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!
7 gardeners, a full time job to keep it looking so wonderful all year round. I wonder how old the oldest tree is. The second to last photo, the bench seat arranged between two clipped tall shrubs, superb design all the way through.
ReplyDeleteI looked up Crathes Castle weather, , next week a low of -6C, high of 1C, 76% chance of snow !!!
ReplyDeleteLovely gardens! Keep posting these photos - there is more sno here today! (Guess the letter that isn't available on my keyboard today?)
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ReplyDeleteSuch lovely gardens and the colours of the flowers are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
i am always disappointed when i can't photograph something i would like to. sometimes i understand why, often i do not. the gardens are so pretty, i could use a team of 7 to help out with my gardens!!
ReplyDeleteTons of flowers in this garden and a great history.
ReplyDeleteI know I'll never get there so I'll just enjoy your pictures. The flowers are amazing. So is that enormous Yew.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, the colors! Just spectacular. I dont know if they could force ne to leave if I ever got to see this place. I really like that gold garden. Very cool idea.
ReplyDeleteThis garden is gorgeous! I love how the wandering flowers along the walkway are situated just right for strolling. Plus, that Yew hedge! Trimmed like that makes it look alive!
ReplyDeleteThe flowers are gorgeous. So many pretty colors.
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