Crathes Castle

Crathes Castle stands on land the Burnett of Leys family held from 1323, when Robert the Bruce granted them the estate. Before the stone castle rose, the family built a timber fortress on an artificial island raised in a nearby bog, in the crannog (an artificial island dwelling) manner. Work on the harled tower house began in 1553 and was completed in 1596 under Alexander Burnett of Leys, with a further wing added in the eighteenth century. Inside, Scottish Renaissance painted ceilings survive in several Jacobean rooms — the Chamber of the Muses, the Chamber of Nine Worthies and the Green Lady’s Room — among the more notable examples of the form to endure in Scotland. Original furnishings remain too, including a carved bed and two caquetoire chairs dated 1597 and bearing the owners’ initials and heraldry. The surrounding estate covers some 240 hectares, and its walled garden of roughly 1.5 hectares is divided into eight themed compartments by clipped hedges of Irish yew planted in 1702. In 1951 Sir James Burnett, 13th Baronet, passed the castle to the National Trust for Scotland. A fire on 6 January 1966 damaged the Queen Anne wing, but the castle was saved and remains open to visitors.