Craigievar Castle to reopen to the public

Craigievar Castle

After a £500,000 facelift, taking two years to complete, the National Trust for Scotland has announced that Craigievar Castle is to completely reopen to the public in May.

The 17th century castle, which is near Alford in central Aberdeenshire, has had extensive work done to get it back to looking how it originally did back in the 1600s, including a traditional lime-based alternative to concrete-based harling, and the exterior going back to what experts believe was its original shade of pink.

Craigievar Castle was built by William Forbes, a merchant from Aberdeen and brother of the bishop of Aberdeen. Forbes bought the estate in 1610 from the poverty stricken Mortimer family, and had the castle completed by 1626.

Craigievar was handed over to the National Trust for Scotland in 1963 after having been in the Forbes family for over 350 years. The castle was lived in for the most part, and it was even used as a hospital for Belgian soldiers during the First World War.

The project manager for the castle’s renovation, Ian Davidson, commented on the work done to the castle, saying, “It would be fair to say that visitors to the castle will notice a change.”

• Aberdeenshire
• Craigievar Castle