Place of the week Macduff

Macduff lies on the North East coast of Scotland about twenty miles west of the fishing town of Fraserborough. Macduff has a lesser known neighbour of Banff, which is situated across the bay to the West of Macduff.



Macduff harbour

As You come down into Macduff from the East you get a sense clostraphobia as the tall tenament type building close in around you as you descent the long steep hill that makes up Skene St.With the parked cars on the right you feel as if the ascending traffic has to invite you to pass and then descent to the harbour and shipyard below. The dark foreboding sense is short lived. As you left at the bottom of the hill and greeted with the harbour to your right, showing what Macduff is all about. The brightly coloured fishing boats great you with a sparkle of colour and the harbour gives you an instant invitation to stop and wander around. Further on at the outer harbour basin, appears to be half a Ledo. The harbour wall has been white washed and with benches to relax on, you get the feeling that this is not just a working harbour but a place to relax, have a holiday, enjoy, even chill out.
Facing out onto the North Sea there's hotels and pubs aplenty.In amongst the pubs and hotels is a ships chandlers, adding to the nautical atmosphere of this delightful town. As one travels West out of the harbour area, that industrial feel comes back, suddenly the local bus garage appears on the right, and more ship repair workshops, both overlooking the sparkling Banff Bay, you cant help but feel,is this a mistake, should they have relocated these, or is that what Banff is all about, work and play side by side.

Banff and Macduff seem to go together like Hansel and Gretal or Husband and wife. in fact one does not seem to exist with out the other. They seem to compliment each other. banff is a popular holiday resort with a caravan parks in the town and a large park to the West of the town at Banff Links caravan Park, where there is a stunning beach stretching away to the West. The two are separated by the River Deveron and Banff bay. the river is noted for its good salmon and trout fishing.The Harbour at Macduff boats a large Fishing harbour and a shipyard where there is a thriving boat building and maintenance facility that is of a modern standard, which allows it to compete well in the current market place. The harbour at Macduff was completed in 1760 at that time the village was known at Doune. The local land owning family name was Duff, and in 1783 the town became known as Macduff.


Duff House National gallery Banff.

Banff and Macduff area is also renowned for its whisky making.Glen Deveron Single malt comes from the Macduff Distillary, which is exported all over the world.Another export of Macduff is the shell fish caught in the waters off Aberdeenshire and landed at Macduff, where they are processed by the Macduff shellfish company.


Some of the delicious shellfish products from the Beaton family run Macduff Shellfish company.
close by are several places of interest, such as Portsoy, where the harbour dates back to the 14th century,Cullen not from here is another place which boats a picturesque little harbour as well as a fantastic beach at 3 miles long giving you plenty of room to stroll or what ever takes your fancy.And what of Macduffs future. its the sea that will sustain the town, with the prawn industry opening up, two new purpose built boats have been built at the shipyard, and further orders in the pipeline, things are looking good, and with whisky sails up in the far east, Macduffs distillary is fairing well.



Fishing Boats undergoing annual maintenance at the Macduff shipyard.



Rough day off Macduff