Scone Palace

Scone Place (pronounced Scoon, rather than Scon!) was one of our very first old abode trips out – way back in April 2018…

The palace is nestled between the village of Scone and the River Tay; easily accessible via the A93 and well signposted in the local area.

Scone has a rich history, the crowning place of the Kings of Scotland from the 9th century and original home to the Stone of Scone, better known as the Stone of Destiny. An abbey originally stood on the site, sacked in 1559 and with little other than foundations to mark the area. The land was sold on, a building to replace the abbey was erected and is common in Scottish history, there were arguments around all of it for a couple hundred years! (Can you tell that this is not my forte?!) The current palace was finished in 1807 with ongoing work to the interior, contents for the extensive galleries and landscaping of the expansive gardens occurring since…

Owned by the Earl of Mansfield, the palace and the gardens are open to the public and an extremely popular Scottish attraction. Visitors can have a tour of parts of the palace, and/or the gardens. We took part in a guided tour and while informative , I got the sense that we only saw a very small part of the palace.

Up-to-date details of tours, opening times, and ticket prices are available on the website – https://www.scone-palace.co.uk – the palace being open for guests start of April until the end of October and the gardens being available up until med-December and from the beginning of February. Tickets (for the palace and the gardens) currently cost £16.50 per adult, or £12 per child.

Talking of the gardens, it was these that really made the trip worthwhile, and it would be easy to lose a morning or an afternoon on a sunny day just wandering around and taking in the scenery – particularly useful when you need to run the legs off a small person!

I hope that the pictures give some sense of scale of just how much room there is to enjoy. Dogs on leads are welcome in the grounds, but bear in mind there are peacocks roaming, who don’t appreciate the attention of loud dogs or curious children…

A short distance from the palace stands a chapel on Moot Hill (above) and although not obvious in the picture, a replica of the Stone of Destiny. Guests are also invited to navigate the popular star-shaped maze, burn off some energy in the outdoor play park, or wander the walled gardens.

Accessibility around the whole area is good – the map above shows the parking in comparison to the palace, and there are disabled spaces available closer to the main building. Paths and tracks are all flat and well-maintained, suitable for buggies and wheelchairs.

We ended a very enjoyable afternoon with hots drinks and scones on the lawn, provided by the cafe which sits at the end of tour. While I (as ever) was more entranced by the scope and scale of the building rather than its contents, Scone Palace is a must for history-buffs, lovers of art and anyone with an appreciation of space for their younglings to stretch their legs.

All photos my own, I know some of them are far from high definition and for that I apologise, it was a couple of smart phones ago and the camera wasn’t the best – but sure you get the gist!