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This is through a variety of self-catered apartments in the castle wings, converted stables and on-site lodges. All the spaces have access to kitchen and living room facilities with breakfast packs provided. This ensures you will have provisions for cooked breakfasts and bread, milk, juice, tea and coffee etc.

Blair and Dom will organise the accommodation plan for guests who are choosing to stay with us. If you have any specific requirements for your room, such as children’s cots, stair-free access etc. please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate.

The castle can accommodate guests for the weekend if you choose to stay with us.

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Drumtochty Castle, Auchenblae, Aberdeenshire, AB30 1TP

Travelling from the North: From Aberdeen take the A90 ‘Stonehaven road’ south for 24 miles. Take a right at the signpost for ‘Auchenblae’, onto ‘The Waters’ road. Follow this road for 2 miles until you arrive at the village of Auchenblae, then take a left, signposted as the ‘Cemetery’. Follow this road round and take a sharp right at the junction. Then follow the road for 3 miles until you pass St Palladius church on your right which is located next to the main entrance to Drumtochty Castle. Travelling from the South: Take the A90 ‘North’ from Perth or Dundee for 38 miles. Just north of Laurencekirk turn left sign posted ‘Auchenblae’, onto ‘The Waters’ road. Follow this road for 2 miles until you arrive at the village of Auchenblae, then take a left, signposted as the ‘Cemetery’. Follow this road round and take a sharp right at the junction. Then follow the road for 3 miles until you pass St Palladius church on your right which is located next to the main entrance to Drumtochty Castle. If you are staying with us and arriving on Friday, please enter through the main gates and drive directly up to the main door of the castle. Castle staff will be there to greet you and show you to your accommodation. If you are arriving on the Saturday for the ceremony, you will be directed to park away from the main castle entrance.

By Car:

By Train:

Aberdeen or Stonehaven are the nearest mainline train stations. Aberdeen train station is 30 miles away for the castle and Stonehaven is 20 miles away. Local taxi services are available for transportation between station and castle. However, you may need to organise a taxi back to the train station in advance.

Aberdeen International Airport is the closet airport to Drumtochty Castle. Just over 30 miles away, it is around 45 minute journey from airport to castle. There is a taxi rank located at the front of the terminal, as well as several car hire rental firms are available to hire a vehicle from on site.

By Air:

FOOD & DRINK

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Breakfasts For all guests staying on the site, breakfast will be provided. This will be in the form of a breakfast pack delivered to the accommodation by the castle staff. There will be options for cooked breakfast items included.

Friday For the Friday night welcome dinner, the castle will be serving fish and chips from their converted horsebox in the castle courtyard. There will be another option provided for vegetarians. The bar will be open on Friday night for us all to have a drink. Please note that the bar will close at 11pm and we are strongly encouraging you all to get a good nights sleep ahead of the big day.

SATURDAY WEDDING MEAL More details on the wedding meal will be shared in the coming months. Blair and Dom have not yet been for the all-important tasting session yet. However, there will be a choice for food and we will need to collect your choices to tell the castle approximately 2 months ahead of the wedding. The castle itself will be catering the meal and pride themselves on using local produce (including venison from the Drumtochty estate). During the ceilidh, there will be a hot buffet served to provide some more sustenance to keep you dancing into the small hours.

SUNDAY On Sunday afternoon, we will be serving beef and chicken tacos with salad from the horsebox. We are planning on accompanying this with some delicious cocktails to get us all back into party mode. As for the Friday night, an option will be available for vegetarian/vegans. In the evening, there will be a hot buffet provided to keep you going for the last night of festivities.

Additional FOOD If you are staying with us at the castle, your accommodation will include access to kitchen facilities. So please feel free to bring any food and snacks that you feel necessary to enjoy your stay with us. There is also a kitchen in the main castle itself that guests can use (outside of the Saturday wedding meal). Tea and coffee making facilities are dotted all around the castle and estate for guests to help themselves throughout the weekend.

DIetary requirements If you have any dietary requirements that need to be catered for, please let Blair and Dom know. The castle are happy to accommodate as much as possible and we can discuss any specifics with them if necessary.

DRINKS The most important part of the weekend. Blair and Dom will be supplying drinks for the free bar for the weekend. The bar will be open on Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon/night. The usual selection of beers, ciders, wines and spirits will be available (including soft drinks, ice etc.). If there is anything special that you would like included here, please speak to Blair or Dom to see what can be arranged. AT THE WEDDING On the Saturday, a drinks reception will follow the ceremony. During the dinner, a selection of beers and wines will be available for guests ahead of the bar opening in the evening. YOUR OWN ALCOHOL You can of course bring your own drinks with you for the weekend, but those drinks can only be consumed in the main castle when the bar is closed. This is due to licencing laws that the castle must abide by. You can drink your own supply at any time in the accommodation. Once the bar closes at night, guests are allowed to help themselves to the general stock and their own supply to drink in the castle. We understand this may not be a typical approach, but we have been assured that this works well as long as guests follow the rules. We kindly ask guests to please adhere to the rules set by the castle to ensure everything is compliant with the law.

Are there any other dresscode requirements outside of the wedding? No specific dress code requirements, please dress as you feel comfortable. Hopefully we will have nice weather but you never know in Scotland, so check the forecast and see whether you should pack an umbrella. Heels or flats? The castle grounds are quite hilly and there is a bit of a walk from some of the accommodation to the main castle. If you want to wear heels for the wedding, we recommend also bringing flats and changing at the castle (we will make a space to store any shoes available). It might be work considering some flats for the ceilidh if you value your ankles! DO I need to bring any food and drink with me? You are very welcome to bring your own food and drink with you. We will be providing meals as stated in the itinerary and food & drink page. We recommend you bring any snacks and some additional drinks so you are catered for at all times. What facilities are there for getting ready for the wedding? The castle provides iron and ironing boards should you need them. These will either be in your rooms already or in the communal areas of the apartments. The castle staff are also on hand to help with anything if you’re missing something or need a hand with something. IS there wifi and phone reception? There is basic phone reception at the castle but not great internet. The castle does provide wifi in the accomodation and throughout the castle. Of course, you could just switch your phone off for the weekend and enjoy. What about wedding gifts? Blair and Dom appreciate that everyone will be travelling from far and wide to be with us to celebrate. We understand this will be a huge effort for a lot of people, therefore we just ask for your attendance and lovely company for the weekend. How accessible are the castle and grounds? The reception rooms, ballroom and toilets are located on the ground floor of the castle and can be accessed without any steps. There is some accommodation available with step-free access for those with lower mobility. The grounds of the castle are fairly hilly, so please plan accordingly with footwear. How does it work with bringing our own alcohol? Please see information on the Food & Drinks page of the website. You are welcome to bring your own alcohol with you to the castle. When the bar is closed, guests are permitted to drink their own alcohol in the castle. What is there to do in the area? If you are looking to extend your stay in Aberdeenshire or need somewhere to kill some time before or after checking in/out of the castle, there are plenty of options in the local area. There are plenty of distilleries, castles, coastline etc to be explored. In Dundee, the V&A museum opened in 2018 and is certainly worth a visit. Is there anything we should bring that hasn’t been mentioned? Despite copious amounts of planning, the one thing we cannot control is the weather. So please check forecasts ahead of the wedding to see if brollies, thermals or even sun cream might be needed! Additionally, insect repellent is advisable as the Scottish midges will just be starting their summer season.

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