| Braemar,
or Braigh Mharr in Gaelic (which finally died out locally as
a spoken language about 1900), is not only redolent with Scottish
history, but is a land of superlatives. It is the highest and
most mountainous parish in the UK, with each of its 182,000
acres being more than 1000ft above sea level (the Post office,
in the village centre, is at 1110ft).
The area contains within its borders some 24 Munros, or mountains
of over 3,000ft, with three over 4,000ft. It is also the only
parish in the country to border with four of the old counties
(Banffshire, Inverness-shire, Perthshire and Angus). It has
the highest 18-hole golf course in the country, and shares
with Perthshire the Cairnwell Pass, at 2,100ft the highest
through road in the country, which on the Braemar side passes
through the Glenshee Ski Centre.
For the visitor interested in wildlife,
Braemar has long held great attractions. There must be few
villages where one can take an early morning walk along the
village main street and have a good chance of meeting, one
after the other, a magnificent 13 pointer stag, a shy roe
deer, red squirrels stealing nuts put out for the birds, a
cock pheasant strutting in all his finery, and a big brown
hare timidly exploring the possibility of access to some of
the gardens, while overhead golden eagles and buzzards sail
silent, missing nothing.
Those of an energetic disposition can go walking,
pony trekking, climbing, mountain biking, hang-gliding, skiing,
snow-boarding, golfing, putting or bowling, while field sportsmen
are spoiled for choice, having easy access to stalking and
shooting, as well as to brown trout and salmon angling - there
are a variety of stocked waters within easy reach. Discerning
motorists too, recognise that Braemar is an ideal centre for
touring, with a mix of major attractions easily within a day's
return journey.
Devotees of Highland
Games can, in September, accompany Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth
to the great Braemar Gathering, reputedlyfounded in the 11th
Century by Malcolm Canmore, used as a front in 1715 by the
Earl of Mar to plan the first Jacobite Uprising, and which
has been run in its present form since 1832 by Braemar Royal
Highland Society, the oldest surviving Friendly Society in
Scotland. It also sponsors the village Highland Dancing Class,
with weekly evening displays in summer, along with regular
Sunday afternoon Pipe Band displays in July and August.
For those who, like Queen Victoria, seek only to relax, Braemar's
broad acres and more than adequate variety of accommodation
offer an unrivalled opportunity to do so in the peace and
beauty of Aberdeenshire's Highland Parish.
|
View from St Margaret's Church Tower
Highland Dancing at the Braemar Gathering |
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