Buchan means "the land at the bend of the ocean" - a fitting name for Scotland's most north easterly region where the North Sea meets the Moray Firth. Buchan is a rich farming land of rolling fields and big, open skies, but prior to the 18th century it was a sparsely inhaibited area of moors and bogs.

The first inland villages in Buchan were built after 1750 when local landowners began a process of farm and estate improvements. Most of the present villages were created bteween 1750 and 1850 to provide housing and manufacturing employment for displaced country folk and to provide services to farmers.

New Pitsligo to the north west was founded in 1787 and gained a national reputation for lacemaking during the 19th century. New Pitsligo lace was a greta favourite of Queen Victoria and the lacemaking tradition continues on a smaller scale in the village.

Commercially worked peatlands stretch out eastwards from New Pitsligo as far as the wooded Vale of Strichen. Nestling under the brow of Mormond Hill we come to New Leeds, a village of 70 souls, originally established to rival its Yorkshire namesake as a textile kingdom.