Castle Fraser in Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Castle Fraser, Scotland

The September weather seems to be holding out for our weekend castle visits!

Castle Fraser is a mere 16 miles from Aberdeen, which is an easy afternoon outing for us.

The grounds and surrounding gardens are amazing!  Our boys spent as much time playing in them as they did touring the castle.

The castle tour is self-guided, so you can go at your own pace.  Mother and I kind of lagged behind Taido and the boys, but Ben kept coming back and finding us to point out his favorite parts.

There are lots of fun stories associated with Castle Fraser.  It is famed to be one of the most haunted castles in Scotland.  Our favorite history was perhaps that of Charles Mackenzie Fraser. Charles was an officer in the Duke of Wellington’s army during the Napoleonic wars, and returned from the war after being shot in the leg and head.  In the castle, you can view his wooden leg, his hat with the hole shot through it and both bullets that wounded him.  He lived and ruled the castle for a long time, making many changes before his death at the age of 79.

We loved that in this castle you can actually go out onto the tower roof.  It’s such a treat to be able to see the surrounding areas from so high up.  Magnificent!

We all said this was our favorite part of the tour!

We took loads of pictures and marveled at standing on top of towers that have been around since the late 1500s.

Gorgeous Day + Fields + Blue Skies = Magical!

Hello Incredible Castle Gardens!

You can tell that locals come and enjoy the gardens on days like these, as the benches and tables were occupied.  Also the castle tea room was almost full of visitors.

And who wouldn’t want to wander these gardens as often as possible?

The grass carpet beckons.

We were especially delighted to discover that on Saturdays, you can buy vegetables and flowers at a small garden market.  We bought three varieties of kale, which we enjoyed in salads and in vegetable dishes the rest of the weekend.

It was too much fun to have castle garden veggies for dinner!

Between the garden and the parking area at Castle Fraser, is hidden a precious children’s garden.

It is a woodland play area, perfect for stories about fairies and dragons.

I can imagine how a child would want to return again and again to this magical place.

There was  a tipi, a room made out of trees, lots of wooden sculptures and even a giant xylophone made of wood that you play with sticks.

Crathes Castle also had a woodland play area for children.  I think it’s wonderful how the area castles are also great fun for families.  There are special days for families at the castles, with activities on holidays.  There was a small sort of picture scavenger hunt at Castle Fraser the day we visited, and you could make a paper mache pumpkin if you wanted.

Still, it seems nothing will ever surpass the joys of a play sword for Simon.

And the castle does serve as a great backdrop for fighting.

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