 tour season! Fred and Melissa Gordon from North Carolina did the two day Gordon Tour at the end of May. The weather was rather cold and sulky but it didn't dampen their spirits!

We visited Gordon Castle for the first time on the tour, which has to be carefully scheduled in due to its distance from the other Gordon sites. As Gordon enthusiasts will know, there isn't much left of the original castle, nor the once massive Georgian mansion, and no public access to them is possible. However, the beautiful eight acre walled garden, cafe and shop selling products produced from the garden are well worth a visit. I will have to go back later in the season to view the garden's summer attire!

24/12/2023

Merry Christmas from Wild History and Whisky Tours, and a Happy New Year. Looking forward to more adventures next year!

How stunning is this?! 🤩 The famous Ullapool 'Creel Tree', made by a local community group using hundreds of fishing creels as a festive tradition that started in 2016 🎄🦀

📍 Ullapool, Highlands
📷 Instagram.com/johnpow37

15/12/2023

Catching up on some posting. This is the lovely Gordon family from Seattle doing the Gordon tour in late September. As I've shown photos of the prime places on the Gordon tour in the previous post, I thought I'd show some different aspects of the tour. We visited Glen Dronach distillery near Huntly in the heart of Gordon country, a first for WHWT, and enjoyed it very much!

11/09/2023

The new One Day Gordon Tour is up and running! I had the pleasure of recently taking Meredith and Les from Massachusetts and then Bart from Texas on the tour to discover their Gordon roots. We visited Aboyne Castle, Glenbuchat Castle, Rhynie Pictish Stones, Huntly Castle, Fyvie Castle and Haddo House in the glorious late summer sunshine.

08/07/2023

After their Deeside day, Amy and Michael had a mini tour on their way down to St Andrews, stopping to look around the atmospheric Dunnottar Castle, followed by a lovely lunch at Stonehaven harbour and a wander along the seafront to see the Stonehaven Banksies. One further stop at the enigmatic Aberlemno Pictish stones rounded the afternoon off nicely.

07/07/2023

This week Amy and Michael from Georgia, USA, enjoyed a bespoke tour in Royal Deeside looking at ancestral connections. We started the day investigating the ruined medieval Knights Templars' kirk in the grounds of the Maryculter House Hotel, followed by a visit to nearby Drum Castle, seat of the Irvines who acquired much of the Templars' Deeside estate. On to Crathes Castle, the seat of the Burnetts, famous for its rare 16th century painted ceilings, ghost of the Green Lady and superb gardens.

After travelling through the magnificent scenery of Deeside to Balmoral, we toured the stately grounds and the castle Ballroom, admiring the productive gardens. An interesting tour and lively tasting at the next door Royal Lochnagar Distillery polished off our Balmoral experience. We finished the day with stops at two enigmatic sites, the Tullich Pictish Stones and the Bronze Age Tomnaverie Stone Circle, on the way home.

26/06/2023

Day Two of the recent tour with Paige and Greg - this time they took my Secret Life of Glenlivet tour, following the Snow Road up past Corgarff Castle, on to the Hidden Seminary of Scalan, then dropping in on Glenlivet Distillery to try an unusual malt, followed by a picnic lunch at the Old Packhorse Bridge and a tour of Cragganmore Distillery. The day was rounded off by a visit to the Inveravon Church Pictish Stones, with a return journey via the remote and hauntingly beautiful Cabrach.

22/06/2023

Last week Paige and hubbie Greg from Ohio spent a day on a bespoke tour visiting her Cromar family ancestral sites around Lumphanan, Aboyne and Tarland in Aberdeenshire. The perfect weather and spectacular views all added to an incredible and, sometimes, emotional day of exploration and discovery!

30/09/2022

Jo and Steve also did the Wool and Whisky Tour last week, sampling two quality Speyside products in one day.

Starting at the attractive Cragganmore Distillery, the post tour whisky samples were washed down with a lovely brunch at Knockando Wool Mill cafe. This was followed by a fascinating and in depth tour of the historic and characterful mill, where much of the 19th century machinery remains in working order.

A quick stop at Elchies Farm to buy raw fleece turned into an hour of goat petting. A tasting at Aberlour Distillery after lunch tried out their new 11 year old whisky (aged exclusively in 1st fill barrels), which set us up for the ethnobotany walk up the glen to the beautiful Linn falls. A drive over the remote and hauntingly empty, whisky smuggling lands of the Cabrach finished off the day.

29/09/2022

Jo and Steve from London recently did the Secret Life of Glenlivet Tour - the weather was glorious, the scenery stunning and the whisky exceptional. The short moorland walk to the Hidden Seminary of Scalan was delightful, and such was the weather that we lingered a long time having a picnic at the Old Packhorse Bridge at Glenlivet.

29/09/2022

Here are the lovely Sparks Family from the USA enjoying a tasting after a tour of the beautiful Cragganmore distillery recently - we had a great day!

27/01/2022

11/08/2021

Heather in full bloom now 🙂

Heavenly heather, in bloom in the heart of Speyside... 🤩💜 Fascinatingly, heather is commonly linked to meanings of good luck, admiration and protection!

📌 - Glenlivet, Moray
📷 - We Heart Moray

17/06/2021

We are delighted to announce the new House of Gordon Tour! We'll be exploring the magnificent scenery of the Gordon heartland whilst tracing some of the clan history through their estates and more humble homes, castles and military legacy. Along the way we’ll be looking at the clan’s Jacobite exploits and subsequent years of illicit whisky smuggling, coming up to the present with tastings of current Gordon alcoholic offerings!

As part of the tour, we have exclusive access to the Aboyne Castle Estate, seat of the Gordon Clan, where we’ll sample some of the now finite C**k o’ the North whisky liqueur. As an optional extra, you can also take a guided tour of Aboyne Castle led by the Earl of Aboyne, heir to the Clan Chief, the Marquis of Huntly.

We are running the tour in conjunction with Maryculter House Hotel, an historic, four-star hotel near Aberdeen with connections going back many centuries to Aboyne Castle.

For further details see the Gordon Tour page on our website;
https://wildhistorywhiskytours.co.uk/two-day-tour-clan-gordon/

14/06/2020

We’re excited to announce Deeside’s da Vinci Code, a new tour starting this summer! Join us to help decipher the history and symbolism of atmospheric medieval Templar sites, enigmatic Pictish carved symbol stones and mysterious Bronze Age stone circles, whilst enjoying the beautiful scenery of Royal Deeside and Garioch.

All sites visited are out of doors and social distancing is possible for parties of two using the rear, third row of seats in the tour vehicle.

For further details visit https://wildhistorywhiskytours.co.uk/deesides-da-vinci-code/

05/11/2019

17/08/2019

Took out a distillery tour last week with some lovely guests from New York, and got to see Macallans for the first time since the make over - definitely worth a visit!

19/06/2019

Amazing colours and sky at the Tomintoul Snow Road installation today!

03/05/2019

Had a great time today leading the Sense of Place walks at Aberlour Disillery in the Spirit of Speyside Festival, with such a lovely bunch of folk of many nationalities. The sample drams were most welcome after the hail showers that accompanied each walk - these diehards of the afternoon walk were very taken by the Aberlour A'Bunadh, and are probably still there sipping and chatting!

08/04/2019

As part of the 2019 Spirit of Speyside Festival (1st to 6th May), I'll be leading ethnobotany and historical ecology walks to the Linn Falls up the glen behind Aberlour Distillery on Friday 3rd May. There are a few remaining tickets left for the afternoon walk on the Festival website - would love to see you there!

17/03/2019

Really excited to announce the launch of Wild History and Whisky Tours!

Taking a holistic look at the local history and environment that make up the beautiful whisky region of Speyside, whilst enjoying some excellent tours and tastings at selected distilleries that incorporate the local ‘tale’.

Concentrating on places slightly off the beaten track that encapsulate the local story, engaging with local people and businesses, providing insightful and unique visitor experiences.

Visit our website to find out more about our Mountains to Sea and our Whisky and Wool tours - https://wildhistorywhiskytours.co.uk/