Rhu-Na-Haven Cottage (Former Staff Quarters), Rhu-Na-Haven, Aboyne

The property comprises a walled garden and potting shed, and a single-storey-and-attic cottage, all designed by Sir Robert Lorimer circa 1911.

The rectangular walled garden is constructed from random granite rubble with rough-faced coping. A gateway is located in the centre of the west wall, with long and short dressings, the walls sweeping down on either side; the decorative iron gate features maple leaf motifs. A piend-roofed potting shed sits centrally on the east wall, featuring a gableted bay with a round-arched opening and a blank panel in the gablehead. The exterior has boarded timber doors and a multi-paned window, along with a small stack projecting from the roof’s pitch. Part-gabled glass houses flank the potting shed on both sides, set on red brick bases. A boarded timber door, flanked by a glass house, is located on the north wall.

Rhu-Na-Haven Cottage, formerly staff quarters, is constructed from coursed, tooled pink-grey granite, finely finished to the margins. It exhibits projecting cills, rounded reveals, long and short dressings and quoins, and overhanging eaves. The west elevation is asymmetrical, with three bays. A lean-to canopy shelters the centre bay, above which is a dormer window. A flat-roofed addition projects forward to the right bay, with a stepped parapet and a three-leaf boarded timber door with glazed panels to the side return. To the left, a gabled bay features a window off-centre on the ground floor and a centred tripartite window in the attic.

The south elevation is also asymmetrical, with a two-leaf boarded timber door flanked by windows. A further boarded timber door is located to the outer right of the ground floor, while a flat-roofed addition projects to the outer left. A rectangular dormer window is centred in the attic.

The east elevation is asymmetrical and four-bayed. A lean-to addition obscures the centre and right bays of the ground floor, with an opening on the left side. A boarded timber door is located on the return, and a piend-roofed boarded timber door with glazed panels breaks the eaves in the attic. A recessed bay is positioned to the outer right, with a flat-roofed addition and a wallhead stack in the southeast angle. A boarded timber door is located on the return, and the right return features irregular fenestration. A bipartite window is situated in the attic.

The north elevation is near-symmetrical across three bays. A bowed bay projects centrally, with a window on the first floor. A two-pane window is located on the return, and a boarded timber door with decorative glazed panels sits on the left return, under an ogee roof. A flanking bay to the right is blank. A tripartite window is set into the ground floor of the flanking bay to the left. The majority of the windows are six-pane timber casements. The roof is now covered with replacement concrete tiles. The granite stacks are coped and break the roof’s pitch, with circular cans, and a small iron ventilator is present on the south ridge. Cast-iron rainwater goods are also a feature. The interior was not inspected in 1999.