Catterline is a small (ca. 200 inhabitants) fishing village 15 miles south of Aberdeen, 5 miles south of Stonehaven at the foot of the Grampian Highlands. There is the Creel Inn a very good restaurant with public bar a small church and a primary school where the children in their blue uniforms learn the three R's. Only a couple of miles away and also accessible via a cliff-top path lies Dunnottar Castle, where the Scottish Crown Jewels were once kept and Zeffirelli directed his film of 'Hamlet' starring Mel Gibson.

More than a hundred years ago smuggling by sea was rife in this area so to counteract this the coastguard was stationed in houses built later along the clifftop. 'Smugglers' Bay', with its many tales, is nearby.

Joan Eardley, one of the better known British artists, lived and worked until her death in 1963 in Catterline. Her studio was in No.18, next door but one to the holiday house, and sharing the same wonderful view of the bay below.

Now, as then, there are seals sunning themselves in the bay and myriad seabirds which visit the nearby (2 miles) bird sanctuary in Summer; in Spring and Autumn huge skeins of wildgeese haunt the area with their cry, sometimes even dolphins and whales can be observed near the coast heading North in the mornings and South at evening.

The Coastguard left here long ago, the lighthouse, which may be reached from Catterline by foot, is no longer manned. The lamps are remotely controlled from Edinburgh. Four short flashes - that is the navigation signal of Todhead Lighthouse, which lets the everyone staying at Catterline know that they are 'at home' here.