Aberdeen is Scotland’s third largest city. While many of its inhabitants are employed in the oil and gas industries, the area enjoys a broad-based economy, with two universities and a thriving rural sector.

Yet all most people know about this fine city is that the majority of its buildings are made from granite, and Bill Forsyth's BAFTA-winning movie, Local Hero, was set nearby. So here are five of the most important things to know about the city dubbed 'The Granite City'.

1. Best Scottish city

Independent polls frequently vote Aberdeen the best Scottish city in which to live. In 2012 it came third in a PricewaterhouseCoopers poll to find the happiest city in the UK, scoring highly on jobs, income, health and average commuting time to work, as well as proximity to the countryside.

2. £1 million Aberdeen

Almost half the houses that sold for more than £1 million in Scotland in 2014 were located in and around Aberdeen. The area saw 30 such sales, including the most expensive house sold in Scotland at just over £3 million. 

3. Miles of sandy shores

Aberdeenshire has more than 200km of unspoilt coastline with sandy and often deserted beaches. Aberdeen has its own promenade beach, while five miles to the north of the city is beautiful Balmedie, a Blue-Flag beach edged with grassy sand dunes; beyond that is the Bay of Cruden, its pink sands and dunes stretching for nearly 3km.

4. A golfer's paradise

There are 50 golf courses in Aberdeenshire, including the Royal Aberdeen, the sixth oldest club in the world. There are three municipal courses in Aberdeen alone, one of which - Hazlehead No 1 -  was designed by Dr Alistair Mackenzie, creator of the Augusta National course in Georgia. But there's always room for one more and the new £80m Ury Estate development, just south of Aberdeen, will submit plans for a world-class 18-hole golf course, backed by sporting legend Jack Niklaus. The course will benefit from glororious views across the rolling Aberdeenshire landscape to the sea, as will the 145 new homes currently being built on the estate.

5. Castle living

There are more castles per acre in Aberdeenshire than anywhere else in the UK. On a clifftop just outside Aberdeen, for example, stand the ruins of Dunnottar Castle. The castle was beseiged  by Cromwell for eight months in the 17th century; more recently, it was the location for Franco Zeffirelli's 1991 version of Hamlet.