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Aberdeenshire

Lewis Grassic Gibbon Centre

A small centre and café at Arbuthnott in the Mearns, celebrating Lewis Grassic Gibbon, the novelist of Sunset Song, in the countryside where the book is set.

Welcome

In the rolling farmland of the Mearns, a few miles inland from the coast at Inverbervie, the little village of Arbuthnott is the heart of Lewis Grassic Gibbon country.

Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pen name of James Leslie Mitchell, who spent his boyhood here, and his best loved novel, Sunset Song, published in 1932, is set in the fields and hills all around.

It was a success from the day it appeared, and it has been read and loved ever since, adapted for television, radio, film, theatre and music, and it remains one of the most popular of all Scottish stories.

The Grassic Gibbon Centre, a bright modern building beside Arbuthnott Hall, tells the story of his life and work, and it is run by the local community as a not-for-profit. There is a café, open daily through the season, and the landscape of the book lies all around.

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The Daily for 14 November, from Scotland with love. A red kayak beached on a loch shore beneath sunlit rocky hills, Sutherland
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Before you go

The café and exhibition open daily, 10am to 4.30pm from May to October, and 10.30am to 4pm in April.

Where
Arbuthnott, beside Arbuthnott Hall, in the Mearns near Inverbervie.
Café
Daily in season.

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Where it is

At Arbuthnott in the Howe of the Mearns, a few miles inland from Inverbervie.

Close byThe Mearns.
  1. Sillyflatt Farm ShopA family farm shop above the North Sea between Inverbervie and Gourdon, selling its own lamb and food from within a hundred miles.4 miles 6 min by road
  2. Battered fish and chips with lemon and tartare sauce from the Quayside.Quayside Restaurant & Fish Bar, GourdonFish and chips with a view over the harbour at Gourdon, from a fish bar on the West Quay, open Wednesday to Sunday from four until eight.4 miles 8 min by road
  3. The blue surf boat Maggie Law on display inside the museum at Gourdon.The Maggie Law Maritime MuseumA little museum on Gourdon harbour built round the Maggie Law, a famous rescue surf boat.4 miles 8 min by road
  4. Rowing boat "The Gray Starling" sits among wildflowers overlooking a rocky sea stackCatterline BayA clifftop fishing village where Joan Eardley painted the sea.8 miles 13 min by road
  5. Dunnottar CastleDunnottar CastleThe clifftop fortress of the Earls Marischal.10 miles 15 min by road
  6. The tall copper stills in Fettercairn's stillhouse, among steel walkways.Fettercairn DistilleryA distillery at the foot of the Grampians.11 miles 16 min by road
Directions
A jar of Castleton jam beside a scone with cream and berries.CafeCastleton Farm Shop & Cafe5.9 miles
The old stone mill buildings of Benholm among autumn trees.AttractionsMill of Benholm6.2 miles
Westerton Farm, AberdeenshireCafeWesterton Farm6.2 miles
The Lobster Shop on Fore Street, Johnshaven, its blue windows under a lobster sign.RestaurantsThe Lobster Shop7.4 miles
The old lifeboat house in Johnshaven, its tall blue doors open under the museum's sign.AttractionsJohnshaven Heritage Museum7.4 miles
The white Creel Inn at Catterline with its sign, a lobster creel on the terrace.RestaurantsThe Creel Inn7.7 miles
Waterfall dropping from grassy cliffs into a sheltered sea inletAttractionsRSPB Fowlsheugh9.0 miles
The white-streaked sea cliffs of Fowlsheugh above blue water, a seabird in flight.AttractionsRSPB Scotland Fowlsheugh9.0 miles
Grass-topped limestone cliff with a thin waterfall dropping into the seaAttractionsCrawton Waterfall9.0 miles

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Stay nearby

Places to stay near the centre, and when each is next free.

A stone cottage with a slated roof and black stove pipe sits beside a gravel drive, foxgloves and wildflowers lining the path.No 4 Steading Cottage
  • Sleeps 7
  • In Strachan
  • 11 miles from the Grassic Gibbon Centre
Free 15–16 NovA stone steading with a slated pyramid roof and a chimney stands behind a green nameplate sign, a chair visible through the window.No 2 Steading Cottage
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Strachan
  • 11 miles from the Grassic Gibbon Centre
Free 15–16 NovAn aerial view shows a white harled farmhouse with multiple chimneys set beside a gravel courtyard and stone outbuildings.The Coach House
  • Sleeps 12
  • In Strachan
  • 11 miles from the Grassic Gibbon Centre
Free 14–15 NovA mint-green sitting room has a cobalt-blue velvet sofa with orange and green cushions, two floor lamps with teal shades either side, a rustic wooden coffee table, and framed abstract and sunset prints on the wall above.The Corner House
  • Sleeps 6
  • In Strachan
  • 11 miles from the Grassic Gibbon Centre
Free 14–15 NovPlaces to stayEvery stay in AberdeenshireAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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