Stonehaven, Scotland

The bulk of day two was spent in Stonehaven. This town is home to a fabulous castle – Dunnottar Castle – out on a rock. We knew we needed to be there when it opened to avoid a long walk and parking on the street.

We were some of the first to arrive and got to enjoy exploring the castle without the crowds.  There are quite a few steps, both up and down, to reach the castle. We were glad to have the carrier to get O out to the castle. H walked the steps without trouble.

The castle has plenty of buildings to explore that are all well signed. Additionally, there is plenty of green space for the kids to run around inside the castle walls.

We went down to the beach to explore the tide pools but couldn’t find anything living in them. The kids still enjoyed scampering over the rocks.

Sadly, sometime during the beach exploration we lost O’s little stuffed Corgi puppy. He must have fallen onto the beach and we were unable to find him. There were quite a few tears from H. Luckily O didn’t really realize what had happened and he had his big pup pup when we returned to the car.

It wasn’t a great day for our two-year old. O also tore a huge hole in his pants playing around in the castle. I mean huge. Again, he didn’t really seem to notice, although we got lots of giggles from other visitors.

We headed into the town of Stonehaven for lunch. At the far end is a beach area that has a huge park, playground and public pool. Just past there you will find the best fish and chips place around next to an outstanding ice cream shop.

The Bay Fish and Chips place is amazing! You can tell by the line out the door that it is going to be good! The fish and chips serving is large! Our family ordered two supper servings of the fish and chips and it was more than enough for the four of us to share. There are plenty of benches and tables in the parks surrounding the beach. We found a nice one to enjoy our lunch.

The ice cream place next door is also delicious, so save some room. We all enjoyed a cone to finish off our lunch.

The playground was too good to pass up so we got in some playtime before hopping back in the car where everyone (except Jeff, who was driving) napped!

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Visit Scotland provided us with an AVSA press pass waiving admission at some attractions in exchange for this review. All opinions are our own. 

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