Beauly lies 12 miles west of Inverness, where the River Beauly meets the Beauly Firth, and has a number of features that set it apart from other Highland villages.
At its heart is the 13th-century priory, now a ruin, and the village square, laid out by Baron Lovat in the 1840s, is one of the most spacious in the north of Scotland.
History
Monks of the little-known Valliscaulian order, from the Val des Choux in France, founded Beauly Priory in about 1230. French-speaking, they called its riverside setting “beau lieu”, the beautiful place, which gave the village its name.
The principal clans of the area are the Frasers of Lovat and the Chisholms, and Beauly, something of a border town between west and east, has a colourful past. Mary Queen of Scots stayed at the priory and was so charmed by the place that she ordered outfits in tartan for her entire court.
The village today
Nowadays the village is much more tranquil. Traffic north and west takes faster modern roads, and in summer there are flowers everywhere: Beauly has won prizes for its floral displays. It is known for good-quality shopping, from Scottish tweeds, knitwear and crafts to boutiques and antiques; see the listings below.
Around Beauly
Inland from Beauly are some of the loveliest of Scotland’s glens and straths, Glen Affric among them. Plants and wildlife abound in the glens and along the Beauly Firth, making the area popular with birdwatchers, botanists, walkers and cyclists. The 26-mile Beauly Firth cycle loop passes through the village, and Beauly has a railway station on the line north from Inverness.
Close to the main roads north, Beauly makes an excellent base for exploring the whole of the north of Scotland, from John o’ Groats to the Cairngorms and from Skye to Elgin. Nearer home, summer brings games, festivals, galas and agricultural shows.