GRAMPIAN is the shoulder of Scotland, vigorously thrust out into the North Sea, a big triangle of Scotland providing everything for the ideal holiday. Except crowds.

The coast is a turning point on the map of Scotland, guarding land that has been tilled since the Stone Age. It watches over a land of pride and promise, home to a people whose aspirations down the centuries have created strong identity and entrepreneurial spirit. This Land by the sea creates a perspective of enormous skies filling the horizon. Suddenly there is land no more, just the last field chopped off a little beyond the next fence.

Not that you're alone all the time, for tiny villages suddenly spring forth, places like Gardenstown and Crovie (pronounced Crivvy), delightfully built gable-end on to the ocean. One of them, Pennan, found fame as the location for the film Local Hero. And yes, you can make a call from that phone box, just as Burt Lancaster did.

Clifftop castles, beaches for surfing, yacht chandlers and sea angling charters draw visitors annually to what is rightly acclaimed as one of the best stretches of coast anywhere in Britain. Clean and uncrowded, these vast strands and craggy settings entice return visits. Those who savour cliff-sided Dunnottar Castle can see more like it, such as Slains at Cruden Bay or the less extensive but equally rewarding Findlater near Cullen - and wonder at how folk lived centuries ago high above the salt spray.

What Life is Like Here Things to See and Do Your Day Out Essential Walking