Balmoral – The Royal Gardens on Deeside
A few hours.
The route
Balmoral has been the royal family's Highland home since Queen Victoria and Prince Albert built it in the 1850s, and its gardens, begun under Albert, have been shaped by each generation since, the King included.
Walk the formal beds, the sunken garden, the kitchen garden and the new Thistle Maze, then warm up with soup in the estate's own restaurant. It's a gentle few hours for garden lovers, and dogs on leads are welcome.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Balmoral
Over the Dee from Crathie and into the gardens, with lunch in the restaurant before the walk back.
About two and a half hours
Balmoral Castle
An attraction
Park in Balmoral's car park beside the A93 at Crathie, by the kirk: it costs £6, by cash or card at the machines. Blue Badge holders can drive up to the main gate and ask to park inside the estate. From the car park, walk over the bridge across the Dee to the main gate. Until Sunday 1 November admission is £10 for adults, with children free, and takes in the Castle Ballroom. From 4 November the grounds and gardens are free with no ticket needed, and the ballroom is shut. The grounds open from 10am to 4pm: Tuesday to Saturday in October, apart from every day in the last week, and Wednesday to Sunday in November and December. They close for the season from Christmas Day, and on 24 December they shut at 2pm. Seven gardeners keep 45 acres here. Look for the sunken garden and fountain laid out for Queen Mary, the King's Alpine Terrace and his new Thistle Maze, the kitchen garden and the Jubilee Conservatory. In autumn and winter the old trees and the evergreens carry the gardens. Dogs are welcome on leads throughout. The restaurant serves estate venison and beef burgers, Cullen skink, pies and soups made with the garden's produce, and a takeaway hatch has hot chocolate and outdoor seats where dogs are welcome. The gate lodge, restaurant, gift shop and ballroom have ramps, mobility scooters can be borrowed free from the gift shop, and accessible toilets are at the Crathie Gallery and in the restaurant. In winter weather some paths may be closed. The Christmas Artisan Market fills the grounds from 6 to 8 November.
If it rains
The ballroom (until 1 November), the restaurant and the gift shop are under a roof; the gardens are out in the weather, and some paths may close in winter weather.
The Highlanders Bakehouse, a café in Crathie, near Ballater.
Photographs by Anthony Mcallister and János Danyi via Google