Kemnay, for the historian, is very fortunate with the existence of a map of the estate of 1792.  This is a very detailed document, prepared by one Alexander Law and it denotes all parcels of land, such as they were, giving the acreage, quality of the land and the tenant's name. The bulk of the estate at that time was undeveloped, except for the area to the south-east of the 'big house' amounting to some 130 acres which had been taken into cultivation in the 1750s, and later, by the then laird George Burnett. 

This area of land, which was not of the best quality, much of it being of a boggy nature, was drained and cleared of stones – these being used to build boundary dykes – and the boundaries of the fields were planted with trees.  Not all of this was successful as part of the land which was under cultivation in 1759 was, by 1792, planted with trees.  Each field was individually named – little and meikle weaver, little and meikle kirtle, little and meikle Arthur and so on – most of which names are to us now meaningless.  None of these fields were of any great extent, the largest being a little over 4 acres. 

The area immediately surrounding the mansion house was very tastefully laid out as a pleasure ground with trees and pathways and even a small lake, which has long since disappeared.  This massive undertaking was known nationally and was commented on by several eighteenth century writers, including Lord Kames in his publication 'The Gentleman Farmer'.  Many of the trees planted at that time came from nurseries around London and the nursery owners were personally acquainted with George Burnett and also the layout of the area, some of them had possibly originated in this area – Francis Masson, the renowned collector for Kew Gardens, worked for a time at Kemnay House.  Murdoch Middleton was another nurseryman who supplied regular orders to Kemnay House.  In 1755 he was working from Walton upon Thames, but later moved to Wandsworth where he was then carrying out a large landscaping contract.  He was a contemporary of 'Capability Brown' and was staying at Hoxton (now in the borough of Hackney) when he sent the commemorative plaque for George Burnett (at his own expense as Burnett was such a good friend).  He even suggested a stone to mount the plaque on – a long stone which was lying upon Sir Archibald Grant's land (this would appear to be the large Pictish stone now situated in the porch of Monymusk Church).  The relationship with Murdoch Middleton lasted for some thirty years and carried on into Alexander Burnett's tenure of the estate.

Two things in particular led to the development of a village at Kemnay – the arrival of the railway and the commencement of quarrying on Paradise Hill by John Fyfe.  That there had been quarrying on Paradise Hill at an earlier time is quite well known.  John Burnett had quarried stone from the hill in the 1830s when he was engaged in considerable alterations at Kemnay House and even earlier, quarrying operations had been carried out at Whitestones.