Haddo House

Haddo House is William Adam's Palladian mansion of 1732 for the Gordons, Earls of Aberdeen, remodelled inside in the 1880s so that a clean Georgian exterior holds a luxurious Victorian home. The family produced a Lord Chancellor of Scotland and a Prime Minister, and the house is lined with portraits, ceramics and curios, a curving corridor leading to the library and 85 paintings of Aberdeenshire castles by James Giles; in the Second World War it served as a maternity hospital. The National Trust for Scotland shows it by 75-minute guided tour three times a day, and outside are a terrace garden, the family chapel still in use, and the lakes and woodland walks of Haddo Country Park, which the council runs. Reviewers praise the guides for their stories and say the gardens and grounds make a good visit on their own. Tips from visitors: book a tour time by phone or at the shop, tours run Friday to Monday, and the country park keeps its own hours.