Extra staff are being hired at Balmoral Castle as King Charles transforms the gardens into a major tourist draw.
Amid growing efforts to capitalise on the royal retreat’s popularity with visitors, new plans have been drawn up to accommodate more gardeners.
His Majesty has already made the unprecedented move of allowing high-paying guests the chance to tour inside previously private rooms at Balmoral.
But there will be more to lure in visitors than just the chance to snoop around the prestigious home.
Now, planning documents detail how the gardens are poised to blossom too.
What changes are planned at Balmoral Castle gardens?
Earlier this year, work got under way on a “giant maze” designed to enhance the visitor experience at the scenic spot a few miles from Ballater.
King Charles personally oversaw the project, which is said to be a tribute to his beloved late mother.
The thistle-shaped horticultural attraction is only the second of its kind at royal grounds, and is opening this summer.
There is another under construction behind the castle, too, along with various new trees and flowers planted in a spree this year.
So what else is planned?
A planning application sent to Aberdeenshire Council explains that extra space will soon be required in the expansive grounds.
The new timer shed is proposed at a spot opposite the existing gardeners’ bothy, on an area of hardstanding.
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Documents say it will “provide much-needed additional storage space for tools and equipment”.
The papers add: “This will also facilitate the refurbishment and upgrading of the existing bothy.”
It comes as this current bothy is turned into “an improved welfare facility for the estate’s growing team of gardeners”.
Green-fingered exploits of our ‘Gardener King’
As Gardens Illustrated puts it: “King Charles III loves gardens.”
His own at Highgrove are the subject of five books, while he maintains the gardens at his Deeside home of Birkhall to the highest standards in honour of his grandmother.
His Castle of Mey attraction in Caithness has a “unique walled garden”.
The monarch has previously named the delphinium as his favourite flower.
He said: “For me, the magnificent, gloriously appareled delphinium, with its impeccable bearing and massed in platoons, holds pride of place in my botanical affections.”
You can see the Balmoral Castle garden plans here.
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