This work comes from the book The Whisky Roads of Scotland, first published in 1982 by Jill Norman and Hobhouse, with text by Derek Cooper. Distilling grain into whisky was illegal in the 18th century but the resourceful Scots found routes to smuggle the spirit from the Spey valley and the wild mountains that surround it to towns such as Aberdeen or Elgin. Kildrummy Castle was modelled on Chateau du Coucy near Laon in Northern France and is now a ruin. The gardens were restored in Edwardian days.