About
The Castle of Mey stands on the far north coast of Caithness, looking across the Pentland Firth to the Orkney island of Hoy, and is the most northerly inhabited castle on the British mainland. It was built in the 1560s and early 1570s by George Sinclair, fourth Earl of Caithness, as a Z-plan tower house called Barrogill, and it remained with the Sinclairs and their successors until the middle of the twentieth century, by which time it was semi-derelict and its future in doubt.
In 1952, months after the death of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother saw the castle while staying nearby, bought it, and set about restoring it. She gave it back its original name, put in electricity, water and heating, and made it the one house she owned outright and could arrange entirely as she chose. She came every August and again in October for almost fifty years, until 2001, and the interiors are presented as she left them: comfortable, unpretentious, full of family photographs, gifts from local people and the accumulated evidence of an owner who was genuinely fond of the place and of Caithness.
The walled garden is the other half of the visit. Gardening on this coast means contending with wind coming off the Pentland Firth with nothing to break it, and the answer was the Great Wall of Mey, a barrier some twelve feet high enclosing a garden of vegetables, fruit, herbaceous borders and shelter planting that produces far more than the latitude suggests it should.
The Queen Mother established a trust to secure the castle's future in 1996, and it opened to the public in 2002 after her death. Alongside the castle and gardens there is an animal centre with the estate's cattle and sheep, a tearoom and a shop, and the visitor season is short: May to September, Wednesday to Sunday, with a complete closure of some three weeks from late July.
Categories:
Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Check the dates carefully: the season runs 1 May to 30 September, Wednesday to Sunday, and the castle closes completely from 24 July to 11 August.
- The castle opens at 11:00 with last admission at 15:00, an hour later and an hour earlier than the gardens and tearoom — plan around the castle time, not the site time.
- This is a long way from anywhere; build it into a Caithness or North Coast 500 itinerary rather than making a special journey for it alone.
- Give the walled garden real time — for many visitors it is the better half of the visit, and it is remarkable for the latitude and exposure.
- Take a windproof layer whatever the forecast; the site is fully exposed to the Pentland Firth and the wind is the defining local fact.
- Parking is free and the shop and tearoom can be used without a castle ticket, which makes it a useful stop even in passing.
- The castle's upper rooms are reached by narrow tower stairs; visitors who cannot manage them should ring ahead to discuss what can be seen.
- Look north from the grounds on a clear day for Hoy across the Firth — the view is part of why the Queen Mother bought the place.
Highlights
The Queen Mother's Own House
Castle of Mey was the only house Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother owned outright, bought in 1952 in the months after her husband's death and arranged entirely as she wished rather than as an institution required. That distinction is the key to the visit: the rooms are comfortable and unshowy, full of family photographs, gifts from local people, dog beds and the ordinary furniture of somebody's actual holiday home, and they are presented as she left them in 2001.
Visitors expecting royal grandeur find something considerably more domestic and, for most, considerably more interesting.
The Great Wall of Mey
Gardening on the north Caithness coast means contending with salt-laden wind that comes off the Pentland Firth with nothing in its way, and the answer here is a wall some twelve feet high enclosing the garden — locally known, with justified pride, as the Great Wall of Mey. Behind it the walled garden grows vegetables, soft fruit, herbaceous borders and shelter planting on a scale the latitude would seem to forbid.
It is one of the most instructive kitchen gardens in Britain for anyone who gardens in an exposed place, and it was the Queen Mother's particular interest.
A Sixteenth-Century Sinclair Tower House
The castle was built in the 1560s and early 1570s by George Sinclair, fourth Earl of Caithness, as a Z-plan tower house — a compact defensive form with towers set at diagonally opposite corners so that every wall face could be covered by fire from another. It was called Barrogill for most of its history, and remained in Sinclair hands and those of their successors until the mid twentieth century.
The plan is still legible beneath the Victorian and later alterations, and the interpretation covers the family, the feuds and the long decline that left the building near ruin by 1952.
The View Across the Pentland Firth
From the castle and its grounds the view runs north across the Pentland Firth to the Orkney island of Hoy, whose cliffs rise sharply out of the water some ten miles off. The Firth is one of the fiercest tidal races in the world, and on a day with wind against tide the sea between here and Orkney is visibly extraordinary.
The setting explains a good deal about why the Queen Mother liked the place: this is the far edge of the mainland, and the castle looks outward from it rather than inward at a park.
Collections
The Castle of Mey is a Z-plan tower house of the 1560s and early 1570s, built by George Sinclair, fourth Earl of Caithness, and known for most of its history as Barrogill Castle. Bought in a semi-derelict state in 1952 by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and restored by her, it was the only house she owned outright, and the interiors are presented as she left them in 2001, with family photographs, gifts from local people and the ordinary contents of a much-used holiday home.
The walled garden, sheltered by the twelve-foot Great Wall of Mey, grows vegetables, fruit and herbaceous planting in an exceptionally exposed coastal position.
The Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust, established by the Queen Mother in 1996, opened the property to the public in 2002; an animal centre, tearoom and shop stand alongside the castle and gardens.
The Castle Interiors
The rooms as the Queen Mother left them in 2001, with the story of the Sinclair tower house beneath.
The Walled Garden
Vegetables, fruit and borders grown behind the twelve-foot Great Wall of Mey on an exposed north coast.
The Animal Centre
Cattle and sheep from the estate, with interpretation of Caithness farming.
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.