UNIQUE COTTAGES

Aberdeen City

Aberdeen lies about 70 miles north-east of Dundee on the A90 and developed as a busy trading and fishing port.  Its fortunes increased with the advent of the North Sea gas and oil industries in the 1970s and it is now a prosperous city. It is known as the 'granite city' and its grey buildings and biting easterly winds can make it appear a cold and inhospitable place (ameliorated by its many colourful public gardens and parks, the largest being Duthie Park with its rose and winter gardens).  However, when the sun shines, visitors can enjoy the magnificent sandy beaches, extensive areas of sand-dunes and fine golf courses but there is also a variety of visitor attractions suitable for inclement weather.

Castlegate, the oldest part of the city centre, is located at the eastern end of the mile-long Union Street and there are several nearby attractions such as the Mercat Cross, the Town House and 17th century Tolbooth.  The 16th century Provost Skene's House (in Broad Street, off Union Street) houses a museum depicting life in the 17th to 19th centuries and a magnificent 17th century painted ceiling.  Nearby is Marischal College which was founded in the 16th century and merged with the 15th century King's College in 1860 to create Aberdeen University.  The Marischal Museum, within the college, has many interesting displays which have been donated by graduates over the centuries and Victorian anthropologists.  The Aberdeen Art Gallery in Schoolhill has an extensive collection of contemporary, 18th century, Victorian, Impressionist and Modernist paintings.

Satrosphere, an interactive science centre is located in Constitution Street. Shiprow is an old cobbled street leading from Castlegate to the harbour and is where the Maritime Museum and the Old Provost Ross's House are located.  These house a 27-foot model of an oil rig and other ships, and depict the history of the fishing, whaling, shipbuilding and oil and gas industries.  The busy fish market near the harbour operates from dawn to 8am.  At the eastern end of the harbour is the quaint fishermen's village of Footdee (known as Fittie).  Nearby is the two-mile Aberdeen beach and esplanade where there is an amusement park and leisure centre. 

Inland from the beach, about a mile north of the city centre, is Old Aberdeen - an area of cobbled streets and alleys where Aberdeen's first university, King's College, was established in 1495.  The visitor centre provides details of the history of the college.  King's College Chapel has an interesting medieval carved screen, pulpit and stalls and is where Bishop Elphinstone is buried.  Nearby is the 15th century St. Machar's Cathedral (which has a magnificent heraldic ceiling), the Cruickshank Botanic Gardens and the 13th century Brig o'Balgownie over the River Don.  On the south bank is a bird-watching hide. 

Information
The airport (flights to most UK cities) is situated at Dyce, about 6 miles north-west of the city centre and there are many trains and buses linking Aberdeen to London and other cities and towns.  There is also a car ferry from Aberdeen to Orkney and Shetland.  The tourist office at 23 Union Street has details of a wide range of hotels in the city, for example: Brentwood Hotel, Ferryhill House, Mannofield, The Marcliffe at Pitfodels, Patio, Queens, Simpson's, Speedbird Inn, Thistle Aberdeen Caledonian and Travelodge.  Other restaurants include: Nargile Meze Bar Café, Nargile Restaurant (Turkish), Ashvale Fish Restaurant, Howie's, Poldino's (Italian), Blue Moon (Indian), The Courtyard, Goulash (Hungarian), Soul & Spice (African & Caribbean), Yu (Chinese) and the Silver Darling (French).

List of cottages in this area:

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