Crovie
Earlier this month, I paid a visit to Crovie. It’s been on my destination list for a while now, as I can see it every time I visit my family in Whitehills.
Crovie is located about 25 miles North of Aberdeen, Scotland, on the Moray Firth coast and is basically a single row of houses clinging to the bottom of a cliff, feet from the sea. There’s a single, steep, road down which, at points, reaches 17%. Residents leave their cars at the end of the village, as the seafront isn’t wide enough for any vehicles. Visitors are recommended to park in a small parking area at the top on the road and walk down, for obvious reasons!
The village dates date to the 1700s when crofters were moved off the land by landowners to make way for sheep. The residents became fishermen, initially for the landowner, and subsequently using their own boats. Many of the buildings are constructed with their gable ends onto the sea to reduce the effects of the sea and the weather. The fishing industry declined to the 20th century, and the great storm of 1953 destroyed many of their boats and damaged a number of the buildings.
Today, Crovie is mainly holiday homes, with only a small number of permanent residents.
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