Boyndie Beach

The beach at Boyndie stretches wide and sandy, backed by low dunes and the kind of grey-blue sea that defines this stretch of Aberdeenshire coast. It's a proper working landscape - you'll spot fishing boats heading out from nearby Banff, and the whole thing has that unhurried feel you get in places that aren't trying to be anything other than what they are.

What you do here is simple: walk. The sand is firm enough for a decent stride, and the beach extends far enough that you won't feel cramped even in decent weather. Families with younger kids will find it manageable - no major cliffs or tricky access - though the water's cold enough that paddling is a January kind of activity. Serious walkers can push along towards Macduff or loop back inland depending on mood and tides.

There's no entrance fee or fancy facilities, which is part of its charm. Come at low tide and you get more sand; come in winter and you might have the place nearly to yourself. Summer brings more footfall, but it never gets rammed.

If you're based at Banff Links Caravan Park just up the road - barely a tenth of a mile - Boyndie works as a daily stop rather than a destination in itself. It's the kind of beach you use as a break between other things: a walk before lunch, an evening stroll after the caravan park's tea. Nothing remarkable happens here, but that's precisely why it works.