Graigievar Castle Back in the Pink

WORK to restore a fairytale castle described as Scotland’s best-preserved and most-loved fortress is nearing completion.

Craigievar, near Alford, is due to reopen to the public in the spring.

The castle has been shut for more than two years to allow restoration work, including the painstaking removal of a 30-year-old concrete harl which left it looking distinctly off-colour.

It has since been replaced with a traditional lime mortar, returning the 17th-century A-listed castle to its former eye-catching pink.

A total of 24 paintings have been sent away for conservation but several hundred will need to be re-hung before the reopening, which is scheduled for Good Friday.

National Trust for Scotland staff and volunteers are preparing for the event already, and have embarked on a deep clean of the building to brush away months of dust. Trust archaeologist Shannon Fraser said they discovered some interesting facts as a result of the restor-ation.

“One of the things that had always been assumed was the Mortimer family started building the castle and sold it to the Forbes family when they ran out of money,” she said.

But once the concrete harl came off, she said, it became obvious that William Forbes, who made a small fortune through the Baltic trade, bought a complete building from the Mortimers.

The castle’s trademark turrets – which led some to mistakenly believe it inspired Walt Disney’s fairytale fortress – were commissioned by Forbes, who was keen to show off his new social status. Lead surveyor and national projects manager for the trust, Ian Davidson, said the reharling of Craigievar cost nearly £1million.

He added that it is the trust’s ultimate aim to restore all cement-based harled castles, including Fyvie, Drum and Crathes, because it causes damp.

He said: “The trust can’t afford to do this work and the only way it can be done is through external funding.

“We received a grant from Historic Scotland for the work at Craigievar and donations from various charitable trusts, and in particular from a single anonymous Scottish donor, who has been very generous,” he added.