Last year on our departure (we always stay in Aberdeen "Northeast Coast") we went from Aberdeen, drove to Durham, England stayed a day there, then drove to York and spent 2 days there before heading to Manchester for our departure flight....you could always fly to Glasgow, tour Scotland....and rail south to London. Aberdeenshire has a HUGE ammount of castles within a small area. They even have a package I think it was 15 pounds for as many castles as you can cram in a 3 day pass (think it was 12 castles in all to choose from) The Bullars of Buchan is a great see as well.