DUNROBIN CASTLE - the most northerly of Scotland's great houses and the largest house in the highlands, with 189 rooms this wonderful property is well worth a visit. The gardens are really excellent too. If you are driving North you could easily break your jorney for a tour and a cup of tea in the tea rooms. Golspie is only just over an hours drive from Wick so you can easily make this an excursion and take in some of the other places of interest on the same route. This makes for a memorable day out and is one of our must visit places ourselves this year.

 

BADBEA VILLAGE - Just north of the Ord of Caithness you will see a long lay-by which sign posts a footpath to the Badbea Village. This evocative site makes you wonder just how folks worked and lived perched on such a landscape. You can still see the ruined homes. This village was occupied by the folks who had to leave their own croft lands which were cleared to enable sheep to graze the lands. Do check out the excellent web site dedicated to the history of the families cleared from this site. If you have little ones keep a good grip on them, there are stories that both kiddies and livestock were tethered to stop them getting blown off the cliffs.

 

TIMESPAN CENTRE - this award winning heritage centre at Helmsdale gives the history and personal stories behind the clearances when the local folks were evicted from their crofts. Also really interesting for kids, really get their imagination going as there is also the stories of the gold panning in the nearby Strath of Kildonan which had its very own gold rush back in 1869. Maybe there is still gold in them hills and streams! My grandfather always bought Kildonan sheep and teased us to check their teeth for gold...

 

DUNBEATH CASTLE - The gardens are sometimes open to the public so worth checking as we keep a note of the open days. Also at Dunbeath there is a lovely Strath and little Harbour were you can enjoy a nice walk. There are picnic areas too so pack a lunch and have a lazy afternoon taking in the views.

 

DUNBEATH - is the birth place of NEIL GUNN the writer and there are walks which take you to areas which he wrote about. Also in Dunbeath keep an eye out for signs for the DUNBEATH HERITAGE CENTRE which is full of interesting information on the archaeology of the area, the birds, flowers, people and so on. They were recently doing some really exciting work on excavating some really old areas so we plan a visit to see how this has progressed. If you visit before we do you can tell us all about what they have been up to.

 

LAIDHAY CROFTING MUSEUM - at Latheron is also a nice place to visit. This old house will give you an idea of what croft houses were like many years ago. Also there are lots of old implements from crofting days long gone which should keep the children busy guessing what they were for. When we last visited here the tea rooms were open and we had the best cup of tea ever and mouth watering cream scones.

 

Note: The A9 branches off to the left just after the village hall in Latheron. If you go left you will end up in Thurso! But I thought it might be nice for visitors to know that this road comes in quite handy if you are touring the county as you can go for a more or less circular tour of the area, i.e. Wick to Latheron, over to Thurso, even visit Halkirk on the B874 and either come back to Wick via Watten A882, or to Castletown on the A836 and back to Wick on the Bower B876 road and of course if you want to take the whole trip go from Thurso along the A836 to Dunnet, Mey, John O'Groats and return via Auckengill, Keiss, Reiss on the A99 to Wick... Lots of options and all an easy drive.

 

Caithness really is a very accessible little county. Do not worry we have lots of maps and informaton in the Holiday Homes and are happy to advise you at any time. We are always just a 'phone call away if you need assistance.

 

For further Places of Interest see my other pages which I have attempted to group into areas or road sections to make planning your outings easier.

 

I am very sorry but the mapping system will not illustrate our location in Scotland. We have contacted the web site provider repeatedly to have this matter corrected. We will of course send out detailed information if required of the route North and our exact location. For those of you using SatNav the postal code for Duncorann House is KW1 5EY and The Corner Town House is KW1 5QQ.