Dating back to the 12th century, the Old Wood of Drum once stretched all the way from Peterculter to Banchory, and served as a royal hunting forest.
The wood provided an essential supply of oak, and many fine ships and buildings – including Drum Castle itself – were built from oak trees cut from Drum Estate. Today, the woodland provides a safe haven for many types of wildlife, including red squirrels, bats, badgers, beetles, and a diverse variety of birds. Due to its significance, the Old Wood of Drum is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Explore the Old Wood on our Woodland Walk, where dense stands of birch give way to more open woodland and grand old oak trees. Discover a different side to Drum on our other trails – the Drumhill Trail, where we’re encouraging natural regeneration, and the Farmland Walk, which takes you through a patchwork of fields and woodland.
Closer to the castle, relax in the shade of Drum’s expansive arboretum and pinetum, which took root in the 18th and 19th centuries. Here, long-lived Monterey pines and giant redwoods from California intermingle with aged umbrella pines and cedars from Japan and majestic silver firs from central Europe.
Little Oaks play area
Little Oaks will be closed for its winter hibernation from Monday 4 November 2024.
Thank you to the thousands of families who have explored, climbed and created amazing memories in Little Oaks since it opened this summer! To let the grass and ground recover, we’re taking a short break to carry out some maintenance and make improvements for next year.
Our new natural and sustainable play area has been created using storm-felled trees from the Drum woodland and wider estate.
Free for everyone to access, Little Oaks encourages children and families to explore and re-imagine ‘traditional’ play. The 1-acre play area swaps traditional play park equipment for a more natural approach, with swings, slides and rubber matting replaced by an array of giant tree structures and carved oak sculptures to provide kids of all ages with an exciting new way to play.
Little Oaks is an exciting adventure for children of all ages. But some children are more adventurous than others. Only you know the ability of your own children and those in your care. This space is unsupervised so please keep an eye on them!
We want your children’s adventure to be safe. Keep them in sight and be aware that there are areas where they may fall or trip. The ground is uneven in places and there may be exposed tree roots, rocks and stones.
To report any damage please email drum@nts.org.uk or speak to a member of the team. Our approach to natural play is aligned with ISO 4980:2023 and the Visitor Safety Group principle of ‘no nasty surprises’.
Walks here
Woodland Walk
- Difficulty
- Moderate – the path is unsurfaced with some slopes.
- Time
- 20–40 minutes
- Distance
- 1 mile (1.5km)
- Facilities
- Parking; toilets; dogs welcome
Drumhill Trail
- Difficulty
- Moderate – the path is unsurfaced with some slopes. Appropriate footwear should be worn as the paths around Drumhill can often be wet and slippery.
- Time
- 20–40 minutes
- Distance
- 1 mile (1.5km)
- Facilities
- Parking; toilets; dogs welcome