Oldmeldrum

Oldmeldrum is an old town about five miles north-east of Inverurie and some 17 miles north-west of Aberdeen on the main road to Banff.

Some of the History of the Battle of Barra has lingered here with the army of John Comyn being housed here in 1307. For tourists, the history of the town is in its buildings like the Morris Hotel built in 1673 and the old market square and other grey stone buildings that can look quite brooding in colder weather!

The Olde Worlde shops here are great to browse if you’re tired of the countryside and all that fresh air and the square is lovely in the Summer months with freshly planted beds and plenty of places to sip coffee and watch the world go by.

The streets forming much of the rest of Oldmeldrum twist their way narrowly away from the central square, clearly revealing that the town’s growth was organic rather than planned.

On the north side of the town is Glen Garioch Distillery. Built in the same grey stone as much of the rest of Oldmeldrum, this comes complete with a four storey malt barn, two pagodas, a still house that lies end-on to the passing street and a visitor centre. The distillery, pronounced “Glen Geery” can trace its origins back to 1797.

Just to the north of the town is Meldrum House, now a hotel and golf club. The Meldrum family probably built a castle here in about 1236. It was converted over time into a larger castle and then a mansion. Meldrum House’s most longstanding resident is said to be the ghost of a lady in green, who may or may not be the same ghost as the lady in white who appears during thunderstorms and on one occasion kissed a surprised guest. But why the name of Meldrum should have turned into Oldmeldrum remains unclear.

In recent years Oldmeldrum has been bypassed by a road which leads around the west side of the town from the B9170 Inverurie Road in the south-west to the A947 Banff road to the north of the town.