Crovie (pronounced "Crivie") is a single row of cottages wedged between cliff and sea on the Moray Firth coast of Aberdeenshire. Once a busy fishing village, it is now almost entirely holiday homes — but the setting is extraordinary and the peace absolute.
There is no road into the village itself; you park at one end and walk. The cottages face directly onto the shore, close enough to feel the spray in a storm. In summer the bay produces spectacular sunsets; in winter the Northern Lights are sometimes visible. Dolphins are regularly seen offshore, and you may spot minke whales from a boat.
Just east of the village, Troup Head is an RSPB reserve with one of mainland Britain's few gannet colonies, along with puffins, guillemots, razorbills, and cormorants. The nearby village of Gardenstown, connected to Crovie by a cliff path, has a small harbour and a pub. A little further east lies Pennan, Crovie's near-twin and famous as the village from the 1983 film Local Hero. On the cliff above Gardenstown, the ruined kirkyard of St John's Church, Gamrie gives a long view across Gamrie Bay.