Villages
in the Cairngorms.

It’s 20:06 in the Cairngorms.

Cairngorms

A packhorse bridge and a Deeside kirk.

These two villages each grew up where a road meets a river. On the River Dulnain, Carrbridge grew up round a thin stone arch of 1717, built so the dead could be carried to the churchyard when the river was in spate. Every October the village hall hosts the Golden Spurtle, the World Porridge Making Championship, and red squirrels live in the pines round about. Down the Dee, east of the national park, Kincardine O'Neil keeps the roofless Auld Kirk of a medieval travellers' hospital among its granite houses. Both sit on main roads, so they're easy to stop in on the way through.

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Village of the day17 hours ago

Kincardine O'Neil.

The oldest village on Deeside, on the north bank of the Dee, with the roofless Auld Kirk of a medieval travellers' hospital at its heart.

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From our guide14 hours ago

Carrbridge.

Carrbridge is a small, friendly village on the River Dulnain at the northern edge of the national park, with the Monadhliath hills behind it. Most people stop for its old packhorse bridge, but it makes a quiet base too, with a station on the Highland Main Line and Aviemore six miles south. Every October the village hall hosts the Golden Spurtle, the World Porridge Making Championship, and each September chainsaw carvers turn logs into sculpture at Carve Carrbridge. The pinewoods round about are good for red squirrels, crested tits and crossbills.

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From our guide51 minutes ago

Nethy Bridge.

Nethy Bridge calls itself the Forest Village, and it is easy to see why. The ancient pinewood of Abernethy wraps right round it, and trails run through the village for walkers, cyclists and, in a snowy winter, cross-country skiers. The bridge that gives it its name is a humpbacked Thomas Telford design of 1810, part of which was swept away in the great flood of 1829. Nethy has welcomed holidaymakers since Victorian times and still feels quiet, with a café, a couple of shops, a nine-hole golf course and red squirrels in the trees.

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