Pass the salt please

The design elements used for the dining room of this Scottish castle are not what you would traditionally expect. The ten metre long dining table was fashioned from an old oak on the estate that fell during a storm. The other pieces of furniture are simple and almost Shaker in style.

The hanging modern tapestries either side of the double doors that lead to the drawing room are part of a huge collection of artworks commissioned from a member of the owner's family.

The curtains are custom made cream cotton with specially selected pieces of Scottish poetry printed in black which run from the top to the bottom of each of the six panels.

The doors on either side of the French chimneypiece lead respectively (on the left) to the first floor landing from the main staircase of the Georgian wing of the house, and (on the right) to the library. The usage of rooms has been changed; the dining room and drawing room have been reversed, and the library was previously the ballroom.

The castle, like many of this scale, has a long and varied history, which is reflected in the different wings. The original tower, (on the left) is C16th. The central demilune room which joins to the dining room on the right, was built by the Marquess of Montrose for an expected visit by King George III. He never came, but the obvious Georgian symmetry that resulted creates the pleasant aspect that I much admire.

Behind this facade lies an entirely separate wing built in the Victorian times to accommodate the army of servants needed to run such a large establishment, with the most important element being heating, (coal for the fires), and hot water for baths.

Happily today oil fired central heating takes care of that, although fires are still used daily during the winter, and we've even had them on in the summer too.

Scotland quite often only has two seasons: "June and Winter".