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.

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.

Wonderful small museum about the history and culture of Stonehaven. Local staff are volunteers and…read morethey are very friendly, helpful and they can tell you a lot about local history. Especially because they are mainly guys in retirement who has a lot of life experiences. Interior is crowded by all possible artefacts which are connected to city history. There is also a short movie about local traditions. Entrance is free but donation is nice gesture for this unique experience. And it´s located in the oldest house in Stonehaven.

If you are into maudlin and depressing ... with a scary, steep and narrow stone "staircase" ... go…read morehere. Why on earth anyone would want to visit this "museum" is a mystery to me.

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.