Exploring Duffus Estate
Come and explore the 14 acres of woodland surrounding Duffus House. Walk along one of several trails where you’ll discover native woodland. Immerse yourself in a woodland of beech, oak and Scots pine, with some beautiful mature specimen trees closer to Duffus House.
The huge old Sequoia and Cedar trees are our personal favourites here at Duffus Estate and one even provided inspiration for our logo. I wonder if you can find it?
Whilst wandering along these trails you may be lucky enough to spot some of the wildlife who make Duffus Estate their home. We love our cheeky resident red squirrels! There is a healthy population and it is always a delight to see them chasing each other up and down the trees or watch their aerial acrobatics high in the tree tops.
We regularly see Roe deer and have occasional sighting of our more secretive resident foxes, badgers, bats, stoats, hedgehogs, rabbits and hare. We have a plethora of bird life on our doorstep – it’s always a joy to hear woodpeckers start drumming away in the trees every Spring and I personally love catching glimpses of pairs of partridge as they potter around the place.
Immerse yourself in nature
Our plan is to extend our network of paths on the Estate. One will enable visitors to walk down to Duffus Castle from Duffus House without leaving the Estate. This will link up two iconic structures that have played an important part in history in Moray. Duffus Castle is now under the custodianship of Historic Environment Scotland but is still free to visit. This path will also allow our guests at Old Duffus Farmhouse and the eco-cabin, which overlook the castle, an easy way to access the rest of the paths on the Estate.
Re-planting: we have taken back in-hand the management of the 26 acre field to the south of Duffus House. There are photographs from the early 1900’s showing it as parkland with huge old oak trees. Due to the modernisation of farming practices throughout the twentieth century, these trees were cut down. With a bit of research, we aim to do some replanting and create further paths to extend the current network so there is even more grounds for visitors to enjoy.
