Bats are everywhere, except Antarctica and in most tundra areas, such as Siberia, but the types that live in Scotland generally populate the south area of the country (Scottish bats and their roosts). Nine species regularly occur in this great country, but in general, the trend is the more northwest you go, the less likely you are to find them, shown here in this map:
As you can see, there are several hotspots for bats, perhaps the biggest being near the border with England. There is one in the midlands, and two in the Highlands. If a group of vampires (who are clearly shown to be capable of shapeshifting) wished to hide in an innocuous place, it makes sense that these are among the places they would choose. After all, if bats are a regular occurrence, humans wouldn't think anything of a few more.
The second key characteristic is whether or not the area is good for golfing. Since Bob Thompson is currently working on building a golf course for a Scottish lord, then surely he had to know whether the spot in question was any good or not. Since he had high hopes for the project ("In three months' time, the weather gods permitting, McAshton's will become Scotland's calling card to not only the golf world but--"), this suggests the prospects are good, pointing closer to the Highlands, which have good golfing lands (the pronouncement of the accents of the people around the Thompsons indicates this, as well).
The third characteristic, and this is a fairly obvious one, is that the village has to be within a several-minutes drive of the cliffs and vast seas. I see this as the east coast of Scotland, in part because in the cliff scenes, we never see any land in the distance, implying the "vast" of "vast seas" rather nicely and all but pointing directly to the Atlantic.
Given that Von was plucked from the sea by a merchant ship, then McAshtonland would have to be relatively close to a river or port of some kind, or in the path of a merchant heading up that way or perhaps back home. As the more northward you go in an ocean, the more likely you are to run into ice, and sailing through it was difficult at best until the a century or so ago, it seems more reasonable that such a place would be found in the southern half of Scotland. This gives our fourth characteristic and leaves only a narrow strip of land along the east between the Southern Uplands (Up North to you English folk) and the Grampian Mountains (that range that clusters in the middle section of Scotland, a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Highlands), on the east coast and right between two bat hotspots. Shown here:
Perhaps McAshtonland is on one of these islands or that lower peninsula. However, I have never been to Scotland, so I can't say more than what I already have. But when I do go and get a chance to take a look at the countryside and compare it to shots of the movie, I can provide a more definitive possible location for our favorite tiny little village.
For more about bats in Scotland, click here.
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