Crathes Castle is a 16th century tower house with beautiful walled gardens containing yew hedges planted as early as 1702. I went inside of this castle for a moment and saw the amazing ceilings and oak everywhere. But it was the gardens that grabbed and held my attention.
Strolling towards the gardens.
When I saw the croquet field and the couple playing on it (the man playing was sitting outside of where I was focusing) I immediately thought – Alice in Wonderland! I actually waited for a few minutes to see if any flamingos or playing cards would appear.
The castle estate contains close to four acres of walled gardens separated into eight themed areas. While I wasn’t sure of some of the themes without reading the posted signs, they were all absolutely beautiful.
Remember this fine blue fellow?
He was at the end of this path in the south border woodland garden section.
At least four of the gardens converge onto the tree in the middle here.
Not sure which part of the gardens this is but there were benches scattered throughout so that visitors could just sit and let the beauty quietly surround them.
There were so many beautiful plants and flowers to see and the gardeners were busy working to make sure the grounds were in peak condition. But as many flowers as we saw this day not all was in bloom yet and I missed three of the gardens that were around the croquet lawn. Got a bit turned around in the hedgerows 😉
I’d return here in a heartbeat.
Teri 📷
Images by T.Dashfield Photography 
Wow … I’m speechless! Amazing!
Thanks 🙂 You would’ve lost your mind here with the camera, I nearly did. And there’s still more grounds around it!
Beautiful and unusual!
Thanks. There were many beauties over there.
What a beautiful location. The castle would have been enough but that garden is magnificent. Easy to get lost in the moment and time there.
Which is exactly what happened. And there were benches throughout the gardens too to lure you into staying longer.