Overview of Aboyne

A resort town in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Aboyne lies on the north side of the River Dee on the A93 road, 32 miles (51 km) west of Aberdeen. Laid out after 1670 when it received a burgh charter, its grey granite buildings surround a large central green. It was originally called Charleston of Aboyne in honour of Charles Gordon, first Earl of Aboyne, who obtained the charter and who in 1671 rebuilt part of Aboyne Castle, an important stronghold to the north of the town protecting the roads that converge there. With the arrival of the railway in 1853 (closed in 1966) Aboyne developed as a resort town largely at the hands of Sir Cunliffe Brooks of Glentanar whose daughter married the 11th Marquis of Huntly.

Today the town has a wide range of tourist facilities that include an 18-hole golf course, bowling green, all-weather tennis courts, fishing and shooting, water skiing on Aboyne Loch and gliding at the Deeside Gliding Club 3 miles (5 km) to the west. The Community Centre has library and sporting facilities and places of interest nearby include the Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve, the former royal hunting grounds of the Forest of Birse, Potarch Park and the Braeloine Visitor Centre in the Forest of Glentanar. Robert Burns' song 'O'er the Water to Charlie' refers to John Ross, the Jacobite boatman who ferried travellers across the Dee at Aboyne before the building of a bridge in 1828. Each year since 1867 the town has hosted the Aboyne Highland Games in September.