The day that time stopped.

I spent the afternoon walking in the Pitfour estate. Pitfour was one of the great estates of north-east Scotland, first built by the eccentric Ferguson family in the early 18th century. The Fergusons spared little expense and the estate had all the usual extravagant features of the time including a huge mansion house, a horse race track, stables, a riding school, a chapel, and observation tower. The artificial lake featured on its banks The Temple of Theseus, a six bay Greek Doric Temple, enclosed within 36 columns, with a wooden entablature above, containing a cold bath in which Admiral Ferguson kept alligators!

The mansion house was greatly extended around 1809 but was demolished in 1927 and, somewhat ironically, the stone was used to build council houses in aberdeen.

The stables survive but are in very bad condition; the slated roof has been replaced with asbestos sheeting and, as can be seen in my photograph the copper covered copula of the clock tower has been removed. Time stopped at a quarter past nine.