Banchory – A Picnic in Scolty Forest
A few hours.
The route
Scolty Forest covers the hill across the Dee from Banchory, below the tower that can be seen from much of the town.
The forest has a picnic area, and red squirrels and woodpeckers live in its trees. Pick up the food in Banchory, five minutes' drive away, and eat it in the wood.
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
Banchory is five minutes' drive from the forest car park, so the picnic can be picked up in the town first.
- A baker
- J.G. Ross on the High Street in Banchory
- The supermarket
- The Co-op at Hill of Banchory
The day
Scolty Forest
Pick up the picnic in Banchory, then drive five minutes over the Dee to the forest.
About an hour and a half
Scolty Forest
Scolty Forest is five minutes' drive south of Banchory, over the Dee, and signed 'Scolty Woodland Walks'. Parking at the forest car park costs £2.50 for up to three hours. The forest has a picnic area of its own, and a rug is worth bringing as well. It's a quiet wood of spruce and larch, and worth sitting still in. Red squirrels live here, and children who keep quiet may hear a woodpecker hammering on a dead trunk before they see it. After lunch the forest trails start from the same car park. For now the shorter Craigloch Trail is closed for repairs and the March Trail is on a signed diversion while trees are felled, so follow the signs. There are no toilets in the forest. The nearest are at the Bellfield car park in Banchory.
If it rains
The trees keep off a light shower, but there is no shelter to eat under: in steady rain, keep the picnic for a drier day.
Photographs by GoSia and Eleni Ermidis via Google