Cruickshank Botanic Gardens Gardens have extensive collec-tions of shrubs, alpine plants, heather and succulents. Rock and water gardens. Cullerlie Bronze Age stone circle, 30ft across, with eight boulders around its circumference. Within circle are number of excavated burial chambers. Downies Rough road from village leads to cliff-top walk, where views look over to Cammachmore Bay.
Steep path descends to rocky cove.
Drum Castle Antique furniture and paintings enrich castle's interior. Home of Irvine family since 1323, its original keep adjoins Jacobean mansion, built 1619. Extensive grounds border old forest of Drum, where rhododendrons bloom beneath ancient oak and yew trees. Dunnottar Castle Steep path from beach climbs solitary rock, crowned by dramatic castle ruin. Cromwell's troops captured this Royalist stronghold after months of siege in 1652.