A day out on Royal Deeside

We had a castle day today. First to Drum Castle, only to find that it was closed! Then, another 4 miles up the Dee valley to Crathes Castle. It was open and there were very few visitors - perfect! 
This is the view, from high up in the castle, over the exceptional gardens which were looking their best today.
One of the "extras" is just one of the many flowers in the garden that I couldn't identify. The other is the shadow cast on the bottom of a shallow garden pool by a resting dragonfly (all is not what it might seem!).