Aberdeen Travel Forum

Hello! My husband and I are visiting Aberdeen in about two weeks. We noticed there's a town called "Alford" which is my husband's surname. We wanted to visit, perhaps hire a car and drive there, but wanted to check to see if it was worth spending part of the two days we'll be there. Thanks very much for your help.

If you put Alford and Aberdeen into

http://www.theaa.com/route-planner/index.jsp?database=B

you will not only see where it is you will get driving route and estimated timings (printable).

Alford, Aberdeenshire is about 26 miles away, drive time around an hour.

Make sure you choose the right Alford from the drop-down menu! There are lots in the UK. 'Al' derives from the Saxon word for 'old' and ford is obvious.........so there are lots of places named after 'the old ford'.

Here's Alford's community website:

http://www.alford.org.uk/

and a bit of info about it:

http://www.scotland.org.uk/guide/Aberdeen_Alford

One of my husband's family names is Alford. That branch originally came to Monmouthshire from Somerset in England.
Some American friends who had no living relatives here once did a UK tour basing their itinerary on places with one of their family names. They did not get to see them all but had a great trip and we met them in three different places with the same name (Newton).

Thanks very much for the replies. One more question: We're thinking about traveling on to Balmoral Castle to take in the sights there. We've located it on the map, but wondered what kind of roads we will encounter on the journey. This will be our first driving experience in Scotland (we're from Texas.) Thank you thank you thank you!!!

I don't really know what your roads are like in Texas - perhaps wider and staighter than the A93 which will take you from Aberdeen to Balmoral.
Do, as soon as you arrive, go to a good bookshop or tourist office and get good local maps of the area - my sister has lived in the States for over 40 years and gets all their maps for trips home from AAA - but they are not as good as our Ordnance Survey Maps.
You should find driving in that area rather pleasant. We stayed near Aboyne which is on your route to Balmoral and it was a lovely drive. Have a good trip.

UK roads may be less straight and narrower than in the US, I don't know, but their surfaces are fine and there is no reason for you to be concerned. We are not talking dirt tracks!

Just tailor your driving to the prevailing road conditions. If you are on a narrow and winding country lane then drive more slowly and defensively....preferably with the window open so you can hear oncoming traffic (hedges can be high).

Familiarise yourselves with driving laws, signage and regulations before you start out. You will find everything you need here:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/index.htm

Getting the OS (Ordnance Survey) maps is a very good idea.....they show a vast amount of detail. You can buy them online (or when you arrive, of course) and get an idea of what they look like here:

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/getamap/

Click the pink button, put in 'Alford' and you will get the relevant OS mapping for the area.

You can play for hours on that link! :-))