📌 Kemnay, Aberdeenshire
★★
Fetternear House (also known as Fetternear Palace or the Bishop’s Palace) is a large, medieval ruin found in countryside just west of Kemnay, Aberdeenshire. The house was originally built in the early 1200s as a palace for the Bishops of Aberdeen, undergoing rebuilding and enlargement over the following centuries before becoming the seat of the Leslie family in 1566. A fire in 1919 brought the mansion’s inhabited life to an end, though sheep still graze around the crumbling walls. The mansion is fenced off and only viewable from the front, but several architectural features are still visible, including the fine coat of arms belonging to Patrick Leslie above the front entrance.
🌍 Location
📌 1 mi northwest of Kemnay village centre, with access from Bridge Road just west of Bridge of Kemnay
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NJ 723171
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 57.243654,-2.459976
🚌 Bus to Kemnay (1 mi)
🚗 Car park at 🧭 NJ 728161 / 🛰️ 57.234521,-2.452345
📝 Key info
⌚ Exterior always viewable
🎫 Free
💬 From the car park it’s a 20-min walk (each way) to the castle, with a choice of two routes (⬤ Easy). Main route: follow the tarmac lane north, ignoring a path on the left after 300m and a track on the right after 1 km. Soon after, take the next track on the right, with the house soon visible ahead. Alternative route: follow the tarmac lane north, forking left onto a path after 300m. This soon becomes a wider track, eventually reaching a junction with a tarmac lane. Continue straight ahead to the house.
