Find Scotland Tours that visit Crathes Castle.
| Address: | Banchory, AB31 5QJ |
| Operated by: | National Trust for Scotland |
| Opening Hours: | 1 Apr to 30 Sep, daily 10.30-5.30; 1 to 31 Oct, daily 10.30-4.30; 1 Nov to 31 Mar, Thurs to Sun (guided tours) 10.30-3.45 |
| Admission: | £ 10 adult, £ 7 senior, £ 7 child, Family £ 25 |
| Parking: | Yes (Pay & Display £ 2) |
| Languages: | Explanatory text: Azerbaijani, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish |
| Accessibility: | Yes, ground floor of the Castle, part of the garden and grounds |
| Toilets: | Yes, also disabled toilets |
| Shop: | Yes |
| Cafe/Restaurant: | Yes (a very nice modern facility) |
Crathes is a pretty 16th century tower house standing on an estate granted to the Burnett family by King Robert the Bruce.
Crathes Castle was originally built to be defended and it has some ingenious defensive features. For example, the 11th step of the spiral staircase that you climb is slightly higher than the others. This ‘trip’ step, was intended to unbalance attackers storming the castle.
Through the years, Crathes Castle became an increasingly civilized residence and what you see today is a comfortably furnished and very attractive building.
The tour of Crathes starts in the castle's kitchens and store room. You then climb through several floors of the castle and pass through:
- the High Hall with its partially painted ceiling,
- the Victorian bedroom and Laird's Bedroom (with original 1594 bed)
- the room of the Nine Nobles with its painted wooden beams,
- a room containing the archives of the Burnett family
- the Gallery which contains the 1626 Charter of Nova Scotia in which Sir Thomas Burnett is granted land.
- the room haunted by the Green Lady
- the Muses Room with its tapestries
- the Stone Hall where a huge two handed sword is hung.
Knowledgeable guides are on hand to tell you about the history of the rooms and their ghosts.
A tour of Crathes will take about 45 mins, but don't forget to visit the walled garden, which is a beautiful feature of the castle.
Currently under development at Crathes is a new adventure playground called Sky Trek. This playground will involve a series of wooden swing bridges suspended from trees. At the time of writing there was no firm date for the completion of Sky Trek.
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Last Updated: 10/01/2008