A watercolour showing a view of a Highland landscape near Balmoral. Trees are shown in the foreground with Highland hills in the background. A partial view of the River Dee is shown through the trees to the left. Inscribed below mounted sheet: View from opposite Balmoral looking at the Dee towards Invercauld. Inscribed lower right: VR del: Sept: 12 - 1848 - A double pen and ink line border is shown around the edge of the mounted sheet. Queen Victoria visited Balmoral Castle for the first time in September 1848. The Queen was quite taken with Balmoral from her first visit. After arriving on 8 September 1848, Queen Victoria describes Balmoral in her journal as "a pretty little Castle, in the old Scotch style... In front are a nice lawn & garden, with a high wooded hill behind, & at the back, there is a wood. The hills rise all around." The Royal family originally leased the estate before buying it outright in 1851. In her journal entry of 12 September 1848, Queen Victoria describes how she rode along the River Dee before she and her ladies "got off our ponies & seated ourselves a few yards above the road just opposite Balmoral to sketch".