OS Map. Landranger Sheet 38. Facilities. Parking. Suitable for picnics. Tearoom. Shop ... The 19th-century boathouse is
Fyvie Lochside walk Description Walk through a landscape shaped by 800 years of history, and discover the rich wealth of wildlife that flourishes in Fyvie’s loch and woodlands. Fyvie’s 18th-century owners created Fyvie Loch in what was marshland protecting the castle. This picturesque landscape feature now covers a large part of the estate’s 49 hectares and supports large numbers of wildfowl. Swans, coots, mallards, and moorhens are joined in the winter by greylag geese, tufted ducks and goldeneyes. Ospreys occasionally visit to fish in the loch. arrow gullies p Grade Easy
1 GARDENS Visit the three walled gardens, all very different in character: Walled Garden of Scottish Fruit. American Garden – contains a wide variety of mainly North American plants marking Fyvie’s American connections. Rhymer’s Haugh (or How) Woodland Garden – named after Thomas the Rhymer, a 13th-century seer who placed a curse on the castle’s owners.
Terrain The path is generally flat and is mostly surfaced
3 BIRD HIDE From the peace and quiet of the hide you can watch everything from moorhen chicks nestling in the reeds to herons fishing on the shore. The hide was built by Fyvie Youth Club.
Distance 1¼ miles / 2km
2 BOATHOUSE The 19th-century boathouse is a popular spot for feeding the resident wildfowl. Please don’t give the birds white bread as it can cause them health problems. Wholemeal bread, oats, seeds and unsalted nuts are more suitable.
OS Map Landranger Sheet 38
4 FYVIE LOCH The loch is a feeding ground for ospreys, otters, herons and Daubenton’s bats, and home to large numbers of wildfowl. Greater pond sedge flourishes at the loch’s edges – it is generally scarce in this part of Scotland.
Facilities Parking Suitable for picnics Tearoom Shop Toilets (inside walled garden) Dogs welcome
5 SQUIRRELS See if you can spot a red squirrel – that’s if they haven’t spotted you first! They often leave their leftover, half-eaten cones strewn on the ground around here.
Time 45–60 mins
Fyvie
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6 CASTLE DALE The fields here are grazed in summer and barn owls often patrol their edges in search of prey. 7 RACQUETS COURT American industrialist Alexander Leith purchased Fyvie Castle and estate in 1889 and brought numerous aspects of his US background with him. He had the racquets court and bowling alley built in 1903, some 57 years before Britain’s first commercial ten-pin bowling alley opened.
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Rhymer’s Haugh Woodland Garden
Lochside walk
Fyvie Castle
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LOCHSIDE WALK CASTLE GROUNDS
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American Garden
Walled Garden of Scottish Fruit
