Abertarff House

Abertarff House on Church Street is the oldest surviving house in Inverness, built in 1593 as a two-and-a-half-storey town house with crow-stepped gables and a projecting turnpike stair, and for a time owned by the Frasers of Lovat, whose clansmen fought for the Jacobites at Culloden. Colonel John Stuart, a British colonial figure in 18th-century America, was born here. Cared for by the National Trust for Scotland, the house holds a free exhibition in two ground-floor rooms on Inverness in the 1600s, a town at the centre of Covenanting conflict and occupation, with the original oak beams and a 17th-century marriage stone over the fireplace. Reviewers find it a quick, free stop with enough on the boards to be worthwhile, but note that only the downstairs is open and one room is the shop. Tips from visitors: allow 20 minutes, the door inside the turnpike stair is very narrow with steps in and out, and Inverness station is five minutes' walk.