Crathes Castle is a fascinating place to visit, on the way from Balmoral Castle to Aberdeen in the Highlands of Scotland. You can see both the interior of the castle and the garden, and both are amazing. The garden is a large diverse walled garden, and the castle has original painted ceilings that are unique in my (limited) experience.
This is the castle, dating from 1596, built during the troubled reign of Mary Queen of Scots. Prior to this castle being built, the land was gifted to the Burnetts by Robert the Bruce in 1323. The shot is taken from the croquet lawn inside the walled garden, the enormous Yew hedge forming the gateway.
And looking down on the rest of the garden from the castle you can see again the Yew hedge, including a pruned 'locomotive' bordering the garden.
Not all the garden looks like this, but the area dedicated to flowers is spectacular! The castle and garden are now managed by the National Trust of Scotland, with a team of seven gardeners.
It takes the gardening team weeks just to prune the huge hedge.
One of the unique things that stuck in my memory was the 'Gold Garden'. You've heard of white gardens, but in all the gardens we have visited this is the only time I've seen a 'Gold Garden'!
At the time we visited, nearly 30 years ago, photography was not allowed inside the building, but if you ever get there, the original interior painted ceilings are amazing!
No comments:
Post a Comment