Visit Ballater for outdoor activities, pubs and shops, says butcher

Ballater, in the heart of Royal Deeside, is renowned for its beautiful setting within the Cairngorms National Park and is beloved by visitors and locals alike.

It is near Balmoral Castle, the sovereign’s summer retreat, which Queen Victoria described as “my dear paradise in the Highlands”.

Local John Sinclair is co-owner of the well-known Sheridan’s the butcher on Bridge Street, and has similar feelings about Ballater.

Here he reveals his five favourite things about the village.

Ballater from above, a beautiful place to visit — Beautiful Ballater on Royal Deeside. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.

1. Landscape is a great reason to visit Ballater

“Obviously, there’s the location of Ballater. It suits me perfectly because of the countryside and plenty of outdoor activities.

“I like doing a bit of walking. You’ve got Lochnagar on your doorstep and you’ve got various walks within five or six miles, that’s fantastic.

“Then you’ve got the river walk and there are plenty of tracks to go mountain biking.

“You’ve also got the bike shops to support you and outdoor clothing shops if you need any gear for it.

“And then you’ve got somewhere nice, especially on summer nights, you get finished work and go for a travel around.”

A signpost pointing out places to go on a visit to Ballater — Lots of shops selling local produce in Bridge Street, Ballater. Image: Kenny Elrick.

2. Ballater’s restaurants and pubs are worth a visit

“There’s also plenty of choice of restaurants and pubs to go to.

“There are two pubs I normally drink in, The Barrel and The Balmoral and they are totally different bars.

“Of course, you can also get pint at the golf club when you’re finished your round of golf, and it’s nice in there as well.”

3. The golf course

“I love the golf course because I play golf and Ballater is one of the best golf courses around.

“It’s great because of the scenery and the friendly atmosphere you get at the golf club.”

Royal Lochnagar Distillery is a place to go on a visit to Ballater — Royal Lochnagar Distillery near Ballater. Image: Kenny Elrick.

4. The community

“The next thing would be obviously the village itself. It’s a close community and it was proven in Storm Frank when everyone chipped in together and helped each other out. It’s a great village for that.

“The shop here was flooded and I was president of the golf club at the time and it was flooded.

“Then the worst thing in the world, my house got flooded as well.

The bridge is a landmark on a visit to Ballater — Ballater Bridge a year after the serious flooding of 2015 brought misery to the village and surrounding areas. Image: Kenny Elrick.

“The shop was shut for 12 weeks. The day after the flooding, 30-odd members went in and ripped all the carpets out to give them a chance to dry.

“My house took about six or seven months [to fix]. I had to move about in different places.

“I think I was at four locations in the village and different holiday houses to try to get somewhere to stay until the house got fixed.

The community in Ballater and volunteer groups banded together to build a flood defence. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson.

“I’m also a member of the local Charitable Chiels group. They all got together and raised money for helping people who didn’t have any insurance.

“I think about £40,000 came in, just like that overnight, and we dished that out to people that didn’t have any money at all for getting themselves back up on their feet because a lot of people weren’t insured.”

John Sinclair likes the village for its shops, pubs, restaurants and surrounding scenery. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson.

People helped each other in Ballater

“We also did removals; if someone emptied out their house we used to go in and take all the stuff out of the house and get it ready for skips and things like that.

“Then of course we had to focus on the shop getting done as well.

“So that’s when you saw a real community. The cash coming in, but not only that, you had people helping each other. It was fantastic.”

a newspaper cutting of the effort in Ballater to recover from Storm Frank — How the Evening Express followed the story of flooding and subsequent rebuilding.

5. Local shops

“You’ve got all these local shops on your doorstep, you don’t have to move far to get anything.

“It’s got all you need. Ballater has a supermarket, a butcher, a baker. You’ve got a fish van that comes twice a week.

“You don’t have to go anywhere for anything.”

And is it also a bonus because there is so much local produce on offer?

“Correct, yes, exactly,” said John. “We know ourselves, we produce all local stuff. It’s all from local farms we buy.

A group of gamekeepers teamed up with South Grampian Wildfire Group to remove tonnes of debris from the River Dee at Ballater after Storm Frank.

“It’s a great place for tourists to come as well. Ballater is quite touristy. For eight months it’s really, really busy and you’ve got four months when it’s quiet again.

“But again, everyone rallies around and helps each other in the wintertime as well.”

Is Ballater a good place to do the Christmas shopping?

“Yes, well, I know one or two people who do all their Christmas shopping in the village.

“You’ve got Wilkies here, you’ve got Brook Taverner, they also sell clothing.

“Then there’s the professional shop at the golf club, they sell stuff as well, so yes, you would manage to do your whole Christmas shopping in Ballater, no problem.”