Craigievar Castle

A beautiful sunny day in Aberdeenshire.

We are having a break in Ballater on Royal Deeside for a few days to recover from the last two days of decorating. Today we visited Craigievar Castle.

When we lived in Aberdeen Craigievar was a haunt of choice for us when our two oldest boys were young. Today brought back happy memories of plastic swordfights and picnics on the lawn, and traction engine rallies.

Craigievar Castle is a pink harled castle off road midway between Alford and Aboyne. It's multiple turrets, gargoyles, and high corbels give it a fairytale appearance. Originally built with four round towers, only one remains today.

The castle was built in the 1626 as a stately home rather than a defensive structure, although it has formidable doors and an iron yett, and was surrounded by a walled courtyard. The seat of the Clan Sempill it was luxuriously designed and furnished and its interiors have survived remarkably unchanged. During the First World War, it was used as a hospital for wounded Belgian soldiers.

Since 1963 the castle has been in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.

Heading for Balmoral and Braemar tomorrow so hoping for some good blip opportunities.