Mintlaw – A Picnic at Aden Country Park
A few hours.
The route
Aden Country Park at Mintlaw, in the middle of Buchan in Aberdeenshire, has wide lawns for a family picnic, a big play area among the trees and a lake with ducks to feed.
There's also the ruin of an old mansion house, which is a fine place for hide and seek. Pick up the food in Mintlaw or at the park's own café, and stay as long as the children like.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
First
Pick up the picnic
The park is on Station Road in Mintlaw and has a café of its own, so the picnic can be picked up in the village or in the park's courtyard.
- The supermarket
- The Co-op off Station Road in Mintlaw
- A café
- The Aden Café in the park's courtyard
The day
Aden Country Park
Pick up the picnic in Mintlaw or at the café in the courtyard, then find a spot on the lawns or beside the play area.
About two hours
Aden Country Park
A walk
Aden has four car parks, and the two big ones are nearest the play area, the toilets and the old farm courtyard. The park has picnic spots all through it, with open grass beside them for a ball or a kite. The lawn in front of the ruined mansion house is a good one, and so is the play area among the trees. Bring a rug in case there's no free table. After lunch, buy duck food at the Craft and Gift Shop in the courtyard and feed the ducks on the lake. Children can also play Poohsticks from the bridges in the Victorian arboretum. Until 26 October the free farming museum in the courtyard opens from Thursday to Sunday, 11am to 4pm. Keep dogs on a lead outside the dog exercise area.
If it rains
The lawns and the play area have no shelter: in steady rain, keep the picnic for a drier day.
Make it a weekend
More days out in Aberdeenshire.
Photographs by Charlotte Kirkwood and Gary Robertson via Google