Cairngorms village guide
Dinnet
Use Dinnet as a base for the distinct trails of Muir of Dinnet, a former-railway walk, instructor-led gliding and the village's hotel bar and restaurant.
- Burn O'Vat
- 2.5 miles / about 1 hour on foot from Dinnet
- Deeside Way
- 11 miles / about 3.5 hours, Aboyne to Ballater
- Village services
- No village shop; find groceries in Aboyne or Ballater
The Fox verdict
A village base for reserve trails, gliding and the Deeside Way
Dinnet sits on the A93 at the eastern gateway to the Cairngorms National Park, beside a reserve of woodland, heath, raised bog, lochs and the meltwater-carved Vat.
Build a visit around the reserve's distinct trails, the former-railway Deeside Way and a two-seat trial flight; Loch Kinord Hotel provides the village's bar and dining option.
Where to go
Places in Dinnet
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Vat Trail
A woodland route into a granite cauldron cut by glacial meltwater about 20,000 years ago. The lower out-and-back has a firm surface and one moderate slope; the circular option adds steep and narrow sections.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Suggested planner allocation: 60 minutes
- Locality
- Burn O'Vat, Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve
- Access
- Entry uses uneven, slippery stepping stones.
Deeside Way: Aboyne to Ballater
A former-railway route with gentle gradients, heather and birch, mountain glimpses, the Cambus o' May suspension bridge and Tullich Kirkyard.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: About 3.5 hours for the full Aboyne-Ballater route
- Locality
- Passing Dinnet between Aboyne and Ballater
- Access
- The route follows gentle former-railway gradients.
Burn O'Vat Visitor Centre
The reserve visitor centre has hands-on displays and a model; its grounds have toilets, two wheelchair-accessible picnic benches and cycle racks.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Suggested planner allocation: 30 minutes
- Locality
- Burn O'Vat, 2.5 miles/about one hour on foot from Dinnet
- Access
- Visitors can drive to the main car park; the walk from Dinnet follows the B9119, which has no roadside pavement.
Food & drink
1 placeLoch Kinord Hotel
A family-owned, 22-room country-inn-style hotel with a one-AA-rosette restaurant, bar meals and a lounge bar carrying a wide malt-whisky selection.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Suggested planner allocation: 60 minutes
- Locality
- Dinnet
- Access
- Advance contact is prudent when planning dinner at the hotel.
Walks & outdoors
2 placesParkin's Moss trail
A raised-bog walk using gravel, earth and boardwalk.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Suggested planner allocation: 60 minutes
- Locality
- Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve
- Access
- The route has roots, short steep slopes and a road crossing.
Loch Kinord circuit, Muir of Dinnet
A circular woodland route with views across Loch Kinord.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Suggested planner allocation: 120 minutes
- Locality
- Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve
- Access
- The path is mostly firm but narrow and rooty, with muddy patches after rain.
History & heritage
1 placeLittle Ord Trail
An uneven woodland route past a crannog and the ninth-century Kinord Cross, a kite-shaped Pictish slab with an interlace-filled relief cross.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Suggested planner allocation: 75 minutes
- Locality
- Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve
- Access
- The route has two gates, occasional seats and a road crossing.
Things to do
1 placeDeeside Gliding Club
The club offers two-seat trial flights with an instructor and has a simulator for bad-weather teaching.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Suggested planner allocation: 90 minutes
- Locality
- Aboyne Airfield, Dinnet
- Access
- The simulator is used for bad-weather teaching.
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Three ways to explore Dinnet
Signature outings
Step into the Vat
The Vat Trail enters a granite cauldron cut by glacial meltwater about 20,000 years ago; the final approach uses uneven, slippery stepping stones.
Find the Kinord Cross
The Little Ord Trail passes a crannog and the ninth-century Kinord Cross, whose relief cross is filled with interlace.
Use the verified village dining stop
The Holly Tree at Loch Kinord Hotel is Dinnet's bar and dining venue, with a one-AA-rosette restaurant and a lounge bar carrying a wide malt-whisky selection.
The village story
Dinnet, from airfield to ancient stones
The locked article moves from gliding and village services into the reserve, former railway, long history and practical visitor information.
Flight above Royal Deeside
Gliders lift off from Aboyne Airfield, which sits at Dinnet rather than at Aboyne, launched by aerotow from the Deeside Gliding Club, with views over Royal Deeside and the Cairngorms. The club runs two-seat trial flights with an instructor and keeps a simulator for the days when the weather grounds everyone else.
The village sits on the A93, the Aberdeen to Ballater road, in the Dee valley at the eastern gateway to the Cairngorms National Park. The Loch Kinord Hotel has a restaurant and bar: a family-run country inn of twenty-two rooms, whose bar is known as The Holly Tree, with a lounge bar carrying a wide range of malt whisky. The restaurant holds one AA rosette and cooks traditional Scottish and international dishes from local meat, game, fish and seasonal vegetables. Andrew and Jenny run it. Dinner can be limited, so it is worth calling ahead.
A village base on the A93
Dinnet has no shop of its own; for groceries you are looking at Aboyne or Ballater, both about five miles off. Aboyne has a large green, cafés and the Boat Inn; Ballater has independent shops and cafés and its Victorian and royal connections.
What draws people to Dinnet lies across the B9119, which turns north out of the village towards the Muir of Dinnet reserve. The visitor centre at Burn O'Vat is 2.5 miles away, about an hour on foot; the B9119 has no pavement, and visitors can drive to the main car park and walk from there. The Vat itself is a granite cauldron cut by glacial meltwater around 20,000 years ago; the way in crosses uneven stepping stones and can be slippery.
Into Muir of Dinnet
There are gentler routes. The Loch Kinord trail circles the water on a mostly firm but rooty path that turns muddy after rain. The Little Ord trail passes a crannog and the Kinord Cross, a ninth-century Pictish slab carved with an interlaced cross. Parkin's Moss crosses raised bog on boardwalk. Dogs should be kept on a short lead near the lochs between April and July.
The Deeside Way runs through the village along the bed of the old railway, which closed in 1966. West towards Ballater it is eleven miles of gentle former-railway gradient through heather and birch, past the Cambus o' May suspension bridge and Tullich kirkyard, the mountains showing more as you go. The former Dinnet station still stands, now the Dinnet Estate office.
Old routes, stones and stories
The ground here has been worked and fought over for a long time. Two Iron Age settlements at Old Kinord left nine house stances and three souterrains. In 1335 the Battle of Culblean was fought beside Loch Davan, where Sir Andrew de Moray defeated the Earl of Strathbogie after the Earl tried to seize the royal family at Kildrummy. In 1648 the outlaw Gilderoy Macgregor hid stolen cattle in the Vat gorge; he was caught and hanged ten years later. At Black Moss, diatomite was mined from 1876 to make dynamite, paints and pigments until the work stopped in 1919.
Dinnet Old Kirk, a small granite Gothic church with crow-stepped gables and a Celtic-cross finial, was built in 1875 for £700 as a chapel of ease to Aboyne. It has since been decommissioned and converted towards living in; its pews went to Aboyne Parish Church, and the initials of its benefactor, Sir William Cunliffe Brooks, are cut into a gatepier.
Practical Dinnet
Beside the paths from the village car park there is a children's play park, and the reserve grounds have toilets, picnic benches and cycle racks. Kinord Hall takes bookings for local events. The nearest station is at Insch, some way off on the Aberdeen to Inverness line, and the Stagecoach Bluebird 201 stops at Dinnet Crossroads on its way between Aberdeen, Aboyne and Ballater.
One regional guide describes the woods around the reserve as some of Deeside's prettiest, and "a loch clothed in water lilies."
Stay around Cairngorms
Make a longer stay of it
Travel Fox holiday homes around Cairngorms, linked directly to their property pages.
A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- The Vat Trail — nature.scot statutory register or public authority
- Parkin's Moss trail — geograph.org.uk other published source
- Little Ord Trail — nature.scot statutory register or public authority
- Loch Kinord circuit, Muir of Dinnet — walkhighlands.co.uk other published source
- Deeside Way: Aboyne to Ballater — deesideway.org operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Burn O'Vat Visitor Centre — publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- Loch Kinord Hotel — kinord.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Deeside Gliding Club — visitabdn.com operator, sector body or destination organisation