Visiting Slains Castle in Aberdeenshire – Photo Journal
Visiting Slains Castle in Aberdeenshire with Kids – Setting off from Aberdeen on our coastal leg of the North East 250 road trip, our first stop was Slains Castle just beyond Cruden Bay. It’s said to have inspired Bram Stoker when writing ‘Dracula’.
We took the boys in search of vampires, just like in CBBC’s Scream Street, for a blustery morning in Aberdeenshire. Here’s a photo journal, capturing in pictures rather than words, our experience at Slains Castle. For a Top Ten of Castles in Aberdeenshire, click here, and keep exploring.
Slains Castle is woefully lacking any signage, but follow your nose, up a dirt track, just beyond Cruden Bay. You can see the ruins in the distance. Children cannot be left unsupervised here – the notion of ruins on a clifftop says it all, but they’ll have a fab wee adventure.
Our Story
We drove from Aberdeen to Slains Castle, before continuing on the North East 250 route – read what it offers family explorers here. We carried on to Peterhead for lunch at the Harbour Spring, before overnighting at the Banff Springs Hotel in Banff .
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Ture the title.. liked the costume of the little vampire hunter☺️
Cosy tots are quiet tots! I prefer that to the ‘Can I go back to the Car, I’m COOOOOOLD variety’. 🙂
Slains Castle sounds like the perfect place for an adventure
Especially mini adventures 🙂
Love the sound of the Slain’s Castle. Sounds great.
Wow what a beautiful castle and place to visit – love the photo ‘a room with a view’ – stunning!
Thank you. The castle’s not that far from me, but I’ve never visited before. A real incentive to visit what’s on your doorstep.
That castle looks amazing, my son who loves history would love to visit that
The added sense of rawness and danger would probably also appeal. I certainly wouldn’t like to be there after dark!
I love the ‘room with a view’ photo. I’m now off to find out more about the history of Slains Castle!
Thanks. It was hugely atmospheric. Happy researching!
It looks an amazing place to explore, slightly eerie. Great photos x
Eerie is a good word for it. And that’s in bright sunshine, would not like to be anywhere near the place after dark!
So annoying when there are no signs, or even worse signs that peter out at the final moment. Those cliff top ruins do look very atmospheric, you can see how they would inspire great fiction. Thank you for linking up to #CulturedKids
I actually wonder if nobody signposts it as it might somehow make an organisation/council liable for any accidents i.e. encouraging people to visit. It is a ruin after all!
Very true!
Reminds me of the Abbey ruins down in Whitby, North Yorkshire – which is also claims ties to Bram and his vampires. Love the moody coast atmosphere and my older kids would like the “treasure hunt” to find the place, IF it weren’t terribly cold. I can picture Brad Pitt here. 😉 Cheers from Denmark, where our “ghosts” are those ghastly Vikings. *wink, wink. #CulturedKids
We’ll be in Yorkshire in July so I’ll look up the ruins just in case we’re in that vicinity. Thank you.
I do love those sea foam pics! #CulturedKids
A bit Ibiza-esque!
I love hearing about all these fantastic Scottish driving routes. My husband’s uncle, who is still driving safely in his 80s, has just completed the North Coast 500 and the South West Coastal 300. Look forward to reading more about this one – my husband mentioned a while ago he fancied doing it.
#culturedkids
This one is half the length of the 500, being 250, so ideal perhaps for those looking to drive shorter distances. It still ticks all the Scottish boxes, moreso in fact, as it includes Balmoral Castle, the whisky distilleries of Speyside, and the coastal route from Buckie to Aberdeen. Perhaps best to book a hotel and cut down the driving on the Speyside leg!
It looks like such a beautiful place to visit! #CulturedKids
We’re definitely spoiled when it comes to castles!
Aberdeen looks like such a great place to visit. I would really love to take my kids and dog to Scotland. #CulturedKids
Ideal territory for family (and a dog too).