Midway on its journey to the sea from its source above Braemar the River Dee passes through the beautiful are of Mid-Deeside where the eastern fringes of the Highlands blend into forested hills and rolling farmland. It is an area rich in history and culture and noted for its wide and diverse range of activities and places of interest.

Visitors from all over the world come to the Aboyne Highland Games, held at The Green in August and during the months of July and August Aboyne is home to the Royal Deeside Festival featuring music, art, drama, films and celebrities. Accommodation for visitors includes several hotels, guesthouses , and a number of homes which offer bed & breakfast. In the countryside around the village are many self-catering cottages and chalets, a number of farmhouses where visitors are welcome, pleasant caravan parks and camping facilities.
 
 

Tarland

Tarland is a quiet country village with aparticularly fine central square. Bronze-age interments have indicated that it has been a place of some importance for many centuries. The armorial bearings on the Aberdeen Arms Hotel belong to the Gordons of Haddo who had the surrounding lands of Cromar as part of their vast estate.

Kincardine O'Neil is the oldest surviving village on Royal Deeside, having been established at the crossing of two ancient routes, linking north/south and east/west. The importance of this led to the first bridge over the Dee being built in the early 13th century and in 1233 a hospice for travellers was erected at or near the site of the ruined Kirk. An interesting feature of the present village is the width of the main street, planned to enable the easy turning of carriages.

The present village was established when the Royal Deeside Railway line was extended from Banchory and the station, now converted into a dwelling house, was the highest on the line. There was an older centre of population to the west, Burnside, which was on the old Drove Road from the North and linking up with Kincardine O'Neil. Folklore has it that Macbeth was killed near Lumphanan and his head taken to Kincardine O'Neil on a golden platter.