Northeast Scotland - Scotland - page 510

( www.rocksaltandsnails.co.uk ; 2 Bridge St; mains £4-7; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat,
11am-5pm Sun) Great litte cafe serving excellent coffee, and lunch platters composed of
locally sourced deli products (cheese, ham, salads etc).
Getting There & Away
Bus 201 runs from Aberdeen to Ballater (£9.60, 1¾ hours, hourly Monday to Saturday, six
on Sunday) via Crathes Castle, and continues to Braemar (30 minutes) every two hours.
BALMORAL CASTLE
Eight miles west of Ballater lies Balmoral Castle ( 01339-742334;
www.balmoralcastle.com ; adult/child £9/5; 10am-5pm Apr-Jul, last admission 4pm) ,
the Queen's Highland holiday home, screened from the road by a thick curtain of trees.
Built for Queen Victoria in 1855 as a private residence for the royal family, it kicked off
the revival of the Scottish Baronial style of architecture that characterises so many of
Scotland's 19th-century country houses.
The admission fee includes an interesting and well thought-out audioguide, but the tour
is very much an outdoor one through garden and grounds; as for the castle itself, only the
ballroom, which displays a collection of Landseer paintings and royal silver, is open to the
public. Don't expect to see the Queen's private quarters! The main attraction is learning
about Highland estate management, rather than royal revelations.
You can buy a booklet that details several waymarked walks within Balmoral Estate;
the best is the climb to Prince Albert's Cairn , a huge granite pyramid that bears the in-
scription 'To the beloved memory of Albert the great and good, Prince Consort. Erected
by his broken hearted widow Victoria R. 21st August 1862'.
The massive pointy-topped mountain that looms to the south of Balmoral is Lochnagar
(1155m), immortalised in verse by Lord Byron, who spent his childhood years in Aber-
deenshire:
England, thy beauties are tame and domestic
To one who has roamed o'er the mountains afar.
O! for the crags that are wild and majestic:
The steep frowning glories of dark Lochnagar.
Balmoral is located beside the A93 at Crathie and can be reached by catching the Aber-
deen- Braemar bus.
BRAEMAR
POP 400