IT was the home said to be most beloved by the Queen Mother and in turn favoured by her green-fingered grandson, Prince Charles.

And now the Castle of Mey Gardens are looking for volunteers to help tend the garden and grounds on a permanent basis.

When Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother bought the castle the gardens had been neglected for many years. The Queen Mother herself oversaw the transformation of the gardens and grounds and painstakingly cultivated her favourite rose, the Albertine, which now flowers in abundance there.

It is said that the castle on the very edge of northern Scotland near John O' Groats was where the Queen Mother was at her happiest. It was the only home she ever owned, bought just months after she was widowed, and she spent at least five weeks there every year until 2001, when she was 101 years old. She died the following year.

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Keen gardener Prince Charles now spends a week at the castle every year and works closely with trustees to extend the castle's growing season for the benefit of early visitors, as well as being president of the castle and gardens trust.

Gardener and broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh, an honorary patron of the castle's friend's organisation, knew the Queen Mother well and donated a large collection of roses to the Shell Garden, where the royal matriarch would sit with her corgis in the afternoons.

In 2006, Mr Titchmarsh launched the Friends of the Castle of Mey with the first ever Scottish garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, inspired by his friend and her love of her Caithness home.

The castle advertised their voluntary positions for garden lovers to help head gardener Chris Parkinson all year round "to get their boots muddy".

Applicants with a "a passion for all things horticulture" are invited to send their information including "a brief background on your gardening knowledge".

Potential new gardeners must have their own transport and be "comfortable with being physically active".

The garden is full of marigolds, pansies, dahlias, primulas and nasturtiums, while old-fashioned shrub roses and climbers form the highlights of the Shell Garden.

The Walled Garden is separated into sections by mixed hedges both to work as windbreaks and to create surprises around each corner.

Last year Prince Charles paid a touching tribute to his "beloved grandmother" and the "magical" home she created in the Highlands. Some described her purchase of the most northerly inhabited castle on the British mainland a "widow's folly"but Charles disagrees.

Writing in a foreword to the Friends of the Castle of Mey’s annual newsletter, he said: “How wrong they were. A great deal has changed at the castle since I first visited my grandmother’s home .

“I well recall disembarking at Dwarwick Pier at Dunnet on a lovely August day and being driven to the castle. My first impression was that it seemed a magical place, as well as being a wonderfully happy home.

“Over the next half-century the castle, with its spectacular views and wind blowing from all points of the compass, provided a wonderful haven for my grandmother from the often stifling heat of the Thames Valley in August, and a place where she could entertain younger relations and friends.

“It remained out of the public eye. Queen Elizabeth loved it and was deeply grateful to the local people, who discreetly accepted her into their midst whilst making her feel very welcome.”

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He praised his grandmother for her "great foresight" in setting up the castle's charitable trust in 1996. " She wanted to make sure that those who worked at Mey should continue to have a job, whilst being happy for the castle and grounds to be shared with a wider audience for the benefit of the local community".

The Duke of Rothesay apparently put the castle's head gardener Mr Parkinson "further to the test" with "some tremendous designs" for the Walled and East Gardens last year.

The castle has benefited from the busy NC500 route, recording almost 29,000 visitors last year alone.

The Queen Mother's enduring love for the castle was recorded by Godfrey Talbot, the official royal correspondent in 1978.

He wrote: "Even when she is in London she keeps regularly in touch with the factor of Mey about the progress of the sheep she has; the health and herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle; and the sale of the flowers and fruit from the fine old walled garden."