We missed breakfast at our hotel and were suggested to go to the Wellington hotel restaurant. It's…read moreclean easy parking easy to find. Difficult access for disabled. Multiple stairs to navigate. The food was flavorless but the service was friendly.

just opened on the 8th Apr afetr a major refit…read more opening night had a couple of teeting probs as you would expect but went back on sun and had a great meal lots of staff, nice wee bar childrens play area is a bit on the small side

We visited Crathes Castle in May, visiting from the United States to trace our Burnett family…read morehistory. We visited the castle several times over three days, including meeting Laird Jamie Burnett, our family Chief. The castle and gardens are immaculate, and many exhibits throughout. I was so delighted to see the Horn of Leys, dating to the 1300s. A cafe and gift shop are also on site, along with wilderness trails for exploring. This was a bucket list item for our family, and we were happy to see so many other families visiting as well.

Very few NTS places are open in November, so finding Crathes still open was an unexpected treat…read more Even more unexpected was the guided tour - in the summer months you are free to wander round the house yourself, but out of season they take you round in small groups. Our guide, Drew, turned out to be a hugely entertaining character. I'm sure he must be a star in the local AmDram society. His patter, his delivery, his charm and his jokes had us all feeling right at home from the start. I can honestly say that I haven't enjoyed a guided tour as much as this in years. The house (calling it a 'castle' is a bit of an exaggeration) and part of the Leys estate was donated to the National Trust in 1951. It had been lived in by the Burnett family for 350 years prior to that, and the 13th Baronet left almost all the furniture and fittings as well, which gives the place a very homely feel - it's not a museum piece where the Trust have had to stock it with period furniture; there is a great spread of history from the medieval to post-war. The painted ceilings in several of the rooms are quite spectacular, one depicting nine heroes of medieval life, others virtues to be aspired or grisly warnings about straying form the path of righteousness, all with exquisite pictures and Gothic scripting along the beams. And of course there are ghosts. Nine of them to be precise, although our guide only told us about two. One of these, the Green Lady, is commonly seen by visitors and is thought to have been a servant girl who fell pregnant and disappeared shortly after she gave birth, along with her unfortunate child. Recent renovations discovered the bones of a small child beneath the hearth in the 'Green Lady's Room'. Another ghost that was spotted in two different locations this year is that of a small boy - our guide was keen to suggest links with the unfortunate servant girl, so maybe he will become the Green Lady's son with another couple of seasons' retelling. It wasn't the best time of year for the gardens, but the walled garden has some impressive topiary and was well worth a stroll in the November sunshine. We finished with lunch in the stable block (soup and a sandwich) and, avoiding the temptation to visit the Go Ape! centre, had a quick look round the gift shop (not that impressive) before heading off.

Didn't get inside since it was closed…read more But looked like some books and in such a small town. If you're looking for a library check it out and share your thoughts.

It's really good because they are all very friendly and so helpful..thay don't treat you like a…read morepiece of meat!!

This post office is in the petrol station in Dunecht, in the little garage shop situated next to…read morethe counter where youpay for your petrol. There is only one window to be served at in this post office, and it is usually the person who is working the till for the garage who is also working the post office, so if there are other people getting served paying for their petrol then you will have to wait your turn at the post office window until they are free to serve you. Its an ok little post office which does the job, even if you do have to wait to get served sometimes!

The Seafield Post Office is located within the Somerfield shop on Seafield Road. They have a large…read moreselection of posting materials(posting tubes, padded bags, bubble wrap etc) and the staff are all very helpful and chatty. It's quite small, with the main part of the shop being the Somerfield however, the staff are very quick at serving customers and there is rarely a queue. When the post offive is closed, you can still buy posting materials, cards etc from the Somerfield checkouts which is hands if you are buying in advance of posting.

A beautiful castle and grounds. Inside the historic home of the Fraser clan, the wonderful staff…read moreand team will enthusiastically show you the rooms, fury and memorabilia on display with dozens of stories and ancedotes to go along with them. Just a beautiful place and together with the NTS preservation effort, makes for a very special visit. We will be back! Je Suis Pret!

Heading east on A975, a dirt road turned off from the highway on the right and led to a side of the…read moreNew Slains Castle. It was a little bumpy for my Ford Fiesta rental car on my drive in on Monday 8 July 2019, though not too bad. At the end of the road, by cliffs overlooking the ocean and the New Slains Castle ruins was a larger area with space for parking. Grass was growing high and clusters of white wildflowers were in bloom throughout the castle ruins in a number of the rooms/areas with dirt as floor. Some of the walls were quite intact, while others were entirely gone or crumbling. The interior was shaded by the taller walls on the warm morning with walls and stairs cool to the touch. Climbing the watchtower, the views out the windows looked over the water and the view from the top of the stairs looked out over castle rooms and the grounds surrounding the castle. Outside the castle, there were footpaths through the grass. Seacliffs to the water below had different birds nesting and foraging about in crevices in the rock. On my visit I did not spot any informational placards about what each room was. I enjoyed this type of exploratory experience as it got me to really tune into what remained of each room to try and sleuth out what its function might have been.