Stonehaven
Stonehaven was a randomly selected town that we chose via the internet whilst living in Houston, Texas. It was close enough to Aberdeen for Sarah and yet maintained that small town thing that we enjoy so much. We arrived here in August 2009 from Houston, Texas.
The house was very nice but incredibly expensive, this turned out to be a theme up here!
The house was very nice but incredibly expensive, this turned out to be a theme up here!
We did get a sea view (if you balanced on one lag whilst hanging out of the bathroom window by your toenails) even so we loved to see it every morning as we headed off downstairs.
The town is a real tourist Mecca and has an excellent selection of shops, cafes, restaurants, pubs and hotels and a very well maintained town centre.
There are two rivers that run into the sea at either side of the town, home to many a 'feed the ducks' spot for the kids. Unfortunately these rivers were also responsible for some incredible flooding in the winter of 2010, the clean up from which took over a year to complete.
Down at the triple harbour in the town is a small shop that sells Irn Bru ice-cream......it's like an angel crying on your tongue.
There are always plenty of boats in the harbour and people milling around the small gift shop, cafe, 2 pubs, museum, 3 restaurants, hotels and B&B places that encircle the harbour wall.
looking across the harbour from one of the defensive walls
When the tide is out there is a perfect little beach in the harbour, well suited to small kids as it has no drop off and very calm waters
From the third (outermost) harbour you can fish out into the North Sea, but get there early as it is a very popular location. The white building on the right of this shot is the RNLI lifeboat station.
From the harbour there is a board-walk that runs around the bay area where dolphins can be seen playing in the sea. The board-walk leads to an open air swimming pool (heated) and a great chip shop, more cafes, bowling green, amusements and old fashioned sweet shop.
There are a number of seats along the board-walk so you can take a moment to enjoy the views.
From above the town on the cliff top path there are some excellent views out over the harbour, across the bay and to the cliff top golf course beyond
Stonehaven is a beautiful little town that we will remember for its location, woodland & cliff-top walks, wildlife and the friendliness of the local people as well as it's famous fireball festival down in the harbour every Hogmanay.