Balintore – A Play Park, a Mermaid and Lunch with the Dog
A few hours.
The route
Balintore is one of the Seaboard villages on the Easter Ross coast, with a play park right on the shore, a bronze mermaid on a rock at the water's edge and the sands of Shandwick Bay a short walk away.
Lunch is at the Seaboard Centre café, which welcomes dogs and has treats for them. It's an easy few hours by the sea for small children, and the dog comes too.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Ring The Seaboard Centre café on 01862 832888 to book a lunch table, Tuesday to Friday only (it's shut from Saturday to Monday); lunches are served until 2.30pm.
The day
Balintore
Swings by the shore, a mermaid on her rock and a walk to the sands, then lunch with a sea view and a puppaccino for the dog.
About three hours
Mermaid of the North
An attraction
Park in the Seaboard Centre's car park on the seafront in Balintore, which looks straight out over the Moray Firth. Its accessible toilet is free to use and open at all hours. Right beside the car park are the village's children's play park and a tennis court. A few metres along the beach, the bronze Mermaid of the North sits on a boulder at the water's edge, among rocks and pools that are fun to poke about in when the tide is out. From the car park it's five minutes' walk to Balintore harbour and the sands of Shandwick Bay. The dog can come along the shore with you: walk it round the play park rather than through it, and follow any signs on the beach.
The Seaboard Centre café
Lunch
Lunch is back at the Seaboard Centre café beside the car park, looking over the firth. It opens Tuesday to Friday only, 9.30am to 3pm, with lunches served until 2.30pm, and it's shut from Saturday to Monday. There's a children's menu, home baking and a daily specials board, and dogs are welcome, with Pup Cakes and puppaccinos of their own. It's popular, so ring 01862 832888 to book a table. If it's full, order from its takeaway menu and eat at the outdoor seats facing the sea.
If it rains
Everything but lunch is out in the weather: on a wet day keep to the play park and the mermaid, then shelter in the café.
Balintore Inn, a restaurant in Tain.
Make it a weekend
More days out in Easter Ross.
Photograph by Seaboard Centre via Google