Memorial garden was created to honour the late Queen who died a year ago
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A memorial garden was created at a house in Caithness to honour the late Queen who passed away a year ago on Friday.
It was made by Neil MacCallum at his home at Lathabreck, Skirza, as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II who was Britain's longest-serving monarch.
Initially, he thought about designing a circle but decided a horse-shoe shape would look better in his garden. He carried out the initial preparation and ordered around 2500 tete-a-tete daffodils to plant.
Last year he travelled to Edinburgh, watched the procession in the Royal Mile and attended the Queen's lying in state. He had to queue with many other people and passed by the Queen at 4.30am.
"It was a very emotional experience and totally surreal," he recalled.
Back in Caithness, the daffodils were planted in the autumn and were in bloom by the spring.
Neil also erected a standing stone as part of the memorial garden and plans to put a plaque on it to mark the Queen's death. He has also made a path leading up to the memorial.
Neil, who is 65, worked for GPO Telephones, which later became BT, for 43 years. His family is from Argyll but he moved to Inverness area in 1980 before relocating to Caithness in 2007. He has lived here since.
Queen Elizabeth II died at her Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire aged 96, after reigning for 70 years. She had spent much of the summer there.
She became Queen on the death of her father, King George VI, in February 1952. Her coronation took place at Westminster Abbey the following year.
The Queen enjoyed many visits to Caithness when the Queen Mother was in residence at the Castle of Mey. It was at Dwarwick pier in August 1955 that the Queen first set foot in the county, stepping ashore from a motor launch as the Britannia lay at anchor in the bay.
The Queen Mother had bought the nearby Castle of Mey three years earlier following the death of George VI.
At the time of the Queen's death, her son King Charles III said the death of his mother was a "moment of great sadness" for him and his family and that her loss would be "deeply felt" around the world.
He said: "We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished sovereign and a much-loved mother.
"I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world."
