Ballater Area

Corgarff Castle

Banchory

Crathie Church

Area Main Page

Ballater has strong royal connections. Many stores in this well manicured village display the coats-of-arms signifying royal patronage. Queen Victoria used Ballater Station when she travelled to Balmoral and though the line is now long closed, the old station buildings still stand and now serve as a museum and tourist information centre. You can browse books about Aberdeenshire in our Bookshop (this may take a moment to load).

At the centre of Ballater is Glenmuick Parish Church. This serves a large parish rationalised from three existing parishes in 1798: one effect of which was the redundancy of Tullich Kirk. Today Tullich Kirk stands roofless a short distance east of Ballater, and is home to a Pictish symbol stone.

Balmoral Castle remains the summer retreat of the Royal Family. Crathie Church is the local church and where the Royals worship when in residence. Both are popular local tourist attractions, as is the nearby Royal Lochnagar Distillery, complete with its visitor centre.

East along Royal Deeside from Ballater are the villages of Aboyne and Kincardine O'Neil, and then the larger settlement of Banchory. You can almost count Torphins as part of Deeside as it lay on the route of the Deeside railway to Ballater built in the 1850s.

Running parallel to Deeside and to its north is the less well known and wilder valley of Donside, through which the River Don makes its way to the sea. This has been a disputed area over the centuries and that makes it an excellent area for castle collectors. There include Corgarff Castle, wonderfully restored to its role as a Government barracks after the 1745 rebellion; Glenbuchat Castle, an interesting "Z" shaped tower house; and Kildrummy Castle, the ruins of what was once one of the mightiest of Scotland's castles, and certainly one of its most besieged.

One of the villages forming the scattered community of Strathdon is Bellabeg, famous for its signposts to the settlement of Lost. In the forests north of here is the wonderful Lost Gallery. Lower down Donside is the village of Alford, the home of the Grampian Transport Museum and the Alford Valley Railway Museum.

This whole area is rich in historical interest, ranging in chronological order from stone circles through Pictish symbol stones to churches and churchyards. Stone circles you can visit include the Nine Stanes Stone Circle south of Banchory and the Tomnaverie Stone Circle near Tarland. Slightly more recent is the Culsh Earth House, also near Tarland. Pictish Symbol Stones include the Picardy Stone, plus the Rhynie Symbol Stones and those at Tullich Kirk, at Migvie Kirk and in the gardens of Leith Hall. Roll the wheel of history forward a little further, and you come to the Peel of Lumphanan, the remains of a fortification from the early 1200s.

Churches and churchyards worth visiting include Coull Kirkyard, Kildrummy Kirkyard, St Mary's Kirk, Auchindoir and the magnificently restored interior of Migvie Kirk. As well as the many castles in the area, you can also find a stately home in the form of Leith Hall.