Little Ord

The walk through Little Ord is quiet, proper quiet - the kind of silence you only get in Scottish pine forests where the ground is soft with needles and the air smells of resin and damp earth. It's a modest woodland near Aboyne, nothing flashy, but that's rather the point. You get genuine forest atmosphere without the crowds you'd find at larger Cairngorms attractions.

What you're doing here is straightforward: walking through mixed woodland, mostly conifer, with paths that wind through the trees. It's not demanding terrain - more of a gentle wander than a proper hike - which means families with younger kids won't struggle, though the paths can be boggy in wet weather so wellies are a good call. The woodland itself is the draw: dappled light, the smell of the forest, maybe a red squirrel if you're lucky and quiet enough.

This works brilliantly as a morning activity if you're based at Firbank Park or Tarland Camping nearby. Give yourself an hour, maybe ninety minutes if you're the type who stops to look at things. It's free, as far as I can tell, and there's no faffing about with visitor centres or ticket booths - just go in and walk.

Will it blow your mind? No. Will it feel like a proper escape from the caravan park for a couple of hours? Absolutely. It's the kind of place that reminds you why people come to the Highlands in the first place - not for anything dramatic, just for the trees and the quiet and the smell of the forest.