Welcome to Granite City. Home of Marischal College, the second largest granite building in the world
David Welch Botanical Gardens, recommended by Haarkon
During the darker months it seems that motivation can be a little bit harder to muster. The dark, heavy skies of the UK manage to break up at around 10am, only for the light to disappear totally by mid-afternoon. It can be a bit of a mood killer, so there's no wonder why they call in the winter blues. With the aim to keep our creativity levels topped up over winter, myself + Jordan Bunker embraced an opportunity that popped up with Late Rooms' Imprompu Nights campaign.
The idea of having a spontaneous streak - not usually my strong suit - isn't something I'd associate with my current situation, but having been working from home for a solid three weeks I knew Late Rooms' offer of a few days away exploring a new city could be just the ticket. The catch was we wouldn't find out the end destination until we were heading to the train station. Searching out those little pockets of brilliance in cities and small towns across the UK is what we do best, so when we found out we were on our way to Aberdeen, Scotland, we turned to our communities on Instagram and Twitter for help and recommendations.
Late Rooms recently complied a list of the Top 10 UK's best places to visit for a spontaneous gateaway; taking into consideration the quality of hotels, food scene, retail environment, local sights, nightlife and travel connections. We really are spoilt for choice on these islands.
Before we arrived at the affectionately named "Granite City", we knew very little about Aberdeen, but we left feeling uplifted and inspired by the warm of its people, striking architecture and thriving independent scene.
One of the UK's most respected menswear retailers, Kafka
Overshirt by Whistles | Vest by Lavenham | Sweatshirt by Asket | Trouses by Folk | Sneakers by Vans
Find yourself spoilt for choice, but our favourite coffee hideout in Aberdeen was Cult of Coffee
It wasn't the easiest of destinations to get to (although I have been further north), but the city impressed us both immensely. Aberdeen's beautiful architectural design is down to the use of locally quarried granite, which casts a pale grey-ish silver hue across the city. It's a quality which is very unique to the city, something which its locals are very proud of. In fact, because of the granite, I don't think I've seen a more striking sunset in the UK.
Hotel Details
We stayed at the 4* Mercure Aberdeen Caledonian Hotel, with rooms starting from £63 per night. The location was perfect, being five minute's walk from Aberdeen central train station, and within 15 minute's walk from pretty much everything we'd planned to do.
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We caught our train home from Aberdeen before sunrise. But all in the name of spontaneity (and mainly due to some terrible weather conditions in the North East of Scotland), we decided to say on an extra night in Edinburgh...there's worst city's to get stranded in!
Zero degrees means several layers of wool for Jordan Bunker
One of the nicest looking drinking posts you'll come across in the UK, Hyde & Son
Our old faithful, The Milkman. You'll be pushed to find a smaller coffee shop in the city, but what they lack in size they more than make up for in personality, quality and great chat
I prefixed this blog post with the notion of keeping motivated in the colder months, and as myself and JB parted ways on the platform of Edinburgh station I instantly started to inspired and compelled to act on more of my impulses. On the three hour journey back down to Lancashire I scrolled through the photos and videos on my phone (including our first Instagram Live), and looked back fondly on the past four days we'd spend in Scotland.
These moments were already turning into memories, but it was enough to keep my motivation levels high and my new-found spontaneous side well and truly satisfied for the time being.
Additional photography by Jordan Bunker.
We were offered 2-nights accommodation + travel costs to Aberdeen by LateRooms. Your
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What a lovely post. The pictures are phenomenal, the grey skies only make them ever more intriguing. I've yet to discover the joys of Scotland and it's definitely on the bucket list for next year. Can think of nothing better than a good cup of coffee before exploring. You've definitely given me ideas for city breaks next year. All the best.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of Marischal College before, but damn, clearly gotta visit.
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