Haddo House, an 18C manor, is located in the Grampian castle region on a wooded estate, now a country park. It was the seat of the Gordons, the Earls and later Marquises of Aberdeen and is now home to the Haddo House Choral and Operatic Society which has once again brought it renown.

The author of the famous trilogy of novels, A Scots Quair, James Leslie Mitchell (1901-1935), whose pen name was Lewis Grassic Gibbon, was particularly influenced by the Mearns countryside around Arbuthnott where he spent his teenage years. His life and work are commemorated in the small Grassic Gibbon Centre and a stone monument in memory of the author stands to the left of the cemetery entrance.

The lifetime work of Sir James and Lady Burnett, these gardens combine a wide variety of forms, colours and scents. Yew hedges dating from 1702 separate the predominantly red and yellow Pool Garden from the two formal French gardens, the Fountain (shades of blue) and the Rose Garden. In the lower area, a double border of plants separates the Camel and Trough Gardens, with, beyond, White and June Borders and a Golden Garden, a memorial to Lady Burnett. Countless woodland paths through the grounds.

The vast ruins of this castle with an interior courtyard, the most northern in Scotland, is, with Bothwell and Dirleton, one of the largest castles from the 13C. Its defences are unusual, with a keep (of French design) and guardroom (English design). While only the foundations remain of the main buildings, including the keep and guardroom, it is easy to orientate oneself.