The New Murrey and Blue blog

I love to see historic properties come up for sale. They are almost always wonderful on the outside and inside, but Earshall Castle in Scotland (55 miles from Edinburgh) has proved the exception.

It’s the ancestral home of relatives of Robert the Bruce, but you wouldn’t know it. Yes, it’s beautiful and dramatic on the outside—not that I’d like to be responsible for keeping the topiary in trim—but inside it’s very disappointing. At least, it is according to the estate agents’ photographs, from which the illustrations here are taken. To say it’s cluttered is an understatement. And someone certainly has strident taste in colour.

I imagine that if the castle is sold, most of the clutter will go with the present owners, but even so I can’t say I’m impressed. It seems there are “10 bedrooms, eight reception rooms, two dressing rooms, six bathrooms, and three cottages in its grounds”. Might they all be as cluttered as the ones illustrated? There’s something that’s just…uninspiring. I’m truly disappointed. So on this occasion, my famous piggybank doesn’t need to panic.

PS: Beware taking a post there that involves dusting around the ornaments!