https://proudstars.blogspot.com/2016/01/devastation-of-queen-mothers-garden.html
Devastation of the Queen Mother's garden: Glorious royal flowerbeds near Balmoral Castle which Prince Charles lovingly tended for years in memory of his grandmother have been flooded
The late Queen Mother adored the 'hermit' qualities of this haven in the hills near Balmoral, much of which she designed herself. Her dutiful grandson, the Prince of Wales (pictured), has not only maintained it in her memory but expanded it with an expert eye. So he, of all people, will have been dismayed to see a large part of the gardens of Birkhall, his home on Royal Deeside, washed away by the latest winter storms. Here is - or was - a celebrated garden built around the River Muick which flows through the grounds on its way to join the mighty Dee a mile to the north-east. 'The river is the magic,' the Prince observed just over two years ago in a portrait of his Birkhall garden in Country Life magazine. And yet it is that same river which, in recent days, has become a bulldozer, obliterating years of work on the garden, not to mention a 19th-century suspension bridge among other much-loved features. The couple and their staff are in close contact with local farmers, businesses and landowners - not least their neighbours, the Gordons of Abergeldie, whose family seat, Abergeldie Castle (inset), stands on a broken bank of the Dee.
