Menstrie - Broomhall Castle (Stirlingshire)

Thanks to Peggy for sending us these photographs of two Sequoiadendrons at Broomhall Castle to the east of Stirling in January 2016. GPS Co-ordinates: N56 09.210 W003 50.770. Peggy says, "Broomhall sits at the base of the Ochils, east of the town of Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, Scotland. It has an interesting history." Built in 1874 in the style of Balmoral Castle, by the younger of the Johnstone Brothers, Broomhall Castle was originally a private residence. It was said he built Broomhall Castle with a tower to look down upon his older brother with whom he fell out. In 1906 it was sold to an Italian Riding School and four years later was turned into Clifford Park Boys Prep School until 1941. This was the year that it, and another grand property nearby, was allegedly set on fire by the German Schoolmaster to aid German planes in their retun from bombing the Clyde shipyards. The extensively damaged building was left until 1985 when it was rebuit and used as a nursing home. The current occupiers bought Broomhall Castle in 2003 and it now serves as a hotel and wedding venue.