Dunnottar Castle is probably my favourite place in the whole world. 

Sitting on top of a 160ft rock near Stonehaven, the castle was once a fortress of the Earls Marischal, one of the most powerful families in Scotland. It now sits as a stunning ruin. 

During our first stay in Johnshaven in 2016 we had marked it as at the top of our list of places we wanted to visit, and I had watched lots of videos about it in advance, but nothing could prepare me for just how utterly breathtaking that first sight of the medieval ruins were. 

All those years ago, we arrived at 8.00am on a glorious day and sat on the clifftop opposite, which at the time didn’t have any fencing (there are now wooden fences around the cliff edges). As I sat and looked at the view (and feeling a little emotional at how beautiful everything was), The Bloke asked me what I was thinking, so I told him that we could forget the rest of the holiday as I was staying here for the rest of the week. It was there that The Bloke then proposed, and to this day it remains one of the best moments of my life. Even eight years later, my mind is still blown at the fact that I was proposed to in front of a medieval castle on a clifftop in Scotland. 

The boy done good. And clearly I’m still not bored of talking about it.

The last time we visited was in 2018, so you can imagine that I was chomping at the bit to go back and it was the first place we went to after we arrived and settled in at our little cottage in Johnshaven. 

We actually went twice during the week, both at 5.30am for the purpose of seeing a sunrise. On the first visit it was cold and windy, and the heavy cloud meant that we couldn’t see a sunrise, but it was still as beautiful as I remembered. As I sat on the clifftop I saw a young couple on the opposite side, and it was clear that the young man was just about to propose. He got down on one knee and she obviously said yes.

After a while we walked over to the other clifftop and congratulated them. I realised that the new bride-to-be must have known something – she was wearing a skirt and full make-up and they had a professional photographer with them at 6.30am on a cold morning (whereas my Bloke had to deal with me wearing sweatpants and our photographs afterwards were shaky selfies with puffy eyes and snot as I cried a lot).

The second time we visited two days later, we got the sunrise… and then some. We were stood on the cliff at 5.15am, armed with warm coats, a blanket, The Bloke’s entire camera equipment and fully charged phones, and it didn’t disappoint. 

Check this out. 

And for about half-an-hour, we were the only people there – this breathtaking, glorious, stunning place felt like ours. 

I think it might have been my favourite moment this year.

Want to visit Dunnottar Castle? 

Find out everything you need to know on the Dunnottar Castle website here.