We are very lucky to be in such a stunning location in the North East of Scotland. But gorgeous scenery isn't all that's on offer! Royal Deeside and Aberdeenshire is packed with activities and things to see. 

We are also only an hour or so away from ski centres! 

Castles

• Balmoral Castle
• Dunnotar Castle
• Crathes Castle

Activities:

• Deeside Activity Park
• Macduff Aquarium
• Glenshee Ski Centre
• Lecht Ski Centre
• Knockburn Loch

Golf Courses

• Trump International Golf Links
• Paul Lawrie Golf Centre
• Deeside Golf Club
• Hazelhead Pines Golf Course
• Inverurie Golf Club
• Tarland Gold Club
• Braemar Golf Club

Distilleries

• Fettercairn Distillery
• Royal Lochnagar Distillery and Visitor Centre
• Glen Garioch Distillery

Hills and Hikes

• Balmoral Cairns. Ballater.
• Ben Macdui. Ballater.
• Bennachie.
• Bennachie Visitor Centre. Inverurie.
• Cairnwell Chairlift at Glenshee. Ballater.
• Clachnaben. Banchory.
• Creag Choinnich. Braemar.

Local Walks

• In the house we have lots of flyers in this with local walking routes to enjoy.

Salmon Fishing

We are very lucky to have access to one of the few rivers in the world to salmon fish.

We are also lucky to be related to one of the longest serving Ghillie’s on the River Dee.

If you are interested in trying out local salmon fishing, email Shane Christie, let him know you are a guest and Christie’s Croft.

[email protected]

Or head to Shane Christie Fly Fishing on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/profi...

The River Dee has a strict catch and release policy, but it runs through some stunning scenery, and who knows? Maybe you’ll get a catch!

Christie's Croft belonged to my grandmother, and My Mum, Jacqui. grew up in the house. Eventually the house was passed down to Mum, where she has lived ever since and brought me up here too! I went to the local primary school and then secondary school in nearby village, Aboyne. Exactly the same as my Mum did!

I moved out in 2014 to go to uni in Glasgow, and then again in 2018 I made the move to Brighton, where I now live and run a gym near the city centre. 

Then, in the early 2020s, it was time for Mum to move in with her long term partner. But the thought of selling our family home just felt a little too painful!

The house was in desperate need of some work - but we decided we wanted to open it up as a rental property for holiday makers and tourists. 

Mum runs an organic skin care company called Organica J, and she makes the products in the house. This means that we had to also renovate the garage so she still had somewhere to run her business from! 

But, she has always wanted to have a BnB, so this seemed like the perfect venture.

Across a 3 year period, we completely renovated the house. There was A LOT of clearing out to be done. The loft was stuffed full of things that had been compiling not just from when I was little, but from when Mum was a child! 

So we started there, then was the new heating system, new bathroom, stripping old wallpaper (for days and days), installing a wood burning stove, turning the under-stair cupboard into a bathroom, turning the small box room upstairs into ANOTHER bathroom, new flooring, new carpets, new kitchen, new roof on the garage and insulation.... PHEWWW no wonder it took so long!! 

Then, in summer 2024, we opened up our doors to our first guests.

We've been loving hosting guests from the UK, Europe and the US in our first year! We want to share the amazing scenery and charm deeside has to offer, and so far our guests have been loving it!

So, if you've been planning a Scottish getaway, and would like to stay in a traditional Scottish family home that has been just freshly renovated - send us an email with any questions at [email protected]. Or book direct on our website! 

Don't forget to use code DIRECT15 for the best price.

Jo :-)