Moray is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.
The Moray council area was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, with the boundaries of the former Moray district of the two-tier Grampian region. Local government districts had their own directly elected councils. Therefore they were said to be part of a two-tier system of local government. This was abolished by the 1994 legislation, in favour of unitary council areas. The districts, and the regions, had been formed in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
The Moray district had been formed by combining the local government county of Moray, except Grantown-on-Spey and Cromdale areas, with Aberlour, Buckie, Cullen, Dufftown, Findochty, Keith and Portknockie areas of the county of Banff. The Grantown-on-Spey and Cromdale areas had been combined with Kingussie and Badenoch areas of the county of Inverness to form the Badenoch and Strathspey district of the Highland region.
In the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster), the council area is covered the Moray (Westminster) constituency.
In the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood), most of the council area is covered by the Moray (Holyrood) constituency, which is in the Highlands and Islands electoral region. The Keith area, however, is within the Gordon (Holyrood) constituency, which is in the North East Scotland electoral region.
The Whisky Trail
Moray is home to a huge concentration of over 50 distilleries (around half of Scotland's total) including famous malt whisky names such as The Macallan, Glenlivet and Glenfiddich. Many of the distilleries within the area also produce fine malts which are used for internationally well known brands such as Johnnie Walker and The Famous Grouse. Speyside malts are globally renowned, and most of them are produced in Moray.
If you are interested in the history, both legal and illicit, and the manufacturing processes involved within the malt whisky industry, Moray is the area in which to begin and end your tour.
The Malt Whisky Trail is the only one of its kind in the world, and is one of the largest tourist attractions in Moray, The trail consists of a signposted route from which you can explore eight distilleries, including the preserved Dallas Dhu distillery, the last distillery built in the nineteenth century, which is a whisky industry museum and visitor centre.
The trail also includes the multi award winning Speyside Cooperage and unique visitor centre, where you can see highly skilled coopers practising their ancient craft.
Dufftown Railway Station (Keith & Dufftown Heritage Railway)
The line between Dufftown station and Keith Town station is an eleven mile stretch linking Dufftown with the market town of Keith in Moray through remarkable Speyside scenery. It was originally opened in 1862 but was closed by British Railways in 1991 and lay disused for almost ten years until reopened by enthusiasts and volunteers during 2000 and 2001 to operate historic locomotives.
The Two Red Shoes
The Red Shoes Theatre has brought an old and well known venue back to life. "The Two Red Shoes" ballroom was a well known venue in Elgin, Moray during the 1960's and 1970's
Many well known artists of the time played there in the 1960's including The Beatles on 3rd January, 1963.
The premises, long closed, and used for a variety of purposes in recent years, has sprung to life again as "The Red Shoes Theatre" and is once again a venue for music and the arts.
