'This is an extraordinary Scottish beach and bay'

Where is it?

Buckie and the surrounding area in the north-east coast of Scotland, including Portknockie, Findochty (pictured above) and Cullen.

Why do you go there?

My dad grew up in Buckie and I visited my grandparents there up until they died.

How often do you go?

We used to visit a few times a year. I haven’t been for a couple of years now but would love to get up again soon.

How did you discover it?

I’ve been visiting Buckie and the surrounding area my whole life. We fairly recently discovered the campsite at Sandend and stayed there a few times. An extraordinary beach and bay.

What’s your favourite memory?

So many. The beach at Buckie is pebbly not sandy and I remember walking it with my grandparents, Nellie and Albert, looking for the prettiest stone. I usually had a bucket’s worth to take home for my collection every trip.

I remember getting into bed with my granny in the morning while she enthusiastically asked questions about the teddy I had brought as if it was a real animal. We’d also play The Minister’s Cat relentlessly until my granda was back with the morning paper.

My granda was a fisherman. Buckie and its surrounding areas have the best fish. My granny used to send my granda to the shed to cook the fish so it wouldn’t stink out the kitchen. She also made the tastiest Cullen skink - a recipe handed down that I still use today.

Kirsty Stuart (Image: free)

Who do you take?

On more recent trips my two boys would come up and visit my granny in the nursing home she was in.

They always amazed me at their capacity to sit with an old woman and just get cuddled for a couple of hours, all the while not really understanding what she was saying because of her thick Doric accent.

What do you take?

If we’re heading to Sandend, all our camping gear plus kites for the huge beach and wetsuits and boogie boards for the freezing North Sea.

What do you leave behind?

I love camping for the ability to leave technology at home and get back to basics. Everything takes a little longer when camping and I love that.

I enjoy the simple morning routine of brewing some coffee and sitting outside with my husband - weather permitting - while the boys play, meet friends and generally get very muddy very quickly.

Sum it up in five words.

Rugged. Barren. Beautiful. Quiet. Cold.

What other travel spot is on your wish list?

We were very lucky to get a trip to Thailand last Christmas. My parents, my sister and her partner, who live in Sydney, came too. Such an extraordinary, beautiful and friendly country, and an incredible trip. We’d love to go back, but also possibly visit Vietnam too. Here’s hoping.

Kirsty Stuart will star as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh from October 24 to November 9. For tickets and more information, visit lyceum.org.uk