Angus

Arbroath by Train – Hospitalfield, the Abbey and the Harbour

A day by train and on foot, from Dundee station and back.

The route

Hospitalfield is the reason for this day.

On the western edge of Arbroath, a Victorian painter and his wife remade an old house as a work of art in itself. They left it as a place for artists to learn, and it is shown to visitors on a guided tour. The town round it is an Angus harbour town of red sandstone, known for its abbey and its smoked haddock. It is a short train ride up the coast from Dundee, so the whole day is done without a car.

Before you go

Book the house tour at Hospitalfield
Book the house tour on Hospitalfield's own website for a day it runs: Thursday to Sunday at 11am from April to October, and at 10.30am on the third Saturday of the month.

The day

Arbroath

A day on the Angus coast that starts on a morning train out of Dundee and is back there by evening. In Arbroath it runs from a painter's house at one end of the town to salt air and woodsmoke at the harbour at the other. It comes to about 5 miles on foot.

Hospitalfield
Hospitalfield opens Thursday to Sunday, and the house is seen only on its tour: 11am from April to October, 10.30am on the third Saturday of the month. Ask its length when booking. It's half an hour's walk from Arbroath station by Keptie Road, or a taxi from the rank, so take a train arriving an hour before the tour: check the day's times. Lunch is at the Garden Café. From November to March there is no tour: the day is the abbey, the harbour and a smokie.
37 min on foot
Arbroath Abbey
An attraction
Arbroath Abbey is 37 minutes' walk from Hospitalfield, by Keptie Road, Lochlands Drive and Hume Street. Or ring an Arbroath taxi: Hospitalfield's Location page has the numbers. The abbey's monks kept the hospital at Hospitalfield. The abbey was begun in 1178 for King William the Lion. Its ruin is seen from the grounds, the Round O window high in the south transept gable. The visitor centre tells of the Declaration of Arbroath, a letter of 1320. It's listed open daily, 10am to 4pm (4.30pm from April to September), shut 12.30pm to 1.30pm: check before going.
More about Arbroath Abbey
12 min on foot
Arbroath Harbour
An attraction
It's 12 minutes' walk to the harbour, part marina, part working quay, with smokehouses in the streets around it. Arbroath Smokie is a protected name: only haddock smoked within about five miles of the town may be sold as one. Cel's Fresh Fish on Ladybridge Street smokes its own and opens every day, 8am to 5.30pm. It's a counter with no tables, so the harbour wall is the place to eat. Ask for a smokie from the latest batch. E&O Fish, a minute away, is the second choice.
More about Arbroath Harbour
7 min by train, 11 min on foot
Carnoustie Beach
Walk 9 minutes to Arbroath station. Carnoustie is about 7 minutes by train, then 11 minutes' walk to the beach, a sandy bay below a working golf links: keep to the sand. From Monday to Saturday trains to Dundee call at Carnoustie about hourly: check the day's times with National Rail Enquiries. On a Sunday leave Carnoustie out and go home from Arbroath, where Dundee trains run about hourly. On other days, go to Carnoustie only if an hour and a half of daylight is left when you reach Arbroath station.

If it rains

The house tour, lunch in the Garden Café and the abbey's visitor centre are under cover; the walks between them are not. A taxi from the rank at Arbroath station, and another rung from Hospitalfield, saves the two long walks and leaves only the short stretch between the abbey, the harbour and the station. The Signal Tower Museum, on Ladyloan by the harbour, is indoors and free on the days it opens. In heavy rain or a gale leave Carnoustie's beach out and take a train from Arbroath straight to Dundee.

Worth a detour

Signal Tower Museum
The Signal Tower Museum is on Ladyloan, 5 minutes' walk from Ladybridge Street. The building was the Bell Rock Lighthouse's base on shore, and the museum tells the story of the light and of Arbroath's fishing. ANGUSalive, which runs it, gives entry as free and the opening as Wednesday to Monday, 10.30am to 4pm, from April to October, shut on Tuesdays, and Friday to Monday only from November to March, with last admission half an hour before closing. It only fits this day if the abbey is done by about 3pm: then be at the museum's door by 3.30pm.
Arbroath Cliffs
Seaton Cliffs are Arbroath's red sandstone sea cliffs, a Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve at the east end of the town. From the harbour it's 23 minutes' walk along the front to Victoria Park, where the path starts beside the public toilets, and from there about a mile, 22 minutes each way, to the Deil's Heid, a red sandstone sea stack: allow two hours from the harbour and back. Stay on the path the whole way, because the Trust warns of unstable edges, and follow its signs where it has closed the northern section. Go only in daylight, with two hours of it in hand, and in dry, still weather: the Trust warns that the cliffs are dangerous when slippery. On a long, dry day it can take the place of Carnoustie's beach; with less daylight than that, or in wet or wind, leave it for a day of its own.

Where to eat