Fordyce Parish Kirk

The kirk sits on a hillside outside Banff with views that stretch across Aberdeenshire farmland - the sort of place where you can actually hear yourself think. Fordyce Parish Kirk is a proper country church, dating back centuries, with that characterful Scottish stone you see all over the northeast. Inside it's modest but atmospheric, the kind of building where local history seeped into the walls rather than got mounted on plaques.

You're looking at maybe twenty minutes here unless you're into graveyards - and some folk are, fair enough. The churchyard's worth a wander if you've got the time. History buffs will appreciate the age of it all; families with young kids might find it a bit quiet for long. It works best as part of a bigger loop around the area rather than a destination in itself.

It's free to look around, though opening times aren't always predictable for small kirks like this - worth checking locally in Banff first. If you're staying at Sandend Holidays or Portsoy Links, both within a couple of miles, this makes a decent fifteen-minute detour on a walk. The coastline round here - Portsoy and Sandend proper - is far more of a draw for most visitors, but the kirk gives you a sense of what rural life actually looked like away from the beaches.