Glenbuchat Heritage

169 50 years in Glenbuchat

50 Years in Glenbuchat
A personal view

The photos above show:
1 Craig Cottage c1980
2 Bowiebank c 1975
3 Bob and Nan Murdoch Bowiebank c 1980 (Pic from Cine frame)
4 Sarah and Catherine on their ponies in garden at Craig Cottage
5 Willie and George Farquharson at Glenbuchat Mill
6 Peter in Jeremy Clarkson mode in fields
7 Peter in 1938 Morris 8 Tourer


50 years ago, in 1975, Margaret, my wife, and I came and looked at a cottage for sale in Glenbuchat. Her fateful words to me when we saw it were, ‘What will we do if we like it?”

Like it we did, and so started an adventure which has lasted 50 years and is still going.

I have been managing the Glenbuchat Heritage Archive for many years and have asked a number of contributors to give their memories and stories about Glenbuchat. I have been heartened by their contributions and I felt it was time I added some of my own observations of 50 years of Glenbuchat.

Why did we come to Glenbuchat? To answer this question, it is necessary to go back in time and explore my attachment with Donside.

My older sister was in her senior years at school in Aberdeen when the class was joined by one of the daughters of Sir John Forbes of Allargue Strathdon. They became close friends, studied medicine together in Aberdeen, kept in touch with each other’s families and even in later life they are still close friends. As a result, many of the Forbes family visited my parents’ house in Aberdeen and I thus became aware of the Forbes history and of Strathdon.

When I myself was a medical student, a close friend’s father had a rented cottage at Inverernan, Strathdon and it was there, after having a meal at the Colquhonnie Hotel, we held a joint 21st birthday party. This impressed upon me the joys of a cottage in the country. My only previous country connection was the fact that my grandfather, who had been the GP at Auchenblae, in his later years had bought a farm near Fordoun. This was also near where my Maternal Great Grandfather farmed and became the most significant cattle dealer in the Mearns. Finally, having finished medical school and choosing General Practice as a career, Margaret and I bought a cottage at Udny Green and in my third Post Graduate year I worked at the Ellon Medical Practice, which was a country practice.

All this created a background which stimulated thoughts of having a cottage in the country. Our first introduction to the Glenbuchat cottage came in 1973, when our first daughter Sarah was about 6 months old, and we left her for the first time with her grandmother and took a picnic with us and headed off to Donside. Our travels included a trip round Glenbuchat and culminated a short picnic in Glen Nochty. Considering however that this was November and there was a dusting of snow on the ground, we did not stay too long. On the way round the Glen however, we noticed the cottages there and said to each other that it was a nice place to own a cottage. Fateful words indeed.

In 1974 I joined my father in General Practice in Aberdeen. During a spring holiday break in 1975, I was reading the P&J and noticed an advert for a cottage at Belnacraig Glenbuchat. The Cowdray Estate, which had bought the north side of the Glen after the death of Tommy Sole, only wanted the hill ground for shooting, so they were selling off the farms and cottages. In those days self-employed people paid their tax in arrears i.e. in the year after it was earned. I had put money aside for tax that was not immediately required and could be used to fund a cottage. Margaret and I took a run out to look at the cottage. We collected the keys from the Craigton shop which had only recently closed and were therefore able to see the original shop fittings of pine walls with shelving and large wooden serving counters. My great regret is that I did not take any photographs as I did not realise that this was the end of the shop.

I would like distinguish second home owners from owners of holiday homes and holiday lets. A second home owner treats the second house equally as the first. The house contains personal objects, clothes in cupboards and toothpaste in the bathroom. It is used most of the year, is rarely let out to others and occasionally used by family. Holiday home owners and people who let out their house regularly are using the house as a business not a home.

I appreciate that in some areas of heavy tourism, especially in the seaside regions, there is a lack of homes for locals. In Glenbuchat however, there seems over the years to have been little demand for accommodation by local workers. In fact, when we bought our cottage, the estate had halved the price as nobody wanted it.

The population of Glenbuchat fell from a peak of almost 600 in 1850 to a low of less than 50 in the 1960’s. As a result, there were many vacant properties. Some have fallen into ruin but in Glenbuchat most of the properties occupied in 1900 are still occupied. Compare this with nearby similar glens in Glen Gairn and in the Cabrach. There is almost desolation in these Glens, as many properties have been left in ruins. In the Cabrach it seems that the Laird was not interested in selling off empty properties and in Glen Gairn there seems to have been no demand for them. Glenbuchat houses however, have been preserved. This is possibly due to the fact that many houses in Glenbuchat were rescued as second homes.

It is interesting as well to see who were renting and buying these second homes in the post war period. As many properties were not in great shape, they were popular for people who wanted them for occasional rather than permanent use. There was a large number of academic and medical people attracted to them. The University academics used them as they often had tied accommodation linked to their posts and they welcomed the freedom of having their own space. Glenbuchat was at one time populated with 4 University Professors. Also, for medical people who at that time were on call a lot of the time and they had to live within a small radius of their practices. Getting away, where they would not meet with patients was a great relaxation.

Craig Cottage at Belnacraig was built by the Free Church as a School for girls in about 1864. Once the parish took over the management of schools in the mid-1870s, the main school was further up the hill. Thus, Craig Cottage was only a school for 10-15 years. The building consisted of a cottage with living accommodation for the teacher at the front and the school room at the back. Craig Cottage at the front, had two upstairs bedrooms and a box room. The ground floor had a kitchen and a sitting room. The schoolroom at the back, later called Bowiebank, was later divided by pine partitions into a one-bedroom dwelling. The front part had been laterally rented by Charlie Fraser and his wife. He had been the grieve at the Kirkton farm. The back part, the old School room was occupied by Bob Murdoch and his wife Nan.

Click for more about Craig Cottage

The cottage had been built by the Free church as a schoolhouse and schoolroom combined. It was built in a more ‘superior’ style than the usual local cottages. The granite work at the front was of dressed granite blocks. The cottage had a panelled front door, cornices round the downstairs rooms and hall, panelled stained wooden internal doors and a stairway that swept up in a curve rather than the straight staircase in other cottages, finally it had a hardwood varnished banister. All the rooms downstairs and up had open fires.

The house however was still very basic with no electricity, no plumbing except a single tap and no toilet. There was a shed at the back with two sections of dry toilets for both parts of the house. The house was watertight but in poor decorative state with many layers of peeling wallpaper. The windows were intact and the frames in good condition. The only negative point was an area of damp in the kitchen area where earth had piled up at the side of the house and with poor drainage damp has rotted the end of a few floor joists.

Magaret and I decided that we liked the cottage. At that time, we had at that time little thought about the back of the cottage which had been the schoolroom and which was occupied by Mr and Mrs Murdoch. More about them later.

I wanted a more professional opinion on the state of the cottage and enlisted the help of my previous neighbour from our cottage in Udny. He was Jan, a Czechoslovakian who was studying Farm Buildings design at Craibstone when the Russians moved into Czechoslovakia in 1968. He remained in this country and took on British Citizenship and we still remain friends. He was also taken with the cottage and we agreed to share it both with costs, renovation and usage. This worked well until a year later Jan moved to Reading and I bought out his share. He had been a great help in the initial refurbishment of the cottage.

And so, in 1975 Margaret and I with a toddler and a babe in arms, arrived at Craig Cottage to take possession and start what has been a life time of activity. For a mother with young children, living in a house with one cold tap and no toilet was quite challenging. If one needed toilet facilities, it was out into the garden with a spade, and watch out for the nettles! Initially, Jan and I worked on the house together and for a while he brought up his caravan to give some comfort. Talking of comfort, things changed for the better when Mr Comfort the plumber and electrician from Alford arrived. He was an old school tradesman only taking a day off on New Year which was the Scottish main holiday in past times. He installed electricity, wired up the house, plumbed in a basic kitchen and a second-hand bathroom suite and toilet. All for the price of about £350. Jan and I thought we would save money building our own septic tank but we calculated this might cost £150. Mr Comfort offered to do the job for £175, thus saving us a lot of effort.

So, after a couple of years of weekend work, we had a home suitable for a family. Next door, in what was the school room, lived a delightful but quiet couple, Bob Murdoch and Nan, his wife both in their late 70’s. Bob had been born in Belnaboth just across the Glen and during the war years he had been a postman in Bolton. Probably in the late 1950’s he moved back to his beloved Glenbuchat and lived in the back part of the cottage which was called Bowiebank at the time. His wife, Nan Shearer, had been born in Broombrae Cottage just up the hill from the cottage and they must have been childhood sweethearts. Bob was known as the Bard of Glenbuchat because of his writing copious number of poems. My one regret is that I did not take advantage of his connection with the glen and get the history of the Glen from him.

Click for Bob and Nan Murdoch Bowiebank

Bob Murdoch had a great love of Glenbuchat and many of his poems describe his attachment to the place. He was also quite philosophical and expressed his thoughts in poetry. When they left the house, he left behind four books. One was a well-thumbed Chambers dictionary, another on the Greek Derivation of English words and a 1910 Home Doctor. I recall reading a line which said, ‘travelling at more than 15mph in a car is bad for children’. Finally, he left a 1940 Diary with snippets from many of his poems and they are reproduced in this site.

Click for Poetry Album including Bob Murdoch’s poems

Nan and Bob lived a very simple life in simple surroundings but were happy with it. The accommodation in what was the school room was more 19th century than 20th century. The large high-ceilinged room had been divided into a number of rooms by pine wood strips and painted a dark green and grimy with soot. On entering the house there was a small corridor which acted as a kitchen with a Belfast sink and a single cold tap. At the one end of the corridor was a bed room and at the other a door into the ‘lounge’ which had an old suite but was never used. Mr Murdoch stated that occasionally when flash floods affected the hill, water would flow through the living room which fortunately had a concrete floor. There was also a battery radio.

Click for Bowiebank c 1975

Click to see Bowiebank Range

Coming from the hall was a door into the main room and in a small room off the main room was an old cooker powered by bottled gas. The main room was a mixture of the green pine partitions and yellow/orange on the walls. In the centre of the wall was a range which had a hearth and beside it an oven with two covered openings for cooking on. The old sway was still there. The main furnishings in the room were two chairs either side of the fireplace.

When we installed electricity in the front cottage, we offered to put a supply into the Murdoch’s cottage at no cost to them, but Mr Murdoch would not change his way of life and declined the offer. Mr Murdoch sadly collapsed and died one day in the early 1980’s, after coming up the hill from getting a book from the mobile library. We approached the Cowdray estate and arranged to buy the back half of the cottage with Mrs Murdoch as tenant and allowed her to continue the tenancy with no rent. Mrs Murdoch became frailer and within a couple of years moved to live in more suitable surroundings.

We then had the opportunity to eventually incorporate the back half of the cottage in one whole cottage. We eventually modernised the schoolroom into a large eating kitchen and a modern bathroom. The range was beyond saving because of rust and a woodburning stove was installed.

Click for description of life in Belnacraig in the 1950’s

Life in the Crag 1970’s

My life as a GP in Aberdeen was busy. As well as a GP I had taken on the work of what was known then as a Police Surgeon, i.e. providing medical and forensic services to the Grampian Police. As a result, on average, I was on call two nights a week for the Police and one night on call for the Practice. This meant that I had only one full weekend in four to be at the cottage and occasional days the other weekends. I recall one week when I was painting rooms at home, rooms at the surgery and rooms at the cottage. However, it was a great break from work, being out in the countryside and being occupied with maintenance of the cottage and garden.

In the early 1970’s there was still the vestiges of the old Glen life. The Craigton shop had just shut but there will still travelling shop vans coming up the Craig hill and we would buy bread and cakes from the baker’s van and fresh fish from the fish van. There was also a mobile library which toured the glen. On a Sunday, Sandy Shand of the Roughpark shop collected papers from Alford and at 11am set up his van at Bellabeg and sold the Sunday papers. I knew I had arrived, when, on one Sunday, Sandy told the person in front, that he had no Sunday Times left. When I stepped forward and asked for one, he gave me one and said ‘I saw you were coming’

In the Glen there were still some families continuing small scale farming. The Shand family of Balnagowan and the Sandisons of Netherton had not long left. Jock Davidson, George Hay and Leah Davidson still farmed at Craighead, the McRoberts at Baltimore and the Grants at Sunnybrae. Hector McNeil the gamekeeper for the North Lodge lived in the Old School House with his wife Isobel. Hector was an accomplished Naïve Painter. The Sole family were still occupying the lower Lodge and farming the land. Other houses had been occupied mainly by second home owners. Braehead was owned by Professor Olivier Abrioux, Professor of French at Aberdeen University, Balnagowan by Bob Stewart and his family, Weaver’s cottage was rented by Ken Henderson who worked at the College of Education, and Rose cottage owned by Ken Cruickshank who became a fund of knowledge on the history of Glenbuchat. Ron Simmers owned Woodside Cottage. The shop at Craigton was occupied by Ron Boyko who ran Glenbuchat pottery and fired his pots in kilns in the outhouses. He lived there along with his partner Maggie Hyne who had a knit wear business. After a number of years, they moved to more commercially viable premises.

Click for the Davidsons at Craighead

Click for details of the Glenbuchat Pottery

Around the Glen there was also more activity. The Colquhonnie Hotel was still open as a bar, restaurant and had accommodation, there was a Pub with pub food and accommodation at Glenkindie Hotel and the Kildrummy House Hotel was available for posher meals. Bouties, the pub and restaurant at Boltinstone was open, allegedly often after hours, and the Briggies bar and Hotel was active at Cockbridge. There was even for a short time a restaurant at the Manse at Kildrummy called Bear Lodge.

The Garage at Glenkindie was open and run by Ian Stewart, who was also an excellent bagpiper. The shop at Bellabeg sold most of the groceries for the area. There was also a shop at Roughpark. The Glenbuchat Hall however was almost dormant with only the occasional Burns supper and party. It was run down and sadly in need of attention.

The Glenbuchat Church still held Sunday services and the Rev Wallce lived in the Manse with his wife Jill who was also the District Nurse. Mr Wallace retired in 1977. After the Walaces, the manse was occupied by husband-and-wife Mike Gray an antique dealer and Jan Wells a nurse and social worker. Unfortunately, Jan succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease in 2024 when she was about 60.

Click for Rev Wallace and Family

Click for details of Jan Wells

During this time, with a young family and little time off, weekends were spent going on walks, entertaining the children with games and constant renovations to the house. The children’s friends would come along and delight in playing with mud pies and enjoying the freedom of the county side. Parties were arranged for birthdays, Halloween and Easter. Occasional forays were made to the swimming pool in Aboyne and the annual Lonach gathering.

We unfortunately had little time for mixing socially in the Glen as the number of social events at the hall were few and far between. We were fortunate that our neighbours at Balnagowan cottage Bob and Frances Stewart had children of a similar age and we were able to enjoy each other’s company.

Life in the 1980’s

The 80’s were a quiet time for the Craig. The last remaining crofters, Jock Davidson, Leah Davidson and George Davidson from Craighead, left the Glen in 1982. A party was held in the hall for George Hay’s departure. In deference to his age, it stopped at 11pm. However, the youthful 80-year-old continued the party up at Craighead until the early ours. He was a great fiddler and poet. Bob and Frances in Balnagowan moved away to take a cottage in Ballater. I recall one weekend walking up the hill past Craighead and none of the cottages on the hill were occupied that weekend. Craighead was bought by Rod and Ros McGillvray, initially as a second home but soon they moved in on a permanent basis. As mentioned before Bob Murdoch had died and Nan Murdoch had moved away from the school room behind our cottage and therefore time was spend incorporating it into the house.

Click for more about George Hay

Ken Cruickshank who had Rose cottage for many years had developed a great interest in the history of the Glen especially in the Agricultural changes. He had gathered an extensive collection of documents, photos and reminiscences from the older local inhabitants. A lot of his work provided the basis of this web site. He co-authored the History of the Glenbuchat Hall and produced a book on the Lime Kilns of Glenbuchat. It is my one regret that I did not take the opportunity to develop my own interest in the Glen history until a later date.

Clinck for details of Ken Cruickshank

Click for booklet on the Hall History

Click for book on Lime Kilns

Life in the 1990’s

In the 1990s the glen stated to change. Gradually more permanent residents moved in. Some like Paul and Isobel moved from Corgarff to Braehead, no doubt lured but the milder climate of Glenbuchat! Some like Rod and Ros McGillivray at Craighead, took up permanent residence after using the house as a second home. Tony King moved to the Old Shop because of a family attachment to the area.

Our two children were now almost teenagers and had developed interests of their own. They had become very keen on horse riding and this meant that on many weekends they were not keen on going up to the cottage and would rather be riding. The answer was obvious we would have to get a horse and have it at Glenbuchat. We were fortunate that David and Moira Gracie who were living in the Old Glenbuchat Manse at the time were selling a pony, Twiggy., of the right age and size. Moira Gracie was married to David Gracie who was a Liberal Candidate for the Parliamentary Election in 1974. Moira was an artist and painted under her maiden name Moira Frewin. She painted many scenes from around Glenbuchat and I saw a wonderful one titled Glenbuchat Moon and would have loved to have bought if I had had the money then.

Twiggy was kept in livery in Cults in Aberdeen during the week and at cottage for weekends. On a Friday evening Margaret and the girls went up to the stables after school to get the pony ready and as soon as surgery was finished, I took the horsebox to the stables and loaded Twiggy. So, Margeret and I, two girls, dog and a pony set off on Friday evening to the cottage. We became very efficient and by 8pm Twiggy was in her field, and supper was on the table. We turned part of the cottage back garden into a paddock for the pony during the day and at night, Willie and George Farquharson, who were living at Glenbuchat Mill, allowed us to use one of their fields.

Willie and George were brothers who had been brought up in the Mill Croft of Glenbuchat Mill. They had previously farmed the croft but by the time we met them they worked for the local estate but still carried on the local tradition of getting peats from the peatmoss at the back of Creag an Sgor. George had been the Hall Keeper for the Glenbuchat Hall, a duty he carried out for over 50 years.

Click for Willie and George Farquharson of the Mill

The horses provided entertainment and excitement. One day when Margaret was leading younger daughter Catherine, a novice rider, on twiggy, Twiggy jerked her head up and dislocated Margaret’s shoulder. Twiggy then ran off at hight speed down a track we knew had a gate at the end. We hoped that Twiggy would not try and jump the gate as Catherine was not up to it. I had to run after her and catch the horse and rescue Catherine and then run back and replace Margaret’s shoulder.

When the children were younger, it meant that Mum or Dad had to accompany them when they were riding. Occasionally Mum and Dad had a ride and one day I could have been seen going up behind Ben Newe with a knotted handkerchief on my head to keep the horse flies away. Not a pretty sight. As they got older, the children were let loose and latterly they were venturing up to the top of Creag an Sgor and round to Bellabeg. All without a mobile phone or Sat Nav! Sarah the eldest had started riding first but soon Catherine her sister also wanted to ride. As a result, a second pony was obtained and this increased the menagerie heading off to Glenbuchat at the Weekend.

At this time, we became acquainted with the wide-open spaces of Glenbuchat and we were free to venture up tracks to the hills and forests. One unfortunate development of more recent change is of the enclosure of the more open areas of the Glen for shooting and Forestry. Although there is free access to the countryside sometimes it is difficult as accessible gates are few and far between. One example is in Glen Nochty.

The Nochty burn runs through the lands of Auchernach and can be accessed by the track up to Tolquadill Farm. At places there were nice green grassy areas near the burn which had some deep pools, just ideal for a Picnic and children paddling and using a small dinghy. Such idyllic afternoons are no longer possible due to the reafforestation of the other side of the burn. The fence for the trees has been placed, not on the far side of the burn where the trees are, but on the near side making access to the burn now virtually impossible.

Around this time, an old acquaintance Johny Johnston, arrived in the Glen and rented a cottage at Peatfold. We had known of each other from the University sailing club and we had a number of friends in common. Johny was a keen motorcyclist and had a collection of vintage motorcycles and four Austin Seven cars. This seemed to be a pleasurable hobby and Johny sold me a 1986 CZ Czechoslovakian motorcycle to use. However, I needed a licence and at the age of 50 I proceeded to take my motorcycle test and passed first time. I later graduated to a modern Bonneville. Margaret, my wife, also learned to ride a motorcycle and also obtained her licence. For a while the pair of us could be seen travelling round the glen each on two wheels. However, an accident slipping in ice (not M/C related) resulted in a severe injury to her wrist which put an end to her motorcycling.

I still possess and old 1986 Suzuki 250 twin which is lighter and easier to manage and I still make the occasional foray round the glen. The Glen is an ideal place for gentle motorcycling with quiet roads, lovely scenery and no need to travel too fast.

Realising that increasing age made motorcycling less safe, I decided to follow Johny’s example and move into old cars. My first car which I had as a student was a 1948 Series E Morris 8 and I therefore decided in 2020 to get a 1938 Morris 8 tourer. The car spends it summer at the cottage and on a sunny day we can be seen tootling round the glen with the hood down.

Life after the millennium.

The children leaving home for university certainly produced the empty nest syndrome up at the cottage, as much of our activity there was based around the children. So much of our time at the cottage was looking after the children and then looking after the ponies. Soon however we fully engaged in upgrading the cottage with a Sun Room and building a garage, and walking in the glen and surrounds. The Glen was filling up as many of the houses which had been second homes became permanently lived in.

The Hall started to have more activity and the Hall committee was rejuvenated and work parties started to tidy up and redecorate the Hall. In 2005 The Glenbuchat Community Association was formed to refurbish the Hall and revive its social functions.
This started a momentum which over the next 10-15 years resulted in the provision of new windows, new toilets, a kitchen and the complete development of the Bothy. The Bothy had been originally a rudimentary kitchen in one room and a stable for horses in the other. It was completely gutted and a new meeting room created with flooring which came from an Olympic sports hall. Also was added storage toilets and a shower room. Finally, a storage shed was added to the other end

The improved Hall attracted more activity and Steve Cameron ran a successful series of live music events, a Pop-Up café at a weekend was very popular and annual events such as the NEOS Art fair and the Dee Don Ceilidh Collective attracted wider audiences.

All these activities and changes are due to the hard work of the Hall Committee and the Grant money that supported local fundraising. Many residents contributed to work days when we improved the Hall facilities.

Another change that has come to the Glen however is the land ownership.

In 1966 Col. Barclay Milne died and was succeeded by his daughter, Mrs Jean Sole, who with her family took up residence in Castle Lodge in the 1970s. High taxes and the death duties levied on the estates of Col. Milne and Col. Barclay Milne meant that the Glenbuchat Estate had to sell much of its land. The North Glenbuchat Estate was created, comprising most of the land lying north of the Water of Buchat, and running from Easter Buchat at the mouth of the Glen to Glenbuchat Lodge at the head of the Glen. It was bought by Major Michael Smiley of Castle Fraser, whose wife, Lavinia, was the daughter of the 2nd Viscount Cowdray. The Cowdray’s of Dunecht also bought some land north of the river, including Craig Wood, Sunnybrae and Mill of Glenbuchat, and this land remains with the Dunecht Estate today, although houses in Craigton were sold to individual buyers.

Over time most houses and farms within the North Glenbuchat Estate were likewise sold (e.g. Easter Buchat, Blackhillock, Milton, Upperton and Netherton) but the Estate retained the hill shooting above the line of cultivation. In the 2000s the Glenbuchat Estate was able to repurchase some of its former land, e.g. Milton.

In 2008 The North Glenbuchat Estate was sold to the 4th Marquess of Milford Haven, George Ivar Louis Mountbatten, who began an ambitious programme of renovating Glenbuchat Lodge and its dependent properties, and improving the grouse moor.

In 2010 Mrs Sole died, and the Glenbuchat Estate passed to her son David. David Sole was a renowned rugby player. He first played for Scotland in 1986, thereafter winning 44 caps, 25 as Captain. In 1990 he led the Scottish team to a famous Grand Slam victory.

2015 saw many changes of land and home ownership in the Glen. The Sole family left the Glen, and the old Glenbuchat Estate was dispersed. At the same time some Dunecht property was also sold on. During this time the Auld Kirk house, Beltamore, and the Smiddy were all extensively reconstructed and lived in again.

The Marquis of Milford Haven divorced and his son Henry David Earl of Medina and the Marquis’s ex-wife became the owners of the North Glenbuchat estate. The Dunecht estate finally sold off its remaining property in the Glen. As a result of these changes a number of parcels of land were bought by house holders especially up Belnacraig. We bought the two fields next to us as well as the Belnacraig steading. The owners of the Old Manse, Craighead, Brombrae and Altnacruichan all bought parcels of land.

We would have been delighted to have had the fields when we had ponies, however we let the field out ant nominal rent and Pauline Young from Braehead next door, an experienced horsewoman, used the fields for her breeding Falabella’s (manatee horses). Thus, we were able to rekindle our connection with horses. Other sections of the fields are let out for sheep grazing and a vegetable garden.

The final development at the cottage has been the addition of solar panels in the field in front of the cottage. This not only gives cheap electricity but the heating can also be remotely from our home in Aberdeen.

About 2012 the Hall held an exhibition of local photos and invited locals and previous glen residents to bring along pictures of the glen in the past. About 200 images were obtained. In order to preserve them they were copied and a web site was created, The Glenbuchat Heritage Web Site. The site now has about 2500 pages on Glenbuchat and its surroundings.

Unfortunately, late in 2019 the Covid epidemic started and later in 2020 movement was limited to 5 miles from your home. This meant that we were not able to go to the cottage. We were grateful to neighbours for cutting the grass in our absence. Fortunately, this restriction was lifted after not too long. In November 2021 we were struck by another misfortune. The UK was struck by an unusually fierce storm, Storm Arwin. Hundreds of thousands of trees were blown down in Aberdeenshire alone. The Glen also suffered with many fallen trees and some residents were trapped up near Badenyon by tress that had fallen in front and behind their vehicle.

Craig cottage dd not escape. Two 70ft conifers were blown down and the tips lay on the kitchen roof and a stout branch had penetrated the roof. We were despairing that with all the surrounding damage we would never get it repaired before winter. Help however was at hand. Charles Mathieson a tree surgeon came from Deskry and removed the trees from the roof, Leigh Rough came from Belnaboth and repaired the roof, all within a week. Many thanks to them both. In the spring Charles cut up the tress and took down two others which may have threatened the cottage and Jamie Davidson brought in his tractor and trailer and removed all the debris. Considering the devastation all around, we felt we got off lightly.

The Glen in 2025

What then is the situation in the Glen in 2025. The Glen’s population seems to have increased slightly with an influx of younger as well as retired householders. Some are employed remotely in IT business, some are involved in farming and others in local business. The fields are being better looked after as the local owners have more interest in them than the larger estates previously.

The lower lodge is a small estate with shooting over the slopes of Ben Newe. The Upper lodge has acquired most of the upper Glen and most of the upper moors on the Northside of the Glen and is run as a shooting estate.

The housing stock is much improved and continues to improve, however some B listed buildings are still being ignored by their owners and the Local Council. There remains an unfortunate continued division between the larger estates and the local houseowners especially over the alleged breaching of accepted shooting etiquette.

The local Hall, for over a century has been the centre of the glen activities, has been much improved and until recently very active. Since the Covid epidemic however it has been difficult to get local enthusiasm to join the committee to manage the Hall. In 2024 the Hall celebrated its 125-year anniversary.

Click for Hall 125-year anniversary

Around Strathdon however there are signs of a deterioration in the community facilities. The Colquhonnie Hotel and the later Bar have been closed and development shelved. The Kildrummy Castle Hotel has become a private home although the Kildrummy Inn has had a wonderful development and is a centre of excellence. The Glenkindie garage is only working part time. The Bellabeg shop is up for sale and the sheltered housing at Doune Court was under threat of closing but is now reprieved. Glenbuchat Castle was shut and surrounded in scaffolding and was supposed to be closed for 1 year. That is about 8 years ago. There used to be a regular bus service stopping at Bellabeg where the bus would spend the night and head back the next day. This has now long gone.

The Strath has weathered worse storms in the past and will no doubt overcome the present difficulties.

Looking back over 50 years what has Glenbuchat given the Duffus family. The Glen has provided a haven of peace and tranquillity away from the urban bustle of Aberdeen. It has provided a place where all the family can spend time together and enjoy simpler pleasures of life. It has provided a place to walk climb hills and ride horses in beautiful scenery. It has provided the backdrop for my taking up motorcycling and driving an old car. The cottage and garden and outbuildings have provided a workshop in which to practice my DIY skills. The Glen has allowed me to get involved with other residents, the Hall community and introduced me and caused me to indulge my fascination of the heritage of the Glen. Heritage has enabled me to meet, through the Glenbuchat Heritage Web Site many people related to the glen form all round the world.

Our family, children and grandchildren have been brought up with Glenbuchat always in the background. Hopefully when I reach the stage of not being able to maintain the cottage, they will continue the attachment to the cottage and watch, like the rocks in George Hay’s poem about Creag An Sgor, the continual changes in the Glen that have taken place over many centuries in the past

Click for George Hay’s poem, ‘The Old Garnet Rock’


Postscript
As the late Queen said ‘Recollections may vary’. The above information is based on my own memory of events. Some dates and facts may not be exactly accurate, so if you have any corrections or additions to the text above, please contact me via the Web Site email in the introductory page at the start of the site.