Drum Castle Picnic Site

There's a proper spot tucked away near Drumoak where the River Dee runs lovely and wide, and that's where you'll find Drum Castle Picnic Site. It's straightforward stuff - a grassy area with tables and benches, the kind of place where you can actually sit down with a sandwich without fighting for a bench or worrying about the midges too much. The castle itself is right there, a real sandstone fortress that's been standing since the 13th century, so you get a bit of history with your lunch.

Walkers and families with younger kids will find this genuinely useful rather than thrilling. There's not much to do beyond eating and maybe wandering the immediate grounds, so don't expect to spend half your day here. An hour's absolutely fine. The river views are the real draw - enough to make the stop feel special without being dramatic.

Families based at Deeside Holiday Park or Silverbank Caravan and Motorhome Club Campsite nearby will appreciate having this as a lunchtime break between exploring the wider Deeside area. It's free, obviously - it's a picnic site - and you should go when the weather's decent because there's no shelter to speak of. Midges can be proper vicious in summer evenings, so aim for midday rather than late afternoon.

Not the destination itself, but a useful waypoint that saves you buying an expensive sandwich from somewhere else. Well worth knowing about if you're basing yourselves at either of the nearby parks.