Morrone

The walk up Morrone from Ballater takes about ninety minutes if you're moving at a decent pace, and the reward is a proper Highland view that justifies every steep bit of the path. You're looking down over Royal Deeside, across the Cairngorms when the light's right, and on a clear day you can see why Queen Victoria fell for this corner of Aberdeenshire. The peak itself sits at 2,819 feet - high enough to feel like an achievement without needing mountaineering kit.

It's a family-friendly hill walk rather than a serious scramble. Families with older kids will manage it fine; younger ones might find the relentless gradient tedious coming back down. The terrain is moorland and grass underfoot, boggy in places after rain, so proper boots matter. Allow three hours return from the town and you won't feel rushed.

Walkers love this one because it's accessible from Ballater itself - no drive to a remote car park - and the views genuinely reward the effort. History types appreciate the path past Morrone Birkwood, an ancient Caledonian forest fragment that's been there longer than most things in Scotland.

If you're staying at Braemar Caravan Park just down the road, Morrone makes a cracking half-day outing. The park sits in the heart of Deeside walking country, and this hill gives you that sense of doing something proper rather than just ambling round a visitor centre. Free to walk, naturally. Go in decent weather - cloud cover makes the whole thing pointless.