The Castle Tour – Episode 4
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral, Autumn, 1896 by Joseph Donovan Adam
Balmoral Castle sits just outside the little town of Ballater, the home of the Deeside train station where the royal family, until the 1960s, would arrive by train for their holiday time. The train station sustained serious fire damage and has just completed a £3million restoration project. The museum and shops it houses are scheduled to reopen by late summer. Ballater is a nice little town that is very dog friendly and has lots of small shops and a few good pubs.
Deeside Train Station
Deeside Train Station
Deeside Train Station
Ballater Library
The Balmoral Bar
Dogs are welcomed in all the pubs.
A place to tie your dog if you’d rather.
Golf has always been big in Ballater.
I love this glass.
Balmoral, the Queen’s over 50,000 acre country estate and holiday get-away, is surrounded by some amazing countryside of hills, mountains meadows, moors, valleys and rivers.
The River Dee
The River Dee
The Castle Itself
It really is an estate, in that, it does not meet the criteria previously stated in regards to castles. It’s more a huge house designed to look like a castle. Beyond a tower there are really none of the classic castle defense schemes in place. There are large windows on the ground floor, there are no narrow passageways to dissuade the advance of angry rebels, no uneven stairways to impede armor clad knights, no peep holes, lug holes or murder holes. It is a gentle welcoming place. The SWAT teams could probably just walk in the front door. Even though it is, a sort of, make believe castle, it is beautiful and packed with history. These attractions become somehow obligatory, like the Prime Directive, you’ve come this far you just have to go. To not go would be akin to traveling to Egypt and turning your back on the pyramids. The universe just won’t allow it. If nothing else, you get to breath the same air that the Queen breathes.
And talk about well organized, OMG. Absolutely nothing is left to chance, either in the running of the estate or in the welcoming of visitors. The surrounding forest and countryside is maintained like a huge carefully crafted garden. The forests are constantly culled of older dying trees to make way for new growth. Any spread of disease or infestation is closely monitored and eradicated. The wildlife population is strictly maintained at optimum levels. The appearance of any unwelcome species or predators that may disrupt this perfect balance is, like an invading army, quickly and aggressively dealt with. Wendi was thrilled to discover that the native red squirrels are protected and that the disease carrying grey squirrels have been pushed out.
The Queen’s Mailbox
The movement of visitors through the estate is just as efficient. Parking is off-site, after purchasing tickets at the gate you are offered the choice of a pleasant 15 minute walk through the woods to the visitor center/ cafe/ gift shop/ toilets/ movie presentation/ picture gallery/ historic vehicle garage /stables or you can ride in the small transit vehicle that leaves every 7 minutes, exactly. Once there, you can pick up a free audio guide, in virtually any language, and then you are on your own. You are free to wander well groomed grounds, gorgeous gardens and wondrous woodland paths.
As for the house, well, there will be no traipsing around the halls, bedrooms or kitchens of the inner sanctum, with or without shoes. Access is restricted to the ballroom where a very nice display of historic paintings and photos depict the royal family’s relationship with Balmoral, examples of beautiful Cairngorm crystals unearthed on the estate, some of the jewelry made with it and lots of pictures of the dogs. Unfortunately, absolutely no photos are to be taken in the ballroom, with or without the flash. This is a policy I have never quite understood. What do they imagine people might do with them? Perhaps it’s just a control thing.
The “battlemented” porte cochères, or “carriage porch”, is covered to protect guests from the frequent rain and snow.
The tower and “pepper pot turrets” are characteristic features of the Scottish Baronial style.
Pepper pot turrets
Side Notes:
Queen Victoria purchased the estate in 1852 after the previous owner choked to death on a fishbone.
The highly successful TV series the Crown, as well as, the films The Queen and Mrs. Brown figure events that happened at Balmoral, but none of them included footage actually shoot here.
The Red Squirrel
The Red Squirrel: A future in the forest // A Photo Book @Neil McIntyre
This photo is from a self-published book project by photographer Neil Mcintyre, the proceeds of which will help ensure a future for these amazing creatures in the UK. If you’d like to check out the book and project go to their Kickstarter page: The Red Squirrel – A Photo Book