Well, not quite the vampiric Count himself but the next best thing — the man whose imagination spawned the Lord of the Undead!
Dracula author Bram Stoker, above, was a guest at The Garden Arms in July, 1896, the year before his Gothic masterpiece was published.
Stoker’s great-grand nephew Dacre Stoker, who manages the Bram Stoker estate, said: “There is a very good chance that a few pages of his famous novel were written there.”
Dacre, visited The Garden Arms in April 2019 while promoting his own prequel (Dracul) to Dracula. He said: “I visited this lovely hotel myself. It was a great honour to make a presentation about Bram and his writing at a location where he actually stayed.”
Bram Stoker first came to Aberdeenshire in 1893 and continued to visit for best part of 20 years until his death in 1912. The Count’s creator is known to have taken inspiration for Dracula from Slains Castle at Cruden Bay. His 1902 novel, The Mystery of the Sea, references Garden[s]town.
To hear more about Bram’s time at The Garden Arms, listen to BBC Radio presenter Roberto Peronne’s interview with Derek (starts 1:12).
If you’re at all nervous about staying, we can supply a bulb of garlic to ward off the Count…
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
5pm – 10pm
CLOSED
5pm – 10pm
5pm – 10am
5pm – 12am
1pm – 12am
1pm – 10pm
Monday:
Tuesday:
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Sunday:
69 Main Street
Gardenstown
Banff
AB45 3YP
Mon: 5pm – 10pm
Tue: CLOSED
Wed: 5pm – 10pm
Thu: 5pm – 10pm
Fri: 5pm – 12am
Sat: 1pm – 12am
Sun: 1pm – 10pm
Mon: CLOSED
Tue: CLOSED
Wed: 5pm – 7:30pm
Thu: 5pm – 7:30pm
Fri: 5pm – 8pm
Sat: 5pm – 8pm
Sun: 5pm – 8pm
69 Main Street
Gardenstown
Banff
AB45 3YP