Just for a change, we visit a castle - 8 September 2006

Our holiday was literally ending on a high. A big high was situated over the whole of the UK, and the forecast was for perfect weather for the whole country until Sunday.

We followed a coastal road to Culzean Castle. This was a fortress castle on the sea cliff edge and was converted, into an imposing “grand house” by Robert Adam in the 17th century. His beautiful interiors were then modified in the 19th century. The result is an imposing, graceful castle in a very dramatic location. We spent most of the day enjoying the gardens and walking along a cliff-top path.

We then drove inland to a small loch. Like many of the lochs in Scotland, Loch Doon is now part of a hydro-electricity scheme. When the damn was built in the 1930s, they relocated the castle on its shore to higher ground.

Around the area were relics of a WWI target practice range for aircraft. The Ministry of Defense spent a shed load of money on this project only to mothball it, unused, when they found that the weather prevented flying on most days of the year. Doh! Surely that would be question number one?

Starting at the dam outfall was a walk along a gorge, Ness Glen. This loop track was very picturesque, and reminded us of NZ, especially the return path alongside the river. The rapids through the gorge are either grade 3 or 4, depending on the weather and water flow conditions.

We then drove back to Kilmarnock, looking out for a picturesque pub to eat at. This is not as easy in this part of Scotland as it is in England, but we were fortunate and came across the Stair Inn: the perfect solution for our high expectations.

The power of ideas - 7 September 2006

As the sun was shining brightly we decided to do leave Perth via a scenic route past two lochs. Loch Earn and Loch Lubnaig. St Fillians, on Loch Earn, is a popular holiday spot, and a lovely place. We passed several pretty villages on this, the best day we had in the loch areas.

We headed into Edinburgh, to enjoy a great tour on the Royal Yacht Britannica. An audio guide takes you through the whole ship: from bridge to the royal apartments, reception rooms, crew quarters, galleys, hospital and engine room.
Having previously visited Edinburgh we simply drove through the city centre on the way to our next destination. Dan Brown has ensured that no trip to Scotland would be complete without visiting Rosslyn Chapel. It is certainly a worthwhile destination to have made so popular. The dream of one man, it is an amazing achievement and also amazing is the fact that it has survived nearly six centuries.

On the way to Kilmarnock, we stopped by the UNESCO world heritage site at New Lanark. It was, by then, closed but we were able to wander around the buildings. What was once a busy woollen mill, is now a scenic spot in a sheltered valley. This too was the inspiration of one man, David Dale, but it was the ideas of his son-in-law, Robert Owen, who revolutionized this place and helped change the world for the better with concepts like childcare, education, healthcare and cooperative shopping for his work-force.

500 years in a day - 6 September 2006

The sunshine returned today, and we made the most of the day. The first stop was Falkland: a very attractive town, with a most interesting Palace; the royal holiday home when James V and Mary Queen of Scots were around. James married a French wife, and he had the first tennis court in the UK built in his back yard. Coming long before Lawn Tennis it has a different court layout and different rules to the modern game. Similarities are a ball, a racquet and a net, but not much else: the spectators’ gallery roof is part of the paying area. ‘Real Tennis’ is still played on this court.

In our search for the perfect formal gardens we called at Kinross Gardens: they were lovely, but the quest was not satisfied until the end of the day.



Nearby was Culross: an amazing village where it feels like being in a time warp. Buildings dating back to 16th and 17th centuries have been restored by the National Trust for Scotland. Unfortunately the Bishop's Palace, Abbey and Study were not open.



We then drove to Falkirk, as we had seen an article regarding their Millennium Wheel. This is a huge wheel which raises one barge to a high canal, and at the same time lowers the barge already at the top: a very spectacular piece of modern engineering.

Next stop was Stirling, to look at the castle. This is a huge castle on a strategic promontory. It was home to the Kings of Scotland, and is currently undergoing renovation. The feature we liked best, was watching two weavers at work, they are currently making the third tapestry of a series of six, to hang in the Queen's bed- chamber. The modern tapestries are so colourful, but to see the weavers working on one was very interesting.

En route from Stirling Castle to Drummond Castle we made a quick stop in Alva from where Christine's forebears left when they emigrated to NZ.

Alva was, as her ancestors had decided, a good place to leave, so we pressed on to our final stop for the day, Drummond Castle Gardens. Having seen a brochure, we thought they looked rather special. The drive in set the scene: a very long, narrow, tree-lined driveway led to the Castle. The old and new castles are built side by side, and below them is a huge formal garden. It is magnificent: we had finally found the best formal garden in the UK.

Oh no, not another castle! - 5 September 2006

Unlike yesterday, the weather forecasters had warned us that today would be wet: time for some indoor touring. Fortunately we were near two of Scotland’s best-known castles.







First was Scone Palace, which has been associated with the coronation of the Kings of Scotland ever since McAlpin came over from Ireland and became the first King. He brought the Scone Stone with him and subsequent kings were crowned on it at Scone on Moot Hill: an artificial mound supposedly brought there in the boots of his Lords so that they could swear allegiance standing on their own soil.

The Palace is amazing: the interiors are very impressive and well worth visiting.

Alter a substantial lunch of very thick Scotch broth (perfect for such a miserable day) we set out in the heavy rain for Blair Castle.
This is a very stunning looking castle, painted white. Even on a grey day, it looked very striking. They advertise that you get to see 30 rooms in the castle, which was an excellent way to while away a miserable day. They weren't exaggerating, then were actually 31, plus many small connecting rooms. This castle was not as sumptuous as the previous one, but still very interesting, with many fine rooms and furniture. One very useful feature was that they numbered the many family portraits, and then identified the person by their number on a relatives family tree in every room.

Castles, cathedrals and cottages - 4 September 2006

We left Dundee this morning in glorious sunshine with the forecasters promising the best day yet.

Over the Tay Bridge is St Andrews where we enjoyed a very interesting tour of the castle and the old Cathedral. The castle has two mine tunnels beneath it. The first, the attack tunnel, was built from (what is now) a house opposite, trying to tunnel underneath the gatehouse and blow it up. The monks inside the castle found out and had three attempts to make a counter tunnel. They could only guess the direction to dig by the digging sounds that the attackers were making.

Up above ground again we toured the cathedral ruins. One part that is left is a very high tower [Not the tower pictured] and the climb to the top affords marvelous views over St Andrews.

After walking around the town, we drove back through Dundee and Perth to Glamis Castle. This kept our royal theme of the last few days, as this was the childhood home of the Queen Mother. The visit was by guided tour, which was very interesting.

We sat at their picnic tables and watched their very handsome highland cattle while we ate the delicious goodies we had purchased in St Andrews.




At Kirriemuir we visited JM Barrie's childhood home. It was just a humble cottage, which shows that talent can flourish in any environment. In the back yard was their washhouse - the original Wendy House.

Barrie had donated a camera obscura to his home-town in the 1930s. We have seen one before, but never one so clear, and the surrounding countryside, so vivid. The lady who demonstrated it to us, made it amusing by making a dog or trucks run over a little cardboard bridge which she would place on the image screen.

We then drove through the attractive town of Forfar to the Pitmuies Gardens. These are very simple, but attractive gardens.

Further on, past Brechin was our final attraction, Edzell Castle. This was a ruin of a once attractive castle, but the main attraction is the walled garden. It was built in 1604 and restored in the 1930s. The gardens are our favorite formal box hedge type of garden and attractive in their own right, but surrounding the garden is an amazing wall. One side is the castle, the other three feature themes of carved plaques: One wall the virtues, one the arts and one the planetary gods. The summer-house and well have survived but not the bath house. It was a tranquil, romantic garden: quite an amazing find.

Victorian echoes - 3 September 2006

Today it was the “Victorian Heritage Trail” we followed out of Aberdeen, heading for Dundee.

This trail marks a number of places that Queen Victoria visited. We passed through attractive villages made prosperous when Vicky chose to re-model the castle at Balmoral.

We knew that Balmoral was not open but didn't realise why until watching TV at breakfast: the Queen was in residence at Balmoral, and Tony Blair was visiting. Had we known that earlier, we could have left Aberdeen in time to join them at the local church at 11-30 a.m.

We also discovered we missed the local, Braemar, Highland Games by one day. However, we did get to visit Mar Lodge, a hunting lodge built by Queen Victoria's grand- daughter, which is only open to the public 3 days per year. It was amazing, what a beautiful spot to come for a holiday. The ballroom is festooned with nearly 2500 stags heads hunting trophies.

Nearby, over the Linn of Dee cataract, is a bridge, the foundation stone of which was laid by Queen Victoria, another beautiful place.

En route, we stopped at the railway station that used to be at the end of the line, in the little town of Ballater. This had a waiting room, exclusively for Victoria's use. It has been preserved, exactly as it was when she used it. What we could not work out is why Vicky would need a waiting room anyway. Surely when she stepped aboard the train it was time to go and, presumably, she would not have left the castle unless Royal Train was already at Ballater.

The intention was that the railway would continue as far as Balmoral but when Vicky indicated that “we are not amused” with the thought of the hordes of Victorian tourists flocking to her holiday retreat, the railway proposal was quickly and quietly dropped.

Predating Vicky by a considerable margin is the Meikleour Hedge, the world’s tallest hedge. It was planted around 1745 by Robert Nairne, who was killed shortly after in the Battle of Culloden. Clearly, be never came home to cut the hedge and it is now over 30m tall.

All in all, the day provided an interesting window on the past.

Castles in the Air(rea) - 2 September 2006

We may have thought we had been diligent with our castle visits but we hadn’t scratched the surface. So we followed the Castle Trail out from Aberdeen.

Apparently there are more castles per square mile in Aberdeenshire than anywhere else in the UK and this tour featured eleven Castles. We avoided the ruins, and managed four of the remaining castles: Haddo House, Fyvie Castle, Castle Fraser and Crathes Castle, plus the very lovely formal Pitmedden Garden.
Some were more elaborate than others, but all very interesting. Our favorite was Fyvie Castle.

When closing time meant no more castles, we headed into Aberdeen. The city is mainly built of grey granite. Rather than looking somber, it actually looks substantial and impressive. The old centre has some beautiful buildings.

After a delicious dinner at a modern restaurant, we headed down to the coast. At the mouth of Aberdeen harbour is a very quaint small, planned, fishing village called Footdee. It's a beautiful place to end the day, and watch the ships leave the harbour.