CRATHES CASTLE IN NOVEMBER 2009

What a wonderful place Carol, I really enjoyed the walk around loved the little summer house and the folly. The Yew trees are fantastic and that Laurel makes such a statement also loved the area near the little Lake. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Yes, that was wonderful, Alz! I think, of all the many castles in Aberdeenshire, Crathes ( pronounced for anyone who isn't in the know as 'Crath-iz ) is my favourite. The gardens are really, really lovely, all the year round, and the colour in summer is breathtaking! Haven't been for a couple of years, so thank you for spurring me on!

My Pleasure B....although it was quite bleak as many of the borders are undergoing refurbishment....especially the blue and pink herbaceous one - which has been fallow this year apparently (shown when I was last along that way!) and it will be interesting to see what they do - although it is to be replanted as closely as possible to the original plan of Lady Burnett with the background of Rosa Alba clothing the walls. I am glad they aren't going to try going modern....I like trad. me!!!

I t looks beautiful Alz - must take a trip up there sometime.

Hi Skillen..yes it IS worth it ...but hang on until Spring or Summer when the gardens have a LOT more colour. Our recent GALES and flooding had punished the Autumn colours and most of it was gone - earlier than usual really.

You can still get a good flavour of what the gardens are about from your excellent pics Carol. I like to look at the "bare bones" and structure of gardens in the winter..;)

Hi AA....well I am afraid that was all that was available this time....but like you say - it is sometimes good to see it from "the bottom up" as it were...LOL
I have to say I envied how neat and tidy everything was - despite what the weather had done to it all. The lawns and paths nearly all swept of debris and those hedges all as neat as new pins...OMG! I could use some of those gardeners I can tell you!

Loved the gates, nice walk around, it looks like the grounds of the castle are very large!....How wonderful to have all that help.

=^..^=

That's the National Trust ( for Scotland ) for you, HW! If anyone's thinking of coming to visit, remember, most NTS properties are only open from Easter> October.....though the gardens are usually open all year round.
;-)

What a lovely place. A beautiful old castle steeped in history and ghosts....right up my alley!! The gardens are fantastic...so neat and tidy. Those yews are amazing. Whoever looks after those greenhouses would be apalled at my bit of junk at the bottom of the garden....they are wonderful. Thanks Alz for taking us on this trip.

Lovely blog, Alz!
I havent been to Crathes, & it was lovely to see it! :~))

Fair point B.....the Nat Trust for Scotland has recently been "downsizing" to coin a phrase and there are a lot of issues on-going. Many places have been closed all together and some can only be seen by appointment. A lot of us feel they have shot themselves in the foot in so doing - but that is another story!!!!!
Crathes Castle does open at the weekends until the New Year however. Of course Crathes has excellent daily "Courtyard Catering" facilities and a very good shop - "The Horsemill " which does a roaring trade in Xmas lines needless to say as well as lovely and less tatty souvenirs...LOL Not to mention a super second hand bookshop upstairs.....some great bargains on local yore up there! It really is rather nice to warm up over a cuppa after a stroll round the grounds - which are of course open all years round as are the gardens as B says.

Lovely place for a winter walk must be even lovelier in the summer.

Yes Drc..it is very "flowery" in the summer - full of colour and is usually beautifully tended....and a joy to behold. I hope 2010 will be as good as usual and I get there at all the right times!!

Looks beautiful. Another one to put on the list of places to visit.

You would have a long way to travel!!! I am sure you have truly gorgeous ones too ...your scenery is so beautiful, I hope the gales today haven't hit you too hard?
We were lucky - this time - but two weeks ago we were flooded badly.

it looks well worth a visit ,must take a run up in the spring Alz
Mac

Yes Mac - I'm sure you would like it...not all that big I suppose but in season it is packed with colour. Looking very drab at the moment and ever so tidy ...eeek!!

The older gardens get the better they get and this looks an auld yin.

Sure is Mac....been on the go since about 1700...well the yew hedges were planted about then anyway!!

Such a magnificant place. There is so much there to see I don't think you could have fitted it all into one visit. I'm glad you'll be going back and look forward to more photos.

'Morning Hywel...yes - it is a lovely old place and I do hope to do a seasonal blog on it as it comes to life in the New Year. We do have quite a few Castles in Aberdeenshire - but I think Crathes is the prettiest - and happily it is just 15 miles away!!!!

It's lovely inside, too, isn't it, Alz?
No, it's not the biggest, but it really does have a fairytale quality to it that's hard to beat...plus it's set in the most beautiful countryside, so that's another bonus. Dying for spring and summer, Alz, so we can send you back there to continue your mission!

We're very lucky, living on the 'Castle Trail' aren't we, Alz? You've got Dunottar on your doorstep, I've got Fyvie 2 miles down the road....Towie Barclay half a mile up the road, and the utterly lovely Delgatie about 7 miles away....no Alz, we've not got 'quite a few castles in Aberdeenshire' - we've got quite a LOT!!!!! No point being modest about it!!!
xxx

Morning B....yes - well I was always a modest character...:>>))))
As for Dunnottar....thank goodness it doesn't have gardens.....as there is no way you would get me climbing those "thousand" steps" ..even for GOY!!
Happily nothing can grow on that mighty outcrop anyway!!
I WILL be happy to totter about Crathes and the grounds though - it is always a pleasure to go there and now I have a good reason....LOL
I am ashamed to say I have only been round the inside two or three times...but it has a great atmosphere and of course the Burnetts - after the completion of Crathes then went on to build Muchalls Castle - (on top of a 13th century towerhouse ) - just a few miles from here and where my godparents lived for over 25 years. We also had Fetterresso Castle..just about 3 miles from me here but sadly this has been converted into some luxury housing - albeit within the castle so that nobody looking at it would know!!
Yes - they just don't built things like that any more do they - and happily we do have a plethora of them in our area.;>>>)))

Lovely blog enjoyed the walk very much, must do it again soon :o))

Wow, Alz! Your godparents LIVED in Muchalls???????

Dunottar is a real pain....I did those steps once ( before the arthritis kicked in! ) but I wouldn't want to repeat the experience! It was worth it, the views are spectacular, and the history of the place sends shivers down your spine. The letter from Rob Roy is a real treasure!

Our cottage was built by the Fyvie Castle estate, we have the deeds signed by the then-laird, Cosmo Gordon, they make hilarious reading! Apparently we must maintain our boundaries, and not make any 'noxious smells' !!!!!!!!!!!

;-)
xxx

Meant to ask you, Alz...have you been to Ballindalloch Castle ( MacPherson-Grant family )? It's gorgeous! They still live there ( family property passed down via the female line, I think ) and Lady M-G is a hoot! When I was there last we overheard her talking to her butler about 'dinner' that evening.....oh! how the other half live!
;-)
xxx

Hi there B.......I'm afraid I don't know Ballindalloch ...but it sounds fascinating...and I love the sound of Lady M-G...I have to confess to calling my evening meal dinner - but NEVER had a butler....LOL

It wasn't so much the 'dinner' aspect, Alz, it was the butler that really tickled me!!!! It's a lovely place, if ever you get the chance....up past - erm - brain-to-fingers...hang on....erm.....Charlestown of Aberlour, I think.....quite a way out of your usual stomping ground ( and mine, too! )
xxx

A96 towards Elgin, then A95 towards Aviemore, Alz!

;-)

lovely blog Alz,,, great pics to, A greenhouse would be nice tidy or not lol

Spectacular Alz ! Really wish I lived closer. Must be wonderful to go and have a tootle around here whenever you wish. Thankyou for a bracing walk with wonderful scenery ! :~)))

Absolutely smashing pics. Although you could have said that the perennial borders that line the path down to the doocot (folly) are world famous!! There was a programme on the telly which featured Chris Beardshaw at Crathes. He raved about the topiary and said that it was only the gradient of the Dee valley at Crathes that stopped Capability Brown sweeping the ancient garden away...so praise be the hilliness, even if it is a sweat up from the carpark :o)
And finally, I must take issue with you in saying that the Parliament building of the Peoples Republic of Banchory is not GRAND..it is! So there!

Aha...now I understand where you are coming from Treeman..with your comment about the Parliament building being GRAND.
When I used the word I meant it not being grand in size...nowt else!!! Large it is NOT - impressive it IS...granted, Sir!!

That's all right then. I'll put my Claymore back under the stairs :o) With all the NTS cutbacks recently we thought that the poor gardeners were not quite keeping up with the gardens last year. Hopefully, the highheediens will correct this for the coming year as the garden is stunning at the peak of summer.

Hi there Treeman....yes I too thought that everything was looking remarkably barren when I was over - and that they were making the excuse that some of the borders were being rejuvenated etc and thus lying fallow for some months....yes ..well we will see.
I am not unduly impressed by the Nat Trust of late and their double talk has upset a lot of us loyal members etc....closing some properties and mothballing others....oh don't get me started - or I will be asking you for a loan of that there Claymore!!! There were a lot of us that were chewing nails and spitting rust before the AGM last year...so they had better make amends this year or they will lose a lot more members...again!

Anytime you need to borrow the claymore feel free to ask. Especially to wave at the highheediens of NTS who seem to have completely forgotten the lowly members...who are probably regarded as pesky, interferring busy-bodies mostly...lol. It must break the hearts of the poor gardeners to see the garden deteriorate in such a way. :o(

I couldn't agree more....Crathes was always one of the jewels in the crown - so to speak.... and to see it like it is right now breaks my heart too. I know Drum Castle has suffered a similar fate and has been more or less moth-balled. One of my friends is one of the guides there and she is SO angry at the treatment that is being dished out to the staff as well.
Another chum is in charge of the shop at Crathes...and he is seriously thinking of getting out completely from the NTS...that's how bad feelings are running.
The old problem....too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.
As you say the Highheediens have lost the plot completely - forgetting that it is the grass-roots members and visitors that pay their wages...inflated as they are!!!!
Don't start me....eeek!!! I might swear - and it is the Sabbath!!

Monday now, say what you think, let it all go. You know how much better you would feel after... On second thoughts probably not :o).
I was going to agree that a cull might be the thing to do. Or, less drastic, while the organisation has no money, managers could be put to work in the properties, either the houses or gardens, at the correct pay level of course. Then if things picked up again then they could return to their posts with the benefit of insight of how things are on the ground, and how the lot of the lowlies could be improved. Now howzat! lol

...Zat is a mighty fine idea!! I suggest you put it forward at the next AGM and I'll bet every lowlie would vote for an immediate implementation! All those white collars begrimed with humble sweat - oh the JOY!! Mind you I would have to insist that the it was a true turning of tables and that the lowlies were in charge of the workforce...LOL Now that does conjure up a picture worthy of note!!
Oh well...we can but dream.
OK..dream over...back to Monday Morning in the workhouse!!!

I think I'm going to vote with my feet and cancel my direct debit to NTS. I'm just fed up with them. I know its counter productive but the annual membership fee is not cheap and I expect more and better. Maybe if more did the same it would give them a kick in the pants. I had the magazine in through the post at the weekend and it made me so cross my wife took it off me...:o(

EEEEK...mine hasn't arrived yet...maybe just as well or my BP would soar!!
I too may well cancel my membership - as I really only visit Crathes nowadays ...mind you getting into the gardens is SO prohibitively expensive that what I will probably do is wait until this years' sub expires and THEN cancel...so I can follow up from my last visit when the Spring does arrive!! I took some friends over last summer and really we all agreed that £8 each to see what little was on show was a real rip-off.

My direct debit is cancelled although my membership doesn't lapse until the end of July. I think I'll need to do a whirlwind tour of all the castles and houses (that they haven't been shut) as it may be some time before I'm back :o(
There are lots of private gardens opened all the time that one can see for about £3. I'm going to try more of these.

Have you seen today Scotsman article about the NTS?
If you read it on line you will also see some of the comments/reactions.....eeek!
You can read all about it - of you copy and past this link!!!! ENJOY...if that is the appropriate word!!!!!

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Cut-more-jobs-and-sell.6082478.jp

I'm quite worn out by that lengthy conversation. I liked the idea of windmill crazy golf tho' :o)