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I always wanted to visit New Slains castle. All the legends and mystery surrounding the ruins, its location and the nearby cliffs full of seabirds... What a scenery for a long coastal walk! I heard though that the access to the castle has been restricted - in 2008 planning permission was granted by Aberdeenshire Council to convert the ruins into a set of posh apartments
At the moment the ruins haven't been yet touched by builders, and the current planning permission is due to expire within 5yrs of acceptance. So just as well the conversion may not happen at all (hopefully). Of course it's not up to me to judge whether it should be done, it's just my personal feeling about the whole idea. Let the ruins stay as they are and let people enjoy them! The only activity needed is a bit of cleaning-up, as too many visitors leave "gadgets" behind
Apart from visiting the castle, this particular area is famous for great cliff walks and a haven for seabirds. It is possible to walk all the way from Cruden Bay to Boddam on a relatively good coastal path. We planned to do that but as we spent too much time lurking around the ruins, we only investigated about half the coastline between the two villages. Oh, I'm sure we'll go back there so nothing lost
There are a few car parks along A975. If you want to visit the castle first, the best parking is the one just past Slains Lodge. The ruins are well visible from that point. A short track leads to the ruins, which are fenced off but the gate in the fence is wide open (at least it was when we arrived
). Even as we approached this lovely spot, the building looked huge!
Inside the castle there are many rooms, corridors, staircases and little towers. Some parts are overgrown (mostly by stinging nettles
). Still, lurking around and trying to find our way through this labirynth of walls and gates was such a great fun!
A narrow corridor:
One of the cellars is still safe to enter. Unfortunately, you can see too many signs of "evening winos activities"
I was eager to make a movie! I managed to use two 30 min discs just to record different rooms and corners in the castle.
The round towers were used as staircases:
Weather was great: sunny with a bit of a breeze. Good light to photograph the ruins from every possible angle.
Inside the central room - this tower still has stairs in:
A staircase to nowhere?...
The castle looks most impressive from the cliff side:
The back entrance:
It must have been fantastic to wake up to such a view:
Some bits are more damaged, with only parts of walls surviving:
The main gate:
Ruins from the west:
The SE corner of the castle is a well preserved four-storey tower:
The cellar below the tower. Lots of rubbish again and it wasn't safe to squeeze in too far
But it's a solid staircase to the first floor:
...and even higher:
The last look at New Slains:
Finally, we finished lurking around the castle and started our cliff walk. Just past the ruins there are a few bays, sea stacks and arches:
Hmmm...
More movie-making:
The seabird island of Dunbuy:
...and countless inhabitants:
A seagull (herring gull) posing:
The island again:
Further along, more great views:
A natural arch:
The path took us past the Bullers of Buchan and more sea cliff scenery was still to come:
Mommy seagull with its chick:
Dinner time
And tidy-up time:
We spotted many other species of birds, like kittiwakes:
Cormorants:
Guillemots:
Weather was still fantastic. Being a mountain-maniac I was thinking, maybe we should've gone to the hills. Yet I think the cliffs can only be really appreciated on a good sunny day
One more sea stack:
Cliffs like in Cornwall!
Transporter ship on the horizon:
Sea birds feeding on fish:
The visit to New Slains was simply an unforgettable experience, sadly we had to turn back and walk back to the car. We still had three hours of car journey in the perspective - but the day was well worth every penny spent on petrol
