Towns & Villages / Stonehaven

Boasting the famous annual Fireball Festival, this seaside resort has a picturesque and sheltered harbour popular with sailing yachts and fishing boats alike. Only 2 miles south of Stonehaven you’ll find the dramatic and imposing Dunnottar Castle: with battering waves and sheer cliffs on 3 sides, the castle is rife with history, stories and seabird life. The huge 13th century fortress is one of the finest of Scotland's ruined castles and was a location in the film Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson.

The Tolbooth Museum on the quayside is Stonehaven's oldest building and was a storehouse during the building of the great clifftop castle. Close at hand, Fowlsheugh RSPB Seabird Colony is home to the largest seabird colony in mainland Britain and boat trips can be taken to see the wildlife at close range. 'Fowls Heugh' means bird cliffs and tens of thousands of auks and kittiwakes return here to nest each spring, attracted by the shoals of fish and the abundance of nest sites.

Stonehaven VisitScotland Information Centre (seasonal) 01569 762806

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