Aberdeenshire Farming Museum
Relive the story of our famous farming past in the beautiful surroundings of Aden Country Park. Visit the delightful country park location with children's play area and woodland walks.
Start at the unique, semi-circular home farm steading. Visit Hareshowe, a working farm set in the 1950s and see the reconstructed interior of the Horseman's House. We also have a theatre available for booking.
Aberdeenshire Farming Museum has been approved as a Recognised Collection of National Significance by Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS). The aim of the scheme is to celebrate, promote and invest in the nationally significant museum and gallery collections around Scotland.
The museum is running two exhibits; Food, Folk and Farm and The Royal Observer Corps.
Food, Folk and Farming
Visit us and view a specially made film, hear about the food industry in the north east and have a look at some interesting objects from our collections.
As part of an ongoing consultation process we are asking our visiting public if our exhibits tell the stories you want to hear about food, folk and farming.
Your comments will help to improve our museum. Please come along and tell us what you think.
The Royal Observer Corps
This exhibition is about the secret role that many Aberdeenshire farmers played in the Cold War. In 1947 political conditions between the communist state of the USSR and the countries of the west were at a difficult stage. There was the real fear that there could be a nuclear war and the political conflict became called the Cold War.
As a result the government reformed the Royal Observer Corp and many people from the farming community joined up. Initially they concentrated on aircraft reporting and tracking but in 1955 the corps started to take on a new role.
Due to improvements in ground radar fighter command no longer needed plane spotting but there was a real need for recording the dropping of nuclear bombs and the power of the bombs.
This role was given to the corps directed by air defence operations centres and other key military establishments.
Across the UK underground monitoring posts were created and 31 group controls (operations rooms) were staffed by 17,500 part time volunteers.
The story of what the corps did in this period and what it was like to be part of this secret line of defence is told in this exhibition.