Living history

... went over to Aden Country Park today for the New Aberdour Horse Show, after a while I left Johanna & her pal watching the horses and walked across to to the Aberdeenshire Farming Museum. Set in the magnificent former stable block of Aden House, this great museum covers the history of farming in Aberdeenshire and in addition to the actual museum includes Hareshowe, a complete 1950s farm.

Hareshowe was owned by the Barron family from the 1930s till 1990 and in 1990/91 the entire farmstead was dismantled stone by stone and moved lock, stock & barrel the 15km from its original location near New Deer to a site within the park! The aim was to preserve an example of a typical small Buchan farm. The full story of this amazing move is told in a film they show at the museum.

I have visited the farm many times and always found it interesting but today, I consider myself extremely privileged in that Mrs. Margaret Barron (pictured) was on-site and it was great to be able to see her collection of photos documenting the relocation and talk to her about the farm then and now. What a great lady.

For anyone visiting Aberdeenshire, I recommend a trip to Aden Country Park. It is near Mintlaw and admission to the park and farm and farming museum is free.

If anyone is interested, I'm posting some more shots from today here