Armadale Castle and Gardens

Armadale Castle and Gardens is located on the Sleat peninsula in the south of Skye. Sleat is known as the garden of Skye and the beautiful drive down to Armadale illustrates why. The Castle and Gardens are a stones throw from the Mallaig to Armadale ferry if you arrive over the sea. From Broadford it is about a 20 minute drive in a car on the A851.

On arriving, to the right there is a spacious car park and to the left many disabled spaces. These are near the entrance to the gardens and there is a tarmac path from there to the restaurant building. The rest of the car park is tarmac and level.

The Stables Restaurant

We arrived at lunch time so started our visit at The Stables Restaurant. 

The building is level access and has a disabled toilet. In the restaurant itself the best view of the gardens is from the raised platform around the edge of the room. There are only a couple of steps up to these seats. For those that cannot manage steps, the central area is quite roomy, on the level and still offers some views of the outside.

They offer a selection of snacks, meals and cakes and a choice of hot and cold drinks. You order at the counter and food is brought to your table when ready. The running of the restaurant is contracted out in the summer months, so menus may change depending on who is running it at the time of your visit.

We both had Panini served with crisps and coleslaw. Sarah also had the soup of the day. Don’t worry, we didn’t miss out on cake we just decided to stop somewhere else on the way home for it.

Armadale Castle and Gardens

Entry to the gardens is through the gift shop and again there is level access. The gardens have two mobility scooters available for customers use. These can be booked in advance. Sarah took advantage of one of these. The scooter Sarah used was the biggest of the two available. It copes better with the more challenging terrain although many of the paths are tarmac or very compacted gravel. Sarah was a regular visitor to the gardens before her disability and was surprised by how much ground she was able to cover on it.

Most of the main paths within the gardens were very accessible. The nature trails which traverse the surrounding woodland were somewhat more challenging. Judge for yourself how much of this you can or cannot do depending on your abilities and equipment. Sarah felt she may have been able to venture further with her rollator or sticks. We will have to make a further visit to put this to the test. Obviously as this is a garden there are many hazards such as tree roots and drainage channels to be aware of. However Armadale Gardens are still very accessible with care.

Just inside the garden gates, to the right, is a small play area for those with children that would enjoy such a feature. Within the gardens you will find the Castle and Laundry ruins as well as the fascinating Museum of the Isles . The museum contains information on Skye’s rich history. Inside the museum is another disabled toilet, as well as some regular toilets. The exhibition area is spacious and although there is not room to take the scooter inside there is a wheelchair you can transfer into for exploring this fascinating history.

Visiting Armadale Castle and Gardens

The Museum of the Isles offers something to do if the weather is inclement. If you are lucky with the weather the beautiful gardens and the views over the Sound of Sleat to the mainland are truly stunning. There are many other interesting places to visit in Sleat but you could easily spend a whole day at Armadale Castle as it has much to offer. Throughout the year Armadale Castle hosts many different events so check their website for details.

All in all we had a great visit to Armadale Castle and Gardens. We found it to be very accessible both on foot and with a mobility scooter. Mobility and disability have been taken into great consideration so Armadale can be enjoyed by all.