The Castle of Mey – the Queen Mother's Rooms, Garden and Tea
A few hours.
The route
The Castle of Mey stands on rising ground above the Pentland Firth, a turreted red sandstone house built by the Sinclair Earls of Caithness in the 1560s, and it was the Queen Mother's Highland home from 1952.
You walk through the rooms she lived in, wander a walled garden sheltered from the salt winds by the twelve-foot Great Wall of Mey, and finish with home baking in the tearoom. Children can feed the hens and sheep at the Animal Centre in the East Woods.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is House of the Northern Gate, 5 miles away. Sleeps 18.
The day
Mey
An unhurried few hours at one house above the Pentland Firth: the garden and the animals first, then the castle rooms, and tea to finish.
About three hoursAbout 1 mile on foot
Castle & Gardens of Mey
An attraction
The Castle of Mey is off the A836 between Thurso and John o' Groats, with a car park in front of the Visitor Centre, where you buy tickets in the gift shop. It's a cashless site, so bring a card. The gardens, grounds and Animal Centre open at 10.30am and the castle at 11am, with last entry at 3pm, so start outside. Walk the walled garden, then see the hens, ducks and unusual sheep in the East Woods, where children can try milking Daisy the wooden cow. In the castle you see the Front Hall, the Library, the Drawing Room, the Dining Room, the Butler's Pantry and the Kitchen, kept as the Queen Mother knew them. Photography isn't allowed inside. The castle is about 200 metres from the car park and has no wheelchair access, but the Visitor Centre, tearoom and toilets are step-free. End in the tearoom for home-made snacks and cakes, made with produce from the castle garden whenever the kitchen can, until 4pm.
If it rains
The castle rooms, the tearoom and the small animals inside the Animal Centre are under a roof; the walled garden and the paddock are not. On a wet day take the castle first and keep the garden for a dry spell.
Where to stay