Aberdeen
How about a city with two medieval colleges and castles, two picturesque rivers and miles of sandy beach?
On a sunny day, Aberdeen’s granite buildings sparkle as the light glints off specks of mica in the stone. Walk or cycle beside the city’s long sands from the old fishing village of Footdee to the basking seals at Donmouth nature reserve. There are several places to hire bikes and 150 miles of Aberdeenshire coastline.
Aberdeen Art Gallery reopened after refurbishment in 2019. Photograph: Iain Masterton/Alamy
Of the county’s 263 castles, ruined Dunnottar on its craggy peninsula in the North Sea is one of the most dramatic (adult £8, child £4). The best way to get there is to walk a couple of miles along the cliffs from the market town of Stonehaven, 20 minutes by train from Aberdeen. You can walk back to Stonehaven through Dunnottar Woods, past an old shell house and aristocratic bathing place. Afterwards, dodge the gulls as you eat award-winning fish and chips
The team found direct evidence they were used during childbirth as they had cervico-vaginal fluid proteins inside a 15th century birthing girdle parchment.