Home Report Kemnay

Kemnay is a village of roughly 3900 residents in Aberdeenshire. It sits roughly 16 miles west of Aberdeen, about 5.5 miles southwest of Inverurie, 4 miles west of Kintore, and about 12 miles west of Dyce. The River Don meanders past the village on its western edge. The village is primarily a commuter settlement for residents working in Inverurie, Kintore, Dyce, Westhill and of course the city of Aberdeen.

Kemnay once had an active railway station transporting people and granite from the nearby quarry on the Alford Valley line up until 1950. Today the residents must rely on road and bus transport to get around. The B993 and B994 roads allow for fast travel east to Kintore where they can connect to the A96 trunk road. This in turn allows for connections to Inverurie, Dyce, Aberdeen city centre and the other main towns residents travel to work in, or, for further travel to northern or southern Scotland.

In terms of local amenities, the village has the usual array of local services and independents you would expect of a village of this size. Though for more choice, residents must travel to nearby Inverurie which luckily isn’t that far away. Kemnay is popular with explorers of the wider countryside who stay in numerous guest houses, hotels, and bed and breakfasts within the village. The two pubs are popular with locals and visitors: the Bennachie Lodge and the Burnett Arms Hotel. One of the main historical attractions nearby is Castle Fraser which is only a few miles away to the south. The Castle has one of the largest tower houses in Scotland, with spectacular views of the courtyard, gardens and the peaks of Bennachie. Indeed, Bennachie – on the eastern edge of the Grampian Mountain range – is also a draw for visitors. The distinctive hill with several tops can be seen from miles around. Kemnay golf club is also very welcoming to visitors and locals, and offers a great course for golfers of all levels nestled in the fantastic countryside of the area.

As for local schooling, Kemnay has two primary schools and one secondary school for pupils in the town and nearby. The primary schools are Kemnay Primary School, Alehousewells Primary School, while the secondary school is Kemnay Academy, which had a £14.3 million extension in 2015.