- Craigievar Castle in Aberdeenshire is said to have inspired the Cinderella Castle
- Special recipe of limewash have been applied to castle walls to refresh colour
A fortress said to have inspired Walt Disney has been restored to its former glory after the rain eroded its vibrant pink paint away.
Craigievar Castle is located in Aberdeenshire and the animator and film producer is believed to have based his Cinderella Castle designs on it.
The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) said extensive conservation work has been ongoing for more than a year to protect the historic building and its collections from the effects of climate change.
The harling was replaced in 2009, but fresh conservation and maintenance work was deemed necessary.
Multiple coats of a special recipe of limewash have been applied to the castle walls to refresh the colour.
NTS added that they are going to add ‘small and discrete adaptations to the roof which will future-proof the castle against the wetter winters’.
The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) said extensive conservation work has been ongoing for more than a year to protect Craigievar Castle (pictured before paint work left and after, right) from the effects of climate change
Gille Young, the NTS regional conservator, described the project as a slow process.
‘It’s really important we look after this castle,’ she said.
‘If we look after the building, then the collections inside are looked after as well.
‘It’s going to be really positive, particularly for the local community who look up from the main road and see this beautiful pink castle which glows at the best of times.’
Colleague Annie Robertson, regional building surveyor for NTS, explained: ‘This project follows on from one around 15 years ago. That was to address a long-standing problem with dampness in the castle.
‘We have to look after this building into the future. It’s such an important piece of architecture.
‘Craigievar is renowned for being the pink castle. It really is the icon of the castles in Aberdeenshire, but originally it wasn’t pink. It used to be an off-white colour.
‘It wasn’t actually until the 1820s when the Forbes Laird at the time had instructed repairs at the castle – it needed quite a bit of work – and Aberdeen architect John Smith instructed that the castle should be made pink to match the granite mouldings.’
Speaking of the new paint job, stonemason Steven Harper said: ‘Limewash is basically lime putty watered down and diluted to a milky consistency, then we add earth pigments into it which gives it its pink colour.
‘There are around three pigments we put in for the Craigievar pink. But I can’t go into the details because the recipe is top secret.’
Built by the Mortimers of Craigievar between 1575 and 1595, Craigievar Castle in its original form would have looked a little different.
Rather than the iconic turrets, the uppermost level of the castle was likely much plainer and less soaring in height.
![Walt Disney is believed to have based his Cinderella Castle (pictured) designs on Craigievar Castle in Scotland](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/27/15/79371301-12903953-Craigievar_Castle_is_located_in_Aberdeenshire_and_the_animator_a-m-61_1703690430930.jpg)
Walt Disney is believed to have based his Cinderella Castle (pictured) designs on Craigievar Castle in Scotland
![Multiple coats of a special recipe of limewash have been applied to the castle walls to refresh the colour. Pictured: The castle under construction in January](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/27/15/79371119-12903953-image-a-57_1703690355910.jpg)
Multiple coats of a special recipe of limewash have been applied to the castle walls to refresh the colour. Pictured: The castle under construction in January
The late 16th-century castle is everything below the carved stone corbel, decorated with projecting stone cannons that wrap around the castle walls.
Due to the skill of the architect-masons who worked on the building, it’s not immediately apparent that Craigievar is actually the result of two building phases.
The castle as it appears now was completed by William Forbes around 1626.
He purchased the lands in 1610 and, keen to express the status his wealth – gained from working as a merchant through the Baltic trade – had brought him, he replaced the plain uppermost parts of the castle with the array of turrets and balustraded viewing platform we see today.
The Forbes family resided there for over 300 years before placing it in the care of the National Trust for Scotland in the 1960s.