If you are looking for a holiday that embraces nature, quirky accommodation and outstanding natural beauty, where kids and dogs are welcome, this is for you.
We had a family room for a week in August. There are two of these downstairs in the old lighthouse keepers house. Both rooms have their own bathroom. The accommodation is basic as it's a hostel, but its clean and fun as it's quirky, you can see the lighthouse from the back windows and are on the dunes.
The first day we went immediately to the sea, 5 minutes and saw 4 seals, this continued, every time. The children 11and 7 couldn't believe their luck, we saw a seal pup on the beach and an adult seal on the lighthouse platform, who had missed the tide.
The dunes were covered with wild pansies, and at night we sat there watching the rabbits, diving into burrows before nightfall.
There are loads of second world war, bunkers to explore, within minutes.
We saw frogs and toads, bats circle the hostel at night, we also saw foxes and loads of birds of prey, including sparrow hawks that we watched from the garden diving for their supper.
The children swan and learned to surf, we bought a dingy it was fabulous!
Rob the owner, was there any time we needed him, a lovely chap, extremely knowledgeable about the area and happy to help in any way. As soon as he realised that our children loved wildlife, he can over anytime he had something to share.
Once to tell us that the seals were howling on the beach, so we took a glass of wine and sat outside to listen to them, sitting at the picnic table, another time it was to see the bats.
This sounds like there was nothing else but the beach, but there was so much else.
Go to Gardenstown and pick buckets of sea washed glass off the beach, catch fish, shrimps and hermit crabs.
On our way back ( 11 hour drive ) we asked our children, how did it compare to all our holidays in Greece etc, they were categoric this one was the best ever!

Dogs are allowed on all beaches, only one asked you to keep to one side, and that was the best side!

The road to the hostel is wild and as some huge potholes, but Rob drives a tiny car, so it is manageable!

There is a huge Tesco within a few miles, so even though you are in the wilds, there is somewhere to get supplies. Though come with the basics and anything special, no M&S or Waitrose.

No where to eat out really but a good chippy not too far away, so bring your dine in for £10.00 with you and enjoy it with the seals howling in the distance and dine outside by the light of your own lighthouse!

We'll be back as soon as we can!

The hostel/B&B is in a very cool location, surrounded by the coastal nature! Very friendly place for a weekend with great walking on the beautiful beach with the lighthouse in the middle of the sea (amazing on the night!) !...just at half hour from Aberdeen!

Stayed here one night to visit the nearby RSPB site. Excellent hostel accomodation in a stunning beach location. The Bird watching is excellent too. Hostel was warm and cosy and the owners was very welcoming and helpful.

Rob made us feel very welcome and even gave us some of their own milk when we realised that we'd not got any with our groceries. Importantly, he was not intrusive or fussy, just helpful and friendly.
The inside was warm, clean and spacious, don't be put off by the aging exterior, i understand that there is an ongoing programme of renovation (have you thought of using volunteers?), this will be a huge job and quite rightly they have started by providing a warm clean interior, ie bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchen.
The location is superb, perhaps only spoiled by the large amounts of dog mess on the path to the beach: i know a birder from Strathbeg exercises his dog there, could a bin be provided? The best way to describe it is to say that it was the exact opposite of the previous place we stayed, which on the outside appeared amazing but ultimately was a huge disappointment. I loved the place, would definitely recommend and hope to revisit Rattray again.