Forglen Estate

Formerly the seat of the Ogilvies and then the Abercrombies, Forglen is a beautiful country estate in Aberdeenshire just west of the river Deveron near Turriff. Map 29 NJ 696517.

The large mansion house is a category A listed building and the gardens are listed in the “ inventory of gardens and designed landscapes in Scotland “ as outstanding in most sections.

It has around 400 hectares of woodlands which are predominately commercial conifers but there are also areas of policy woodlands, riparian woodlands and small shelterbelts.

The estate has its own sawmill which is still used occasionally. It has a wonderful arboretum in a deep glen that boasts many large conifers and rhododendrons. Some of the woodlands border the river Deveron where a large variety of tree species grow. There are extensive walks through the estate so that access to most of the woodlands is relatively straight forward.

Forglen was particularly badly hit by Storm Arwen at the beginning of this year. With guidance from the estate manager we  will concentrate on how the estate has managed the woodlands that have been  affected by this extreme weather event and the difficulties that large areas of wind-blow can cause to the day to day running of forestry operations and estate management. We will look at the implications for future forestry operations and how the estate will try to ameliorate the possibilities of any future extreme wind event.

We will also look at the old sawmill, the policy woodlands and the riparian woodlands beside the river Deveron.