Ballater Christmas Market
The Royal Deeside village that sits at the foot of the hills above Balmoral holds its Christmas market each December in a setting in the Cairngorms National Park that very few other Christmas markets anywhere in Britain can match for sheer backdrop.
A handsome Victorian granite village with genuine royal-railway history, a Michelin-recognised restaurant punching well above its size, and enough independent shops and cafes to reward a proper half-day stop on Royal Deeside.
Cottages, B&Bs and hotels near Ballater, Aberdeenshire.
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"The Royal Deeside market town of Banchory hosts its agricultural show each August at the gateway to the Cairngorms, where Aberdeenshire beef and Highland cattle are judged against a backdrop of the Forest of Birse and the River Dee shining in the valley below."
Banchory Show
"The March of the Lonach Highlanders, kilted men with pikes walking the glen, precedes a day of games at Strathdon."
Lonach Highland Gathering
"One of Scotland's most distinctive gatherings, the Lonach sees kilted clansmen march twelve miles carrying pikes before the Highland Games begin at Bellabeg in the upper Don valley."
Lonach Highland and Friendly Society Gathering
"The most famous of the Highland games, with tossing the caber, hill races and massed pipe bands, often attended by royalty."
Braemar Gathering
"Four days of Aberdeenshire artisan food producers, local folk musicians and community spirit in a Royal Deeside village, where the September apple harvest season and the warmth of a rural Scottish gathering make for an unusually nourishing weekend."
Tarland Food and Music Festival
"At Hogmanay locals swing flaming wire cages of fire over their heads down the High Street to burn away the old year."
Stonehaven Fireball Ceremony
"The multicoloured painted houses of Tobermory harbour are strung with lights as local producers set up their Christmas market by the pontoons, coinciding with the lights switch-on that turns this Isle of Mull town into a winter scene that passengers on the Oban ferry can see from the water."
Tobermory Christmas Market
"This small South Lanarkshire market town, known for its remarkable puppet theatre and its unusually well-preserved High Street, lights up for a December winterfest that draws visitors from across the Clyde Valley for community entertainment and a properly Scottish Christmas welcome."
Biggar Winterfest
"Seventy stalls of crafts and local produce take over the scenic centre of this canal-and-cross Cheshire village beside Lymm Cross."
Lymm Makers Market
"Forty local makers and artisan producers fill the medieval village hall and its glebe field in one of Suffolk's most photographed timber-framed villages, with street food trucks and barista coffee outside."
Lavenham Summer Craft and Foodie Festival
"Rare breed sheep fill the market square with sheep racing, shearing and Wensleydale crafts."
Masham Sheep Fair
"A charter sheep fair held every October since 1238 in this south Lincolnshire village."
Corby Glen Sheep Fair