Adventured to the Gordon Highlanders Museum on foot on Sunday 7 July 2019. I had seen different…read moreopen hours online on different websites, so I decided to walk here and check out if it was open. Approaching walking down the street, I noticed a gate rolled across the driving entrance. Thinking this meant the museum was closed, but wanting to make sure as it was my first time to the museum, I walked down to the street below to see if there was another entrance. On the street below is a walking entrance to the museum grounds with a nature/sitting area. There was not a gate/barricade in place, so I walked up to the museum building. The parking lot was a good size and spots were well marked. The entrance had a sign posted with hours and entrance fees. Turned out the museum was closed both Sunday and Monday, so as I was leaving Aberdeen and heading north on Monday 8 July, I missed the inside of the museum on my July 2019 Scotland heritage travel trip. The grounds were beautiful, well-maintained, and informative on their own.

Wonderfully put together place with plenty of interactive bits for children. We took a tour of the…read moreWWI trench and the tour guide, John, was both informative & enthusiastic - really enjoyed! We also had a lunch at the cafe where they have a selection of sandwiches & soup. Food was tasty and service was friendly. Highly recommend for families, lovers of history & visitors to Aberdeen!

A fun and free way to learn a little more about Aberdeen's maritime history…read more This museum has some cool interactive stuff, to help pull in any age, and the displays are well kept and visually appealing, which makes you want to see and learn more. I didn't spend too much time reading every single word written, but I skimmed most things and lingered longer over the things that caught my eye. It's not a huge museum, so if you're a history buff, you might like to read more and spend a bit longer. Overall, it's a nice little gem tucked off to the side behind Vue cinema, and it's definitely worth checking out if you've got a hankering for understanding the city of Aberdeen a bit better or are looking for a few things to do to avoid a rainy afternoon but still get out of the house. I'd visit again if I had folks with me who were visiting Aberdeen!

Good place to take children. For me, the view of the harbour, looking out of the window, from…read moreinside, was the most impressive. Massive boats from Scandinavia and all over the world. Some good displays in particular one oil painting of a ship battling huge waves, dark and foreboding clouds, stood out. It was ok. Does not even come close in comparison to Scott's Discovery vessel.

One of the best, small museums in the North. Much of the work is carried out by "Friends of…read moreFalconer". A must when in Forres. Friendly ,helpful, knowledgeable staff.

This museum is compact and well looked after with good permanent displays that give a good idea of…read morethe area and its history, as well as special exhibitions and displays. There is a room at the back used for exhibitions and talks. Staff are very friendly and helpful and there is a little shop where you can buy postcards, crafts and other souvenirs quite reasonably priced. There are also plenty of leaflets relating to the area in the entrance hall. One special attraction is the green train - a model of a train which is in a glass case. It is in an interesting setting and goes across a bridge - thought by some to be the route from Montrose to Arbroath - and is very old. To preserve it, the train is only run on certain days but there are usually advertised in the local paper, The Montrose Review, and in the museum. It's interesting - probably not worth making a special trip (the case is not that big!) but it's nice to see it still in use.

We have lived for years in Aberdeen and this has been the first time we visited the Aberdeen Art…read moreGallery. The building is lovely inside with a nice shop and a couple of decent cafes. We went solely for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition on the second floor. Hence, no observations on the art work, other than that the special exhibition was excellent.

Aberdeen Art Gallery is especially strong for 20th Century British, with interesting pictures by…read moreSpencer, Eardley and the Scottish Colourists. There are a number of decent Victorian paintings and a good clutch of French Impressionists including work by Bonnard, Renoir and Tolouse-Lautrec. There is a good collection of drawings on display too, and some exquisite glassware. The building is beautiful and offers access to the handsome Cowdray Hall, and war memorial.

So - in my opinion, plan your visit here solely for the 1700 Scottish village experience and DO NOT…read moreplan this as a place to eat lunch!! The tearoom is super basic, just 6 diff types of indifferent sandwiches like tuna, BLT, egg, prawn etc and a soup (which was tomato basil on the day we were there and was hearty and quite delicious). There are also a good variety of drinks but that is it! Apart from the soup, everything else is cold and the dessert quality was quite indifferent too (specifically the lemon curd cake - would not get this from here). That being said, the actual experience of walking thru the village and seeing first hand how people lived in the Scottish highlands from 1700s onwards was quite revealing. We were lucky to visit on a day the re- thatching of the grass roof on one of the huts was happening and the peat fire was on, so could ask a lot of questions from the re-enactors. Breathing in the peat fire was an especially eye opening experience as I realized first hand how breathing in that heavy carbon filled air in that enclosed space would have contributed to an average life expectancy of around 35 years (never mind if you were asthmatic!). I also loved the gypsy encampment and the tradesmen shops from the 1930s thru to the 50s. Apparently the shops were moved here and so they are not just recreations. There's also video and or audio-visual presentation that create an interactive visit, and for the latter, just look for big buttons to press on the wall while the videos run in a continuous loop. Oh also because it's a fairly big outdoor museum, there is a £1 donation which gets you in a truck which drives you around, so check timings for that if you have a limited time. I def enjoyed my visit, but will eat in town or elsewhere before coming here again.

Wonderful place to visit. The displays are interesting. The docents are friendly and informative. A…read moregreat place to spend 3 or 4 hours. The cafe on site has a selection of sandwiches and a soup of the day; I had a bowl of tomato basil soup with a hummus/ tomato sandwich; delicious. My friend had one of the dessert selections; carrot cake, bar cookie, lemon muffin.

A free museum full of old pict stones pict highlander history and more, Stunning! The volunteer is…read moregreat

On a rainy day on our Perthshire holiday we decided to head to the Beatrix Potter Exhibition &…read moreGarden in Birnam for some indoor fun with our 1 year old. I have to be honest I wasn't expecting much, but I was proved wrong. This is a really lovely place that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to visitors with little ones. The exhibition is housed in Birnam's Arts & Conference Centre. Outside is a lovely garden with sculptures of the animals that Beatrix made famous through her books. Inside is a lovely gift shop with Beatrix Potter themed goods, and a great range of non-Potter related cards, books, gifts, toys, and trinkets... Downstairs is the exhibition area. This is relatively small compared to other exhibitions/museums, but it's appeal for us was the great range of play activities for the little ones. From drawing and colouring on blackboards and at old school desks, to playing shop, playing with puzzles, dressing up, and reading books - this was a great way to spend an afternoon with our little one. I feel this is really geared towards younger kids under 8, but was just perfect for our inquisitive 1 year old. Upstairs is the Foyer Cafe, where we enjoyed some lovely coffees. The staff here were really lovely too!

A lovely place to go adult and child alike! Personally, I love Peter Rabbit, Miss Tiggywinkle etc…read moreand this museum is a real tribute to 'Miss Potter', There is a large ish shop selling lovely books and other memorabilia. The 'museum' itself is quite small, yet informative and very hands on for the kids. There are also clothes for the kids to dress up in. Beatrix Potter took holidays in Dalguise in Perthshire (now a PGL centre) before her family changed their holiday destination to the Lakes.