Balmoral

Balmoral Castle and it’s 50,000-acre estate has been the private Highland retreat of The Royal Family since the 1850s.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert fell in love with the Scottish Highlands in the 1840s and built the present Grade A listed castle in 1856, one of the very favourite homes of The Royal Family ever since, hosting kings, queens, tsars, kaisers, statesmen, prime ministers and many others.

Much of the interior of the castle can now be visited together with a new restaurant, café, visitor centre and shop.

Well-marked footpaths allow visitors to walk over much of the estate, with its astonishing views of one of the most beautiful and wild parts of Scotland.

A unique guide and gift book to be treasured.

About Mary Miers

Mary Miers is a freelance journalist/editor, architectural historian and arts writer, who started her career in the field of heritage and conservation. After working for the Victorian Society, English Heritage and SAVE Britain’s Heritage, she joined the Scottish Civic Trust in 1990 and set up the Buildings at Risk Register, which she ran until 1999. She then joined the editorial team at Country Life, where she worked until 2020, first as Architectural Writer and then as Fine Arts and Books Editor. Mary has published seven books, the most recent being Highland Retreats: The Architecture and Interiors of Scotland’s Romantic North. She does lectures and broadcasts and sits on the committees of various building preservation trusts. Based in the Highlands, she is the president of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland and an honorary fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.
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