Tool Sheds And Fountain, South Garden And Queen Mary's Garden Including Greenhouses, Balmoral Castle

The Tool Sheds and Fountain, located in the South Garden and Queen Mary's Garden at Balmoral Castle, were established in 1876 as the Outside Flower Garden and later redefined by Queen Mary between 1923 and 1925, now known as Queen Mary's Garden.

The South Garden features a collection of horticultural buildings situated to the southeast of the castle, dating from the 19th century. This includes a plant house and sheds from 1856, a greenhouse from 1857, and tool sheds built between 1870 and 1871, along with a late 19th century greenhouse.

The earlier greenhouse is a decorative lean-to structure backed to the north by a tall, gablet-coped heated wall with mid and terminal dies. It has a rectangular plan with a broad, canted entrance projection topped with a polygonal roof and finial. The greenhouse features a stugged granite apron course, decorative cast-iron grilles, and two-leaf doors. Inside, there is tiered shelving and a latticed apron. Lean-to granite sheds to the north have slate roofs with cast-iron rooflights and are linked to the later lean-to tool sheds from 1870-71, which are similarly detailed with small-pane windows and boarded doors, backing onto the lower, coped continuation of the heated greenhouse wall. Glazed plant houses are located to the south of these structures.

The later greenhouse, situated by the gardener's cottage, has a gabled design with a pitch truncated to the north by a granite wall. It features a shuttered concrete base and decorative iron grilles, along with ornate cast-iron brattishing and end finials.

Queen Mary's Garden is a terraced garden aligned with the castle to the west of the South Garden. At its center is a circular fountain, which consists of a sunken basin with a paved surround and a waisted capstan covering the spout. A paved path leads to a semicircular flight of steps that ascend to higher ground, accessed through two-leaf wrought-iron gates entwined with the 'GR' and 'MR' monograms. The terraces are rock-faced, with a semicircular northern terrace and a straight southern terrace below. There is a trellised arbour at the western entrance, and topiaried yew buttresses are positioned by the steps leading to the lower level.