What are the opening hours?

Saturday 10:30am - 3pm Sunday 10:30am - 3pm

Leith Hall, Garden & Estate NTS

Home
United Kingdom
Kennethmont, Scotland
Leith Hall, Garden & Estate NTS

Call Directions Website Contact the organisation

Leith Hall was built over three centuries, starting in 1650, and remained the home of the Leith-Hays.
(1)

Built in 1650, Leith Hall was very much a family home, lived in, used and altered to meet the family’s needs for nearly three hundred years. The Hall, gardens, wider estate and much of the original collection came to the Trust in 1945. Never having been sold and remaining in the same family for ten generations, it offers a rare glimpse of the changing aspirations, needs and tastes of the middle-ranking gentry and a fascinating insight into the Leith-Hay family. The stunning gardens here are one of the Trust’s hidden gems. From the top of the garden there are spectacular views of Aberdeenshire and the surrounding hills. At 186m above sea level it is the highest altitude garden in the National Trust for Scotland's care and boasts a coldest recorded temperature of -28oC! But the south-facing slope of the garden makes it an ideal location for many plants from all over the world to thrive. The remarkable herbaceous and catmint borders that run either side of the zigzag path are one of the longest of their kind in Scotland, at nearly 100m. Other features include the rock garden, vegetable garden and the Moon Gate – a rare focal point along the wall of the east garden. Leith Hall estate also has a lot to offer any visitor with three well marked trails through gorgeous scenery packed full of wildlife that is easy for you to see at any time of year. Take a relaxed walk around the pond and take a minute to sit and enjoy the view or take a detour up to the bird hide to see the upper pond where ducks like Teal overwinter. Make sure to look out for signs of the Otter that occasionally visits. For a longer walk the Kirkhill trail will take you out to some of the surrounding countryside and you'll have a chance to explore the history of the Leith-Hay family in the old kirkyard. A trip up the Craigfall trail will treat you to an overall view of the Leith Hall estate along views over to Tap o'north, Dunnydeer hill and Bennachie. Keep an eye out on this page for all the events that are happening over the coming season!

13/11/2026

Come for the autumn colours, stay for the delicious seasonal produce!

Specials this weekend in Henrietta's Tearoom include;
🥕Roast Lemony Carrot Ribbons, Onion & Feta Toastie
🫐Redcurrant Rueben
🍂Boston Marrow Squash and Feta Quiche
🦄Unicorn Rocky Road
🍐Gingerbread Pear Blondie

Henrietta's Tearoom is open Saturday and Sunday, 10:30am - 3pm.

06/11/2026

🍂The Autumnal colours continue to delight! And Henrietta's Tearoom is full of delicious seasonal specials for you to enjoy!

Specials include;
🍐Nutella & Pear Blondie
🍎Slow Cooked Leith Hall C***r & Apple Pulled Pork & Cheese Toastie
🍂Biscoff Tiffin

Henrietta's Tearoom is open Saturday and Sunday, 10:30am - 3pm 🍰(note the slightly earlier closing time for November and December)

🏰We have lots of great events coming up between now and Christmas! Check out Eventbrite for more details 🍂

05/11/2026

🍰 A great winter walk deserves a memorable finish.

🕒 Henrietta's Tearoom is open weekends throughout winter.
Plan your visit at nts.org.uk/visit/places/leith-hall and follow us for the latest weekly specials.

The Hall may be closed for the season, but one of Aberdeenshire's best tearooms continues serving seasonal lunches and homemade bakes made with fresh produce from our gardens.

Look forward to a hearty breakfast roll and coffee after your morning stroll, or make a leisurely lunch part of your next Sunday walk.

Sarah's signature pies are back for winter, with fillings changing through the season depending on what the gardeners and local suppliers bring to the kitchen. Last year's always-sold-out specials included slow-cooked red w**e venison, pork in Leith Hall c***r, and squash, sage and feta.

The board tempts with sweet treats too, from apple crumble butterscotch blondies to homemade sticky toffee pudding.

Best of all, every visit helps us care for and share Scotland's precious heritage.

02/11/2026

🏰Tours have now finished for the season. Thank you to everyone who visited!

We have some exciting festive events coming up before the end of the year. Check out Eventbrite for the full list via the link at the bottom or click on one of the events below 👇

🎂Winter Afternoon Tea - 7th / 22nd / 29th
🎄Wreath Workshop - 4th December
🫖Festive Afternoon Tea - 6th December
🎅Breakfast with Santa - 12th & 13th December
🎁Afternoon Tea with Santa - 12th & 13th December

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/leith-hall-garden-amp-estate-33806233645

02/11/2026

🕷Thank you to all the student witches and wizards who joined us for this year's Wizarding School! 🕷

🔮See you again next year!

From the Leith Hall Professors of Magic ✨

01/11/2026

📜 Turning the page at Leith Hall

As Leith Hall closes for the season, so too does another chapter of our book cataloguing project.

Over the past few months, the books emerging from the shelves have taken us in almost every direction — from Virgil, Homer, and Anne Boleyn, to prizefighting, fashion, surgery, prison reform, smoky chimneys, supernatural encounters, and the more uncomfortable histories of slavery, empire, and racial inequality. Along the way, handwritten notes, ownership inscriptions, recycled bindings, and family records have revealed stories that extend far beyond the words printed on the page.

Thank you to our brilliant volunteers, whose careful cataloguing, cleaning, condition assessing, research, and curiosity have helped us understand the library not simply as a collection of books, but as a record of what generations at Leith Hall read, studied, argued about, valued, and chose to preserve. Keep an eye out here for more tales and discoveries from the shelves in the months ahead.

29/10/2026

🎃Some sPOOkY and sWEeT specials for this Halloween w-EEK-end!

🕷Oreo Spider Tiffin
👻Halloween Sandwich Biscuits
🕸Smartie Cobweb Rocky Road

There aren't many spots left for wizard school but Henrietta's tearoom is open Friday - Sunday for some devilishly delicious food! Its also your last chance to visit the hall before it gets put to bed for winter!

🏰Tours at 10:30 - 12:30 - 2:30 and open guiding between 11 & 2:30

27/10/2026

🎃 From the darker corners of Leith Hall

As part of a National Trust for Scotland project bringing together some of the creepiest-looking dolls in the collection, we've been asked to nominate a pair from Leith Hall.

Dating from the nineteenth century, these figures belong to the long tradition of Punch and Judy entertainment. Their exaggerated features and theatrical costumes were intended to amuse, but time has lent them a rather different character. Worn fabrics, faded colours, and more than a century of age have transformed two familiar entertainers into very convincing candidates for a Halloween line-up.

Keep an eye on the National Trust for Scotland's national channels to see what else emerges from collections across Scotland. We suspect Punch and Judy will find themselves in equally unsettling company.

🧵 Punch and Judy dolls, 19th century. Leith Hall collection.

26/10/2026

📣 We are pleased to announce that the estate is now back open for visitors! Thank you for your patience

💪Thank you to the team for checking all the trails and dealing with the aftermath of storm Boelo! ️

⚠️However please be cautious if visiting the garden or estate tomorrow (Tuesday) with the forecast of more winds

🏰The Hall and Tearoom will open as usual this Friday for our last weekend of the season! Henrietta's Tearoom will remain open on Saturdays and Sundays throughout November and December.

25/10/2026

📜 Book of the Week!

This week's highlight, Joseph John Gurney’s Notes on a Visit Made to Some of the Prisons in Scotland and the North of England belongs to a moment when imprisonment itself was increasingly becoming a subject of scrutiny and reform.
Punishment was gradually moving away from the public spectacle of the scaffold and into institutions whose workings were less visible, but no less consequential. Books such as this helped turn attention towards what happened behind prison walls, raising questions about discipline, morality, rehabilitation, and the responsibilities of those who administered them.

As part of ongoing collections care at Leith Hall, our team are currently cataloguing, cleaning, and assessing the condition of the historic library collection. Visitors can observe this process taking place on Fridays in the Oval Room.

Address

Leith Hall
Kennethmont
AB544NQ

Opening Hours

Saturday	10:30am - 3pm
Sunday	10:30am - 3pm

Telephone

+441464831216

Website

https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/leith-hall

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Leith Hall, Garden & Estate NTS posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.