Balmoral
Balmoral Castle, located in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, has been the home of the British Royal Family since the mid 19th Century. As well as a Royal residence, it has become world renowned for its programme of natural conservation and sustainability. His Majesty King Charles III made the decision to open parts of the Estate and the Castle Grounds to the public in 2024 and Maggy Howarth Studios were commissioned to create mosaics for the Ballroom Maze Garden as part of this new era for Balmoral.
Taking inspiration from the beautiful design plans for the Maze Garden by Dr. Khaled Azzam (Director of His Majesty’s School of Traditional Arts, UK), our design team focussed first on the mosaic pathway leading down from the iconic Balmoral steps into the Maze itself. With the consistent green of the Yew maze hedging framed by the famous local grey granite of the Castle walls, it felt there was an opportunity to play with a contrasting colour palette, albeit keeping the colours to just a few. The baronial architecture of the Castle itself dictated that we wanted some hard lines within the design.
Prominent in the final design is a flow of large diamonds leading to a semi octagonal section where a star-like shape points the visitor toward the maze entrance. Both the diamonds and the star are meticulously carved and bevelled from blue Burlington Slate. Quarried from a site in the English Lake District, this unique rock was formed some 400 million years ago when the English and Scottish land masses collided. Tiny, rounded white quartz surround and run through the hard edges of the dark slate, creating a beautiful contrast in colour and texture.
The strong lines of the slate are engulfed by a mass of tessellated red Scottish flat tops. In turn, the flat tops are bordered by undulating neat rows of white quartz and black, cumbrian basalt formed some 50-60 million years ago. The combined colour palette complements the pink granite sets chosen by the Balmoral estate to frame the mosaic.
The maze itself contains iconic designs selected from the 40-year-old Maggy Howarth portfolio. “Cardinal Points”, “Summer Sun”, “Swirling Jasper” and “Celtic Knot” are hidden amongst the beautifully manicured maze hedging; each again framed by the pink granite sets.
As well as complex precision slate work, the commission demanded selection of the very best pebbles to allow for the size and colour grading seen across the mosaics.
From the 1st of April until the 10th of August, Balmoral Castle welcomes visitors to the grounds, gardens and exhibitions, 7 days a week, from 1000 to 1700.
