Bob Dylan: I stayed in singer's former Scottish Highlands holiday home - and it's not what you might expect

“There it is, Bob Dylan’s piano” is not something I’d ever thought I’d hear and definitely not anything Mrs Milne, my former piano teacher, would have expected of menote-0.
By Rosalind Erskine
Published 5th Mar 2024, 04:55 BST
Updated 6th Mar 2024, 17:57 BST
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Since I often don’t know why I went into the kitchen, it was a stretch to think I’d remember anything from my years of piano lessons as a teen, much to the dismay of, well me, mainly.

I found myself sitting plonking the keys of the baby grand piano in the singer/songwriter’s former Highland home on a cold March night. Bought by distillers Angus Dundee in late 2023 for over £4 million, Aultmore House, which, confusingly is also a whisky, is located near Nethy Bridge. The property has 16 bedrooms and sits in 24 acres of grounds that include a folly, kitchen garden – not dissimilar, if much smaller, to Andrew Fairlie’s secret garden – and views across to the Cairngorms.

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I was there as part of a group trip to find out more about Angus Dundee and undertake a tour of Tomintoul. I don’t think it’s unfair to say the distiller is one of the lesser known names in Scotland, as they were and are mainly concerned with creating spirits for others. But you may know them from Tomintoul and Glencadam, the former of which is known as the ‘gentle dram’.