Castle of Mey

Castle of Mey stands a few hundred metres back from the cliffs of the Pentland Firth, six miles west of John o’ Groats on the A836. The castle dates to the 1560s, built as Barrogill Castle for George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness, and reached its modern fame as the only home owned outright by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, who bought the then-derelict building in 1952 and restored it as a working country house. The Queen Mother held the castle until her death in 2002; it now belongs to the Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust, the charity she established to keep the building and grounds in public-access ownership beyond her lifetime.

The castle, gardens and grounds are open to visitors from May through September. The walled Great Garden, designed to withstand the Pentland Firth winds, is the highlight for many, laid out in compartments behind a high stone wall, with a kitchen-garden quadrant, herbaceous borders and the original yew alley. The Animal Centre at the visitor entrance and the café and shop at the gatehouse give the site a half-day’s worth of stops.

The view north across the Firth takes in the cliffs of Dunnet Head, Stroma island in the middle distance, and on a clear day the southern coast of the Orkney mainland.

Current opening, admission and any timed-ticket arrangements at the Castle of Mey website.