Home Farm, Aboyne Castle

Home Farm, built probably by George Truefitt in 1889, is a large, one-and-a-half-storey model farm with an adjacent ancillary structure, now converted into a hall and offices. The building is constructed of coursed granite with rough-faced dressings. The windows have sloping, projecting cills, and the doors are boarded timber.

The south elevation is symmetrical, featuring a six-bay central block with one-and-a-half-storey wings projecting to the left and right. The central block has four round-arched openings on the ground floor, with a two-leaf timber door within the second arch from the right, and windows within the remaining arches. Above these are four pairs of windows, flanked by a tooled datestone reading “1889” to the right and armorial panels to the left. Further 15-pane windows are present on the outer right and left. The single-storey, one-and-a-half-storey wings are slightly advanced and adjoin the ground floor to the left and right, with a bipartite window under a jerkin-headed roof, flanked within by recessed boarded timber doors. Single-storey, one-bay, piend-roofed additions extend to the outer left and right, with windows centrally located.

The east elevation's ground floor is obscured by wings and additions. Three pairs of windows are set below the eaves. A single-storey, three-bay addition is present to the left of the ground floor, featuring segmental-arched openings, a boarded timber door flanked by a window to the left, a three-pane horizontal window to the centre bay, a boarded timber door to the bay to the right, and a two-pane window to the outer right. A three-light skylight sits centrally on the roof. A three-bay, one-and-a-half-storey block adjoins the outer right, with a segmental-arched, two-leaf door centrally located, flanked to the left and right by six-pane windows. A gabled boarded timber door is positioned above, with a two-pane triangular fanlight.

The north elevation is near-symmetrical, with six bays, and four pairs of windows below the eaves, flanked by single windows to the left and right. The ground floor is obscured by a single-storey, six-bay block with raised terminating bays to the outer left and right. Four triangular-glazed gabled dormers are positioned over the centre block, and modern lean-to additions extend from the outer right.

The west elevation's main block is not visible, but a one-and-a-half-storey addition is on the outer left with a broad opening off-centre to the right of the ground floor, above which is a tripartite window set in the gable.

A variety of small-pane timber windows are featured throughout. The roof is piended and covered with purple-grey slate, with gabled timber vents and lead ridge and flashings. A coped wallhead stack is located on the east addition, featuring a circular can. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present.

Internally, round-arched arcades are found on the north, east and west sides, along with an open timber roof supported by queen-post trusses.

An ancillary structure, now used as an office, is located to the northeast of the home farm, with four bays. It has a modern glazed timber door to the penultimate bay to the right, flanked by modern glazed timber windows, a two-leaf boarded timber door to the bay on the outer left, and blank left and right returns. A rough-faced boundary wall adjoins the building to the right. The ancillary structure possesses a piended purple-grey slate roof with lead ridge and flashings, cast-iron ventilators and rainwater goods, displaying group value.