A walk on Rosehaugh Estate
Rosehaugh Estate lies just outside Avoch on the Black Isle. The big house was demolished about sixty years ago, though some of the cellars and the garden terraces remain. The estate itself is beautiful, and well worth exploring.
Distance: 1.5 miles / 2.4km. We took the main path from the car park up to the garden terrace, then up to the stables and back. It would be easy to extend the walk if desired.
Parking: The estate have kindly provided a small car park area for walkers. Taking the A832 from Munlochy, you will see some grand gates on the left hand side of the road. Do not take this turn, but take the next left turn (about 2 miles from the Munlochy junction). Drive a short distance down an estate road, and you will see a car park signed on the right.
Amenities: No amenities on the walk, but there is a shop in nearby Avoch.
Buggy/bike-friendly? The walk is mostly on tarmac estate roads (and could be entirely if you wanted), so it is suitable for almost all pushchairs. I was glad that we hadn’t brought a balance bike, as the route is almost all uphill to the garden terrace.
Rosehaugh Estate walk: the route
1. From the car park, return to the estate road, and follow it over a bridge, continuing beside a rather lovely burn.
2. Cross another bridge, and turn left uphill. Look out for some fairy houses in the trees here.
3. The road continues up through the woods to reach the remains of Rosehaugh House. Only the wine cellars remain, along with the old formal gardens. There are lovely views out over the Black Isle countryside, and we enjoyed imagining what the gardens would have been like in their heyday.
4. We then retraced our steps slightly, and carried on uphill towards the stables.
5. By the stables we took a sharp left down a (muddy) woodland track to rejoin the main estate road a bit further down. You could just as well go back the way you came if you wanted to avoid the mud.
6. Rejoin the main estate track and continue back down, enjoying the views. The trees were particularly lovely in the autumn sunshine on the day we visited.
Rosehaugh Estate walk: the terrain
Almost our whole walk was on good quality tarmac estate roads, and we could easily have returned the same way. The walk is therefore suitable for almost all pushchairs. There is a fairly long uphill stretch to reach the remains of Rosehaugh House, but the gradient was moderate.
Things to look for
Look out for tall trees, fairy houses, burns, ponds, berries and autumn leaves. Also several geocaches!
Overall this was a lovely estate walk, and we enjoyed thinking about times gone by.
