The Castle & Gardens of Mey — Attraction in Scotland

The Castle of Mey (also known for a time as Barrogill Castle) is located in Caithness, on the north coast of Scotland, about 6 miles (10 km) west of John o' Groats. In fine weather there are views from the castle north to the Orkney Islands.

The lands of Mey belonged to the Bishops of Caithness. The Castle of Mey was built between 1566 and 1572, possibly on the site of an earlier fortification, by George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness. Originally a Z-plan tower house of three storeys, it had a projecting wing at the south-east, and a square tower at the north-west. The castle passed to George Sinclair's younger son William, founder of the Sinclairs of Mey, although it later became the seat of the Earls. The castle's name was changed to Barrogill, and the structure was extended several times, in the 17th and 18th centuries, and again in 1821 when Tudor Gothic style alterations were made, to designs by William Burn. Barrogill passed out of the Sinclair family in 1889, on the death of the 15th Earl, when it passed to F.G. Heathcote (Sinclair). In 1929 it was purchased by Captain FB Imbert-Terry.

The castle was used as an officers' rest home during the Second World War, and in 1950 the estate farms were sold off. By that time, only the tower was inhabitable.

Barrogill Castle was in a semi-derelict state when, in 1952, the estate was purchased by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, the widow of King George VI, who had died earlier in the year. "The castle was probably built between 1566 and 1572 by George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness" and "includes a dominating tower with a series of tall ranges to the side and rear creating a three-sided courtyard open to the north and the sea", according to a February 2019 report.

The Queen Mother set about restoring the castle for use as a holiday home, removing some of the 19th-century additions, and reinstating the Castle's original name. As part of the restoration, the castle was for the first time supplied with electricity and water.

Other work done in 1953-1954 included making the castle weathertight and habitable, as well as painting and plastering. The castle interior was also refurbished over the next few years. The west wing restoration was not completed until 1960.

The Queen Mother hung several portraits of the previous owners - the Earl of Caithness around the castle. She regularly visited it in August and October from 1955 until her death in March 2002; the last visit was in October 2001.

In July 1996, The Queen Mother made the property, the policies, and the farm over to the Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust, which has opened the castle and garden to the public regularly since her death. It is now open seven days a week from 1 May until 30 September each year, with a closed period of ten days at the end of July and the beginning of August, when Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay usually stay at Mey. The Trust opened a new Visitor Centre in early 2007, and the visitor numbers for that year...

Ok the castle itself is very pretty. The gardens are also beautiful, very peaceful and very well managed. The staff I spoke to were, in the main, very polite. Just stay the hell away from the restaurant. Go to John O Groats - loads there. Restaurant is very overpriced, £6.95 for a sandwich! Their catering planning is poorly managed. The restaurant manager cannot cope with the stress of large buses turning up and became combative when we questioned her, "I'll not have you complaining about us, it's all your organiser's fault!" This in response to a terrible sandwich which I returned and my comment that it was disappointing that despite organising our classic car tour arrival at the castle a whole year in advance there was literally no food left for some! Yes, it's that bad. On a bank holiday, a restaurant catering for tour buses and tourists ran out of food during lunch time. Apparently a tour bus had turned up on the off chance so they fed them instead! The sandwich took about 20 minutes to arrive and, apart from a nice wee side salad, coleslaw and doritoes, was 2 slices of cheap supermarket bread. Inside was one slab of bulk buy thick cheddar and a lump of more coleslaw dumped, not spread so that although it sat in one spot on the cheese, tendrils of cabbage dripped out messily making it awkward to pick up. No butter. The cheese, ugh! When I lifted the bread to spread the coleslaw I could see that it was sweaty round the edges. Lifting the cheese slab I saw that the whole underside of it was also sweaty. It had obviously been sitting uncovered in a hot environment. God knows what germs had interbred there. And when I returned it I got told I had no right to complain! Really? She was so aggressive to me that the whole restaurant heard her. At the end of the tour a fair number of us had made complaints to the organisers. Such a shame, everywhere else we went was really impressive. Now I must say that in her temper the restaurant manager refunded me my sandwich plus my husband and 2 drinks. That's all fine. But I left having not eaten when I was hungry and I didn't drink my lemonade, so left thirsty. I felt a bit shaky after the onslaught and certainly not happy to remain. Go to the castle, go through the garden. Go to anywhere else...

What a bitter dissapointment. I appreciate in this day and age the majority of people use contactless. However to be told when purchasing tickets " we don't take cash-" is an absolute joke. I replied that I only had cash to be asked don't you have card with you. Clearly the staff didn't listen. There were two CASH registers both of which contained cash. The girls on the desk then had to work out what change was due and struggled to scrape together £24 so I was shortchanged by £2.25. My husband had been advised by the gentleman directing parking to ask for veterans discount to be told "no I don't think we do that".

We entered the Castle at 1.15 and the staff within the castle itself were very kind and informative, particularly the gentleman in the kilt.

We then decided to take our little girls to see the animals which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Back to the tearoom for a warm drink and yet again lack lustre mediocre service and we were told " we don't take cash" As cash was all I had they took it but were unable to change it as they obviously don't have much of a float. After being seated for 5 minutes the "lady" who served us had the audacity to come and ask if we had paid as apparently it hadn't been rang through the till. She had literally just served us!!

I had fully intended to go into the gift shop to make some purchases -but as i only had cash I decided not to bother.

My husband has piped for many members of the Royal Family and the Queen Mother's reputation for being down to earth is well renowned. She loved her Castle but I think the female staff we encountered today in the ticket office and tearoom let the place down. Customer Service Skills are sadly lacking.

I can definitely say it was a once in a lifetime experience and NOT for the...