Colony Trail
A relatively easy walk, although there are some steeper sections and uneven stretches. It passes through attractive open woodland.
This walk gives attractive views of the Mither Tap and Millstone Hill, but more importantly remains of the colonists settlements and way of life. In the early 19th century , Bennachie was a Commonty where anyone living around the slopes had the right to graze livestock, cut peats wood, stone and heather. The first colonist arrived in 1825 and by 1850 there were about 60 people living in the area just north of the Clachie Burn. Toil and sweat turned areas of moorland and heather into more productive land surrounded by stone dykes. Life for the colonists was tough, no more than a subsistence existance.
In 1859, the Court of Session in Edinburgh approved the Division of the Commonty and Colonists discovered they had no right to live in the houses they had built or cultivate the land.
Features to note
· Esson's Croft - home of George Esson, the last of the colonists. Fields are reverting to original vegetation
· Cairn Coutie - ruins of a colony house
· Shepherd's Lodge Well - house ruins and the well
· Quarry - source of stone for building
· Gouk Stone - arrival of the cuckoo on this stone signified the start of spring to the colonists. Look for the hatching cuckoo egg on the adjacent wall and decipher the writing on the wall
· Stack Yard - circular stone foundation on which straw or hay was stacked
· Boundary Stone - marks estate boundaries
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