Walking The Line: Aden Park to Deer Abbey, the Garden of Buchan

The district containing the estates of Pitfour and Aden, both of which were extensively developed in the 18th and 19th centuries by their wealthy 'improving' lairds, the Russells of Aden and Ferguson's of Pitfour is sometimes referred to as 'The Garden of Buchan'. Walking along the section Line which runs between the estates, through the verdant countryside of the Ugie valley, it is easy to see how this epithet was earned. Particularly in Spring the rich and varied flora, hedgerows and numerous trees of the sheltered Ugie valley are very different from the barer, bleak and windswept plain nearer the coast where the lineside flora is not yet as lush.

The embankments by the bridge carrying the Fetterangus to Old Deer road over the Line are covered in Few-flowered Leek (aka Few-flowered Garlic) Allium paradoxum .

The delicate, snow white flowers of Few-flowered Leek (aka Few-flowered Garlic) Allium paradoxum.This uncommon plant, which can become invasive, as it clearly has in the Aden area where it crowds many verges, is an introduction from the Caucasus. As the name would suggest the plant smells of garlic.

Lesser celandines under the remains of the bridge which before realignment of the road, carried the busy A950 over the Line close to Pitfour and Aden Park. It is necessary to cross the road to continue towards Deer Abbey and Maud. Proceed with caution!

Path leading from the Line by the road crossing to Aden Country Park.

The well managed and attractive country park covers 230 acres of the once extensive Aden Estate. The park contains several visitor facilities, including Aberdeenshire's Farming Museum, camping and caravan sites, a lake, Victorian arboretum and a sensory garden. There are extensive waymarked walks throughout the park. The unique semi-circular farm steading, dating from around 1800, and the slightly later coach house have been restored and house the museum, a cafe and a gift shop.

The Aden Estate was bought by Alexander Russell of Montcoffer in 1758 from James Ferguson of Kinmundy whose own estates included adjacent Pitfour on the opposite bank of the Ugie. The estate included the village of Old Deer and extensive farmland which Russell, an enthusiastic agricultural improver, set about developing. His improvements included planting wooded areas originally intended to provide shelter throughout the estate and now a very attractive feature of the area.

Further improvements involved enlarging the mansion, building the unique semi-circular steading, coach house and gate lodges. Kininmonth and Ludquharn were added to the estate which at its most extensive covered 31 square miles.

The decline of the estate set in after World War 1 when maintenance costs rose and farm income declined. About 75% of the estate was gradually sold off but it proved impossible to make ends meet. So in 1937 Sidney Russell, the last Laird, was forced to sell the Aden House and its policies, the remaining 52 farms and much of Old Deer. Sadly the estate, which was then used for shooting rapidly fell into disrepair and the mansion became derelict.

1975 Banff and Buchan Council aquired Aden and began to restore the buildings and grounds and established Aden Country Park and Heritage Centre.The remaining outside walls of the Russell's mansion have been consolidated and stabilised, an indication of the lifestyle of the lairds is given by the size of the ruins and the nearby laundry, icehouse and gasworks.

Delicate Blackthorn blossom.

There are primroses along the verge near Deer Abbey

Also by Deer Abbey we found the first pale violets of the year

Pink Purslane (Montana sibirica) occurs in damp, shady places and is particularly suited to the coditions under some bridges.

Deer Abbey with the daffodils of Deaconess Anna Ritchie's former home Newlands flowering in the the background. Under the Abbey wall there are the large leaves of butterwort

Pollen rich willow catkins

Saplinbrae

Saplinbrae on the Pitfour Estate, was built in 1756. Its first use was probably as a coaching inn for travellers on the Banff to Peterhead, road but by 1760 it became the manse for the minister of the Qualified Episcopalian Chapel which Lord Pitfour had built on the opposite (Abbey) side of the road. When Admiral Ferguson's widowed mother-in-law, Lady Langford, moved north in the 1850's the house was altered to become the Dower House using stones plundered from Deer Abbey. As the Pitfour fortunes began to fail it was leased out and has had various uses, currently as a country house hotel.

The aniseed scented leaves and frothy white flowers of Sweet Cicely in the shelter of the bridge carrying the Line over the Ugie

Bridgend Farmhouse with Aikey Brae in the background.

Not the best of photographs but it was such an unexpected pleasure to spot this clump of cowslips under the tree in an inaccessible place near Bridgend Farm