Photo gallery: the celebrated seafood of Stonehaven, Scotland
Stonehaven’s glory days as a thriving fishing village may be behind it, but the culinary legacy of its past remains. Grab yourself a table with a sea view and tuck in to smoked haddock, award-winning fish and chips or fresh lobster.
Dining on fresh lobster at The Tolbooth Seafood Restaurant, overlooking Stonehaven Harbour. The lobster seasons runs from May until the end of September, but if you’re visiting outside of this period, you can enjoy other local products, like scallops from neighbouring Gourdon, or beef from Aberdeenshire.
The Marine Hotel offers great views over the harbour, not to mention a menu of pub classics that make great use of local ingredients. The friendly hotel is a great starting point for an exploration of the area.
Sea cadets descending the hill from the Stonehaven War Memorial after a ceremony. Stonehaven has a prominent community of sea cadets, who can often be seen around the town.
While Stonehaven Harbour is home to a small fishing fleet, nearby Gourdon Harbour has many more boats, supplying many local restaurants with scallops and other seafood.
With its rough waves, the North Sea remains a dangerous place for local fishermen like Ian Balgowan, who admits it’s harder to make a loving fishing these days. His family’s culinary contribution to the local area goes beyond fishing — in 1992, his daughter Evelyn served up the first deep-fried Mars bar, at the Carron Fish Bar (formerly the Haven Chip Bar).
Gourdon Harbour is home to several curious buildings that mark it out as home to an active fishing fleet. These include the filleting sheds, which here contains boxes used for salmon trading. Fresh fish can be bought here.
Pegged to the wall, scribbled customer orders mount up in the smokehouse in Gourdon Harbour.
In the smokehouse in Gourdon Harbour, fresh filleted haddock waits in line for the smoker.
Breakfast is naturally a fishy affair in Stonehaven. At the Ship Inn Hotel, it’s smoked haddock and scrambled egg alongside a cup of strong coffee.
There are attractive coastal walks from Gourdon Harbour in both directions, and tourists sometimes stop off here to buy fresh fish from recently returned boats.
The menu at the Tolbooth is seasonal and changes regularly. This fine dining restaurant is housed in one of Stonehaven’s oldest buildings, the former Tolbooth, which it shares with a museum of local history.
The Marine Hotel is one of several places in Stonehaven where you can get excellent fish and chips. Other options include The Bay, which has won national awards for its battered haddock.