Strath Bogie

Leith Hall is a country house in Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was built in 1650, on the site of the medieval Peill Castle, and was the home of the Leith-Hay family for nearly three centuries. Since 1945 it has been run by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS). Leith Hall is set in a 286-acre (1.16 sq km) estate with scenic gardens.

Leith Hall is a country house in Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was built in 1650, on the site of the medieval Peill Castle, and was the home of the Leith-Hay family for nearly three centuries. Since 1945 it has been run by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS). Leith Hall is set in a 286-acre (1.16 sq km) estate with scenic gardens.

Leith Hall is a country house in Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was built in 1650, on the site of the medieval Peill Castle, and was the home of the Leith-Hay family for nearly three centuries. Since 1945 it has been run by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS). Leith Hall is set in a 286-acre (1.16 sq km) estate with scenic gardens.

The tree is an ancient Sycamore with a grisly history. See NJ5429 : Plaque beside the Dule Tree for the explanation.

The plaque explains the significance of NJ5429 : The Dule Tree.

This is the south elevation of Leith Hall.

As well as swathes of Snowdrops, there are lots of Winter Aconites in the grounds of Leith Hall.

The unnamed burn is a tributary of the Water of Bogie, and drains the pond at Leith Hall.

Link

The stables at Leith Hall are of an unusual curved plan. This is the rear, facing the garden.

A moon gate is a circular pedestrian gate, a traditional element of Chinese garden design.

This is the view from the north-west, with the north wing on the left and the west wing on the right.

This is the west elevation, the newest part of the building.

Category A Listed quadrangular harled mansion. The building you see today is the result of over 200 years of development. Home of the head of the Leith family the north wing is a tower house from 1650 built by James Leith of New Leslie on the site of an older property, Peill Castle. Over 100 years later the east wing was added in 1756. The south wing was added about 1797 by General Alexander Leith-Hay. The west wing was added in 1868 then in 1886 the Billiard Room was built above the arch to the courtyard on the west side by the eighth laird, Alexander Sebastian. This was later changed to a Music Room; drum turrets were also added to the north-west and south-west corners and the projecting entrance hall at the east. During the First World War it became a temporary Red Cross hospital and housed over 500 patients. With ten generations of the Leith and Leith-Hay families having lived here until just after World War II, it was donated to the National Trust for Scotland in 1945 along with all their furnishings and art. One of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s most famous soldiers, Andrew Hay of Rannes hid at Leith Hall after the Battle of Culloden (16th April, 1746), before later escaping to France. American writer Elizabeth Byrd rented 14 rooms here from about 1966. In 'The Ghosts in My Life' and 'A Strange and Seeing Time', Byrd describes the paranormal occurrences she and her husband experienced while living here. An extensive rewiring exercise in 2001-02 allowed a reconsideration of the evolution of the building that doesn't seem to have substantially changed the previous dating. The hall closed in 2008 when visitor numbers had dipped and it was running at a loss. Plans to convert the property to flats and not re-open it were put aside when renovations and improvements to visitor amenities were made possible due to a large bequest to the trust in 2011 and it subsequently reopened in mid 2013.

Ancient house, begun in 1650, and now ancestral home of the Leith-Hays. Link

Mansion house with extensive gardens, maintained by the National Trust for Scotland.

Policies of Leith Hall.