Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
house dates from the 16th century, but the star-shaped defensive curtain wall was added in
1748 when the castle was converted to a military barracks in the wake of the Jacobite re-
bellion.
ALFORD
POP 1925
Alford has a
tourist office
(
01975-562052; Old Station Yard, Main St; 10am-5pm
Mon-Sat, 12.45-5pm Sun Jun-Aug, 10am-1pm & 2-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-noon & 1.45-5pm
Sat, 12.45-5pm Sun Apr, May & Sep)
, banks with ATMs and a supermarket.
The
Grampian Transport Museum
(
01975-562292;
www.gtm.org.uk
;
adult/child
£9/free; 10am-5pm Apr-Sep, 10am-4pm Oct)
houses a fascinating collection of vintage
motorbikes, cars, buses and trams, including a Triumph Bonneville in excellent nick, a
couple of Model T Fords (including one used by Drambuie), a Ferrari F40 and an Aston
Martin V8 Mk II. Unusual exhibits include a 19th-century horse-drawn sleigh from Rus-
sia, a 1942 Mack snowplough and the Craigievar Express, a steam-powered tricycle built
in 1895 by a local postman.
Next to the museum is the terminus of the narrow-gauge
Alford Valley Steam Railway
(
01975-562811;
www.alfordvalleyrailway.org.uk
;
adult/child £3/2; 11.30am-4pm
Jul & Aug, Sat & Sun only Apr-Jun & Sep)
, a heritage line that runs from here to
Haughton Country Park.
LECHT SKI RESORT
At the head of Strathdon the A939 - known as the
Cockbridge-Tomintoul road
, a mag-
nificent rollercoaster of a route, much loved by motorcyclists - crosses the Lecht pass
(637m) where there's a small skiing area with lots of short easy and intermediate runs.
Lecht 2090
(
www.lecht.co.uk
)
hires out skis, boots and poles for £20 a day; a one-day lift
pass is £28.
In summer, the chairlift serves mountain-biking trails (day ticket £27); there are no
bike-hire facilities though, so you'll need to bring your own.
Northern Aberdeenshire
North of Aberdeen, the Grampian Mountains fall away to rolling agricultural plains
pocked with small, craggy volcanic hills. This fertile lowland corner of northeastern Scot-
land is known as Buchan, a region of traditional farming culture immortalised by Lewis
Grassic Gibbon in his trilogy,
A Scots Quair,
based on the life of a farming community in
