The Grassic Gibbon Centre is situated in Arbuthnott, in the very heart of the beautiful Mearns countryside, the spiritual home of the Scots novelist James Leslie Mitchell, better known by his pen name Lewis Grassic Gibbon.
The Centre celebrates the life and writings of Grassic Gibbon in a purpose-built, bright, attractive building adjoining the village hall. It stands within two miles of the farm where he spent his boyhood; only yards from the parish school where his talent first flowered and a short distance from nearby Arbuthnott Church where his ashes were laid to rest.
Grassic Gibbon was born in Auchterless in Aberdeenshire in 1901 and moved with his family to the croft of Bloomfield, in Arbuthnott, when he was seven years old. His father spent the rest of his life farming the small croft of Bloomfield, which Gibbon immortalised as Blaewearie in his best-loved novel Sunset Song, part-one of his trilogy A Scots Quair. Sunset Song was a success right from its first publication in 1932 and today after adaptations for TV, radio, theatre and music, it remains as popular being voted Scotland's best Scottish book of all time.
The Centre consists of an exhibition on Lewis Grassic Gibbon, a gift and book shop and a cafe serving home baking. It is iopen between March and October every day from 10am and 4.30pm. It is situated on the B967 accessible from both the A90 and A92.
Opening Times:
March - October, 7 days: 10am - 4.30pm
Closed November - February
