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Aberdeenshire

Sillyflatt Farm Shop

A family farm shop above the North Sea between Inverbervie and Gourdon, selling its own lamb and food from within a hundred miles.

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Welcome

Sillyflatt is a small farm just off the A92, between Inverbervie and Gourdon, and it has been in Ailsa van Rooyen’s family for three generations.

She was a marine ecologist for twenty years before she came home to run it with her husband Jan Georg, an engineer and a farmer’s son from South Africa.

They call theirs a 100-mile farm shop. The shelves hold produce from their own market garden and from neighbours’ farms: oatcakes, cheeses, flour, jam and biscuits. The meat counter has the farm’s own pastured lamb, hogget and mutton, with beef, venison and Scottish charcuterie beside it. There are sheepskin rugs and a shelf of books on cooking and the outdoors, and in December, Christmas trees and wreaths.

Next to the shop, the Field Kitchen serves brunch from an Airstream trailer in the warmer months. The shop is open Tuesday to Saturday, and it closes for the winter on 21 December.

Close byQuayside 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.2 min by roadSee itBattered fish and chips with lemon and tartare sauce from the Quayside.
Before you go

Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm.

The farm closes for the winter on 21 December. It is just off the A92 between Inverbervie and Gourdon.

Tue to Sat
10:00 to 16:00.
Sun and Mon
Closed.

Opening hours

Their website
Monday
Closed
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
10am–4pm
Thursday
10am–4pm
Friday
10am–4pm
Saturday
10am–4pm
Sunday
Closed
Where it is

Sillyflatt, off the A92 between Inverbervie and Gourdon.

Close byIn Inverbervie.
  1. 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.Under a mile3 min by road
  2. The old stone mill buildings of Benholm among autumn trees.Mill of BenholmA restored watermill near Johnshaven, with a café baking its own patisserie.3 miles5 min by road
  3. The Grassic Gibbon Centre's gabled front beside Arbuthnott Hall, picnic tables outside.Lewis Grassic Gibbon Centre4 miles6 min by road
  4. The Lobster Shop on Fore Street, Johnshaven, its blue windows under a lobster sign.The Lobster ShopLobster and crab from the Johnshaven boats, dressed and eaten on a bench by the harbour.4 miles6 min by road
  5. The old lifeboat house in Johnshaven, its tall blue doors open under the museum's sign.Johnshaven Heritage MuseumThe village's own museum in its old lifeboat house of 1891, with a new exhibition every summer.4 miles6 min by road
Directions
Battered fish and chips with lemon and tartare sauce from the Quayside.RestaurantsQuayside Restaurant & Fish Bar, Gourdon0.8 miles
The white Creel Inn at Catterline with its sign, a lobster creel on the terrace.RestaurantsThe Creel Inn6.4 miles
Rowing boat "The Gray Starling" sits among wildflowers overlooking a rocky sea stackAttractionsCatterline Bay6.6 miles
Grassy dunes overlook a wide sandy beach with distant figures walkingAttractionsSt Cyrus National Nature Reserve7.2 miles
Grass-topped limestone cliff with a thin waterfall dropping into the seaAttractionsCrawton Waterfall7.7 miles
Waterfall dropping from grassy cliffs into a sheltered sea inletAttractionsRSPB Fowlsheugh7.7 miles
The white-streaked sea cliffs of Fowlsheugh above blue water, a seabird in flight.AttractionsRSPB Scotland Fowlsheugh7.7 miles
A ruined clifftop castle enclosed by sea stacks, waves breaking against the rocks belowAttractionsDunnottar Castle8.8 miles
A jar of Castleton jam beside a scone with cream and berries.CafeCastleton Farm Shop & Cafe9.6 miles
Stay nearby

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

Timber cabin with metal roof and decking surrounded by woodland treesNorth Lodge and River Cabin
  • Sleeps 6
  • In Banchory
  • 14 miles from Sillyflatt
Free 11–13 NovA stone farmhouse covered in climbing ivy stands behind a gravel drive, seen through overhanging pine branches.Cuttieshillock
  • Sleeps 6
  • In Strachan
  • 14 miles from Sillyflatt
Free 16–18 OctA stone cottage with dormer windows sits behind a low blue gate, a rose-covered archway framing the front door.Gamekeeper’s Cottage
  • Sleeps 6
  • In Strachan
  • 14 miles from Sillyflatt
Free 2–4 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 at Glendye
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Strachan
  • 14 miles from Sillyflatt
Free 18–20 OctPlaces 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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