Dunecht House

The Dunecht Estate is one of the largest private estates in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at 53,000 acres (210 km2). It is owned by The Hon Charles Anthony Pearson, the younger son of the 3rd Viscount Cowdray. Dunecht's business interests include farming (in hand and let farms), forestry, field sports, minerals, let houses, commercial lets and tourism. The main part of the estate lies between Banchory and Westhill, encompassing the village of Dunecht, the Loch of Skene and the stately home of Dunecht House. The estate grounds include a golf course and extensive areas of forestry and farming. The estate also includes separate areas of land at Birse and Durris on Royal Deeside, Edinglassie in Strathdon and Dunnottar Castle near Stonehaven.

Dunecht (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Eicht) is a slightly linear village on the A944 road in north-east Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It is not to be confused with Echt. Dunecht is located 12 miles (19.5 km) west of the city of Aberdeen and is situated by the confluence of the Kinnernie and Bervie burns. Formerly known as Waterton, it was renamed to Dunecht in the 1820s when the Crawford family built Dunecht House. The estate achieved a certain measure of notoriety in 1881 due to theft of the remains of the Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford. Dunecht House, once owned by Viscount Cowdray is now privately owned. Dunecht House is to the south of the village and was once famed for its observatory, ballroom and library, as well as gardens which were opened once a year to the public. Corsindae House is 5 miles (8 km) west of here, and is in the Scottish baronial style; built between the 1450s and 1600s (decade). Amenities in the village include a school, a pub (Jaffs), and a garage-come-shop.

Echt (Scottish Gaelic: Eicht) is an Aberdeenshire crossroads village in northeast Scotland with a population of approximately 300 people. Echt has a number of prehistoric remains, including the Barmekin of Echt which is on a hill to the northwest. There is also the Cullerlie stone circle near Sunhoney Farm, which may date from the Bronze Age.Echt contains a church, village shop/post office, restaurant (Echt Tandoori) and pleasure park with a designated area of children's play equipment and local football matches are held. The annual Echt Show, a farmers' show, is held on the 2nd Saturday in July. It is centred on the junction of the B977 Dunecht—Banchory road and the B9119 Kingsford—Ordie road. It is some 12+1⁄2 miles (20.1 km) from the city of Aberdeen.

Loch of Skene is a large lowland, freshwater loch in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It lies approximately 1 mi (1.6 km) to the west of the village of Kirkton of Skene and 9 mi (14 km) west of Aberdeen.The loch is partially man-made, being dammed at its outflow on the southern shore to form a reservoir. Before 1905, water from the loch was used in the making of tweed and to turn the mill wheel at the Garlogie Mills. When the mills closed in 1905 the water was used to generate electricity. The loch is about 6 foot deep at its deepest.

Sunhoney is a stone circle of the recumbent type, which is common in the Grampian region, in particular at the River Dee. Sunhoney is situated about 2 km west of Echt in Aberdeenshire, near to the Cullerlie and Midmar stone circles. It is designated a scheduled ancient monument

Castle Fraser is the most elaborate Z-plan castle in Scotland and one of the grandest 'Castles of Mar'. It is located near Kemnay in the Aberdeenshire region of Scotland. The castle stands in over 300 acres (1.2 km2) of landscaped grounds, woodland and farmland which includes a walled kitchen garden of the 19th century. There is archaeological evidence of an older square tower dating from around 1400 or 1500 within the current construction. The castle is a Category A listed building and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.

Cullerlie stone circle, also known as the Standing Stones of Echt, is a small stone circle situated near Echt, Aberdeenshire. It consists of eight irregular stones of red granite arranged at approximately equal intervals to form a circle of 10.2 m (33 ft) diameter, enclosing the same number of small cairns. The cairns are characterised by outer kerbs or rings of stones, with a double ring surrounding the central cairn and a single ring in the others. All but one of the cairns have eleven ringstones, with the last having nine. The whole circle sits on a patch of gravel which forms the end of a low gravel ridge linking the site with Leuchar Moss. It is regarded as "a later development from the recumbent stone circle", though its layout with kerbed cairns within the circle makes it unique. At the time that the circle was built in the second millennium BC, the surrounding landscape was characterised by wet bogs, and the stones were transported to the site from higher ground some distance away. The tallest of the stones marks the north side of the circle. They vary in height from 1.09 m (3.6 ft) to 1.80 m (5.9 ft). A 2004 survey of the site discovered that several of the stones had been carved with previously unnoticed cup marks.Excavations carried out in 1934 by H. E. Kilbride-Jones on behalf of the Ministry of Works, showed that the circle was built in stages. The entire site had first been cleared, leveled and burned by setting fire to piles of willow twigs. Then came the outer stones, with their bases shaped into points to make them more stable in their gravel bed. They have been somewhat eroded over time by acidic peat eating away the lower portions of the stones. Oak and hazel were burned within the stone rings, leaving charcoal behind, and cremated human bones were deposited in the ashes within five of the rings. They were then filled with smaller stones to create the cairns visible today.The circle may once have had several companions. In 1820 James Logan wrote: "The small Circles contained in the larger present a curious singularity; and it is also remarkable that, at a short distance to the southwest, are nine others of similar dimensions." However, when the site was excavated in 1934, no trace of these satellite circles could be found.

Garlogie (Scottish Gaelic: Geàrr Lagaidh) is a roadside hamlet in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was, during the 19th century, the site of a textile milling settlement using water from Loch of Skene. The mill is now a museum. Garlogie also has an inn. To the southwest, there is a gas compression and odourisation station which forms part of the National Gas Network.

Kemnay House is a 17th-century tower house, now incorporated in a later house, about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south and west of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south of Kemnay, to the south of the River Don.

Midmar Castle is a 16th-century castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of Westhill and 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) west of Echt. The castle was built for George Gordon of Midmar and Abergeldie between 1565 and 1575, and was constructed by the stonemason and architect George Bell. The castle is protected as a category A listed building.

Hallforest Castle is a keep, one of the oldest in Scotland, as it dates from the 14th century. It is about a mile and a half from Kintore, in Aberdeenshire.Alternative names are Castle of Hallforrest, Hall Forest Castle or simply Hallforrest.

Kemnay railway station was a station on the Alford Valley Railway in Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, which opened in 1858 and closed in 1950.