Beauly, an alternative start and end point to Inverness

I sometimes start a tour in Beauly and sometimes finish one there. It’s close enough to Inverness to be either the opening sentence or the closing chapter, and if you’ve spent much of the day getting to the Highlands, there’s something to be said for spending your first evening in a village where you can walk out for supper. Beauly is one of those rare places where the postcard and the place itself seem to agree. The square is broad and tree-lined, with warm sandstone buildings around it, and while you’re taking it all in, somebody’s popping into the ironmonger for nails or picking up something for supper from the butcher.

I’d start at the priory, just off the square, where the grounds are free to visit. French monks settled here around 1230, and you’ll sometimes hear that Mary, Queen of Scots, looked around and called it beau lieu, or ‘beautiful place’. I can quite believe she liked it, but the monks had beaten her to the name by a few centuries. You can go from the shops to the old burial ground in a couple of minutes, and it always seems rather wonderful to me that somewhere so quiet should be tucked in beside the busiest part of the village.

Back in the square, I’d look in at Campbell’s, where the original timber counters are still in use and there’s a tailoring room making bespoke clothes on the premises. They’ve been in business here since 1858. Then I’d go for an espresso at Café Biagiotti, which is run by two sisters from Beauly who spent their family holidays in the Tuscan village where their mother grew up. You can come to Beauly for a look at the priory and find you’ve spent as much time around the square as you did at the ruins. If you’re staying the night, I’d look to the staff-owned Priory Hotel for supper.

In the morning you can get fuel, charge the car or pick up groceries before heading west into Glen Affric, where the road takes you into the old pinewoods. Glen Strathfarrar is within reach too, though I’d check the gate arrangements before taking a car in. And if Beauly’s your last stop, Inverness is a short train ride away. In the blogcast, I’ll take you back to the days when the coach gave you half an hour for breakfast in Beauly, and tell you how the village got its trains back with barely fifteen metres of platform.

To learn more, listen to the blogcast or book one of our North Coast Explorer private tours.