Westhall Castle, Oyne, Aberdeenshire

Today we visited Westhall Castle in Oyne - the first of our 2013 visits to places opened by their owners under the Scotland's Gardens scheme.

The castle's entry in the Scotlands's Gardens website tempted visitors today with the prospect of "A circular walk through glorious daffodils with outstanding views." Spring being what it is this year, there were no daffodils out at all today. Still, it was very enjoyable to walk around the policies in the mild, sunny, slightly gusty weather we've been having up here this afternoon - and the views of Bennachie were superb.

As the website goes on to point out, "The castle is semi derelict, but stabilized from total dereliction. A fascinating house encompassing six hundred years of alteration and additions."

The story of the past two decades is set out very clearly in the Castle's entry in the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland, culminating happily in the final log entry, that of 14 December 2012: "Local planners report the new owner (as of May 2011) has commenced initial works to stabilise the building and make Westhall wind and water tight."

(In fact the property listing for the Castle's most recent sale can still be found online.)

The "six hundred years of alteration and additions" are immediately apparent from the castle's facade. The building was progressively extended over the centuries, always in the same direction, so that Mediaeval, Early Modern, Georgian and Victorian elements can all be seen lined up from left to right, as seen here.