Fun in North East Scotland
We have a week’s itinerary of local activities, and spending a lot of time with family and friends. The north east of Scotland offers a lot – excellent scenery and outdoor activities, miles of golden beaches, distilleries, half decent shopping and excellent food. The weather is never, ever to be counted upon, however if it does start to rain don’t worry as it tends to stop five minutes later to be replaced by heavy snow, to then be switched to bright sunshine.
Most of our activities were aimed at tiny human – we spent a lot of time exploring various beaches. They are long, beautiful, very clean and never busy – mostly because even in the summer they are freezing cold! There’s an old joke about a Russian circus visiting Aberdeen and a Polar Bear escapes and runs onto the beach. The Polar Bear gives himself up after 15minutes as he’s too cold – they take him into the Inversnecky Cafe for a plate of hot soup.
Walking along the beach – I always make one appearance in my TRs
End of the sea wall
We pop into the Zoology Museum in the University of Aberdeen. I did my undergrad degree here, so I know the campus well. The museum isn’t huge, but free to get into, and a nice place to visit to see if your kids like this sort of thing. My daughter wasn’t too sure about the hippo skeleton and described it as “a bit scary”.
We also drove down to Glamis Castle for a visit – we didn’t realise it only offers accompanied tours of the Castle, but my tiny human seemed ok with the pace and the different themes in each room. However, she kept asking about balloons and candles.......turns out when we said we were going to a Castle she assumed we were going to a ‘bouncy castle’, which she associates with children’s birthdays.
Glamis Castle
On the way back we stopped for dinner at the Glenesk Hotel in Edzel. Slightly random, but a colleague from London was there on business so we met for food. Very randomly the hotel has a collection of BA photos (mostly Concorde and 747s) in their lounge bar.
One of the selection of photos of BA aircraft. Love the Concorde, disappointed to never have flown in one!
Food was excellent – Haggis Neeps and Tatties for a starter, and pork for a main course. I do enjoy the food in the north east, and we ate very well that week.
Great Scottish traditional dish
I also managed to catch a game at the Mecca of Football that is Pittordrie Stadium. Despite being July, Aberdeen’s European campaign is in full swing (this is their third fixture), and I witness a decent 1-1 draw against Maribor who have a decent pedigree. Sadly we lose the away leg which ended our interest in Europe for this season. With Rangers “back” in the SPL I’ve already booked flights in September to be in Aberdeen for that game!
Photo from the South Stand. COYR.
Continuing with the food theme I take my mother out for lunch to the Cove Bay Hotel, which inside feels a bit like an 1920s ocean liner (think Kate and Leo in Titanic). The food was absolutely fantastic, and a real highlight.
Full steam ahead!
The same afternoon we take tiny human to Storybook Glen (now rebranded as The Glen and the Den). It’s a nursery rhyme, and children’s TV/movie based “theme park” (term used loosely). Essentially is a walk through a forest filled with life sized statues and sets of famous characters and locations that children will recognise. There are lots of things to walk through including a farm set, a large helicopter and boat to climb in, and various vehicles to sit in. The place and gardens are well maintained and entrance costs only £3 for adults and £4 for a young child – see how that compares to a day ticket at DisneyLand.
The entrance to the Glen (note the lovely cloud cover!)
Photo of the actual Glen
One of the dwellings
Sadly we have to head back home to London and reality