Crathes Castle, A Scottish Tower House

On my recent whirlwind tour of Scotland with my sister, our day one stop was at Falkland Palace. Day two brought us to Crathes Castle outside Aberdeen. (I was calling it “krayths” but an Uber driver in Edinburgh corrected me; it’s pronounced “krath-iss”.) Home of the Burnett family, the building dates to the 16th century.

Whereas Falkland Palace restricted photos, Crathes only disallowed flash photography. This picture of the tower exterior isn’t impressive, but the interior is a treasure trove for lovers of Scottish Historical Romances.

The Gardens

Even more impressive, for lovers of any era, are the gardens.

The first sight on the large green outside the walled garden is this tree. Using a plant identification app, one of our tour comrades identified it as a horse chestnut tree.

This picture of me with my sister in front of it will give you some idea of the scale:

And here’s another:

The walled garden is so extensive, my sister and I split up and went in different directions. She found the massive fountain and I found the folly.

In between were marvelous garden rooms and walks.

I took this picture through a gate leading to the wilderness garden:

And here is the folly I mentioned. It sits at the far corner of the garden.

The room inside is a simple unadorned space with a concrete floor.

Oystercatchers

A couple of our bird-watching comrades came across an oystercatcher perched peacefully on her nest in a low hedge along a garden walk. Unfortunately, I don’t have that picture, but I did snap this one of a concerned oystercatcher mother whose chick had fallen from her nest outside the dining room of our hotel.

Real live drama! She eventually rescued her baby but it wasn’t until the next morning.

I’d love to go back and spend a full day investigating that interior garden and hiking the trails in the wilderness area.

Part II

I’ll share interior pictures of Crathes in a couple of weeks.