Cath, Gregor and the children headed off around 9am for Glasgow (an aunty’s 85th birthday). We had showers, breakfast and headed off around 10:30, first to Crathes Castle. We were very impressed with the castle and gardens. Crathes is a national trust site (which meant we got in free to get in because we had become members of the national trust in Australia – has worked out to be a good thing) and was beautifully furnished in period furniture. The land was gifted to the Burnett family by Robert the Bruce and you can still see their badge of office, the ivory Horn of Leys, hanging in the high wall. Some rooms even retain the magnificent original painted ceilings.
The late 16th century castle looks quite compact from the outside but just on and on once inside. We went up one set of turnpike stairs at the beginning and down another set at the end. The garden was really well cared for with lots of flowers. There were a number of walled gardens with different themes – and the hugest scotch thistle we had ever seen – must have been at least 3m high.
The next stop was Stonehaven to visit a very different castle, Dunnottar. Dunnattor castle
is a ruined medieval fortress located on a rocky headland about two miles south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th–16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been an early fortress of the Dark Ages. The ruins of the castle are spread over 3 acres surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea 160 ft below. The castle is accessed via a narrow strip of land, joining the mainland to a steep path leading up to the gatehouse. Probably one of the most important aspects of the castle was protecting the Scottish royal jewels from Oliver Cromwell. Despite all this history, we were on another mission. We had heard that you could see puffins from the site. As we were heading to the castle a man told us that he had seen puffins but after much searching, we came away disappointed.
Headed west again back through Banchory and on to Balmoral. Was after 5 o’clock so the Castle was closed (and we were probably castle exhausted by that time) but we thought we may be able to get a glimpse of the castle from a distance, after all, it is the queen’s Scottish residence – unfortunately, the best we could do was sight the front gates.
Ended up for the night in a caravan park at Ballater. Soup for dinner – vegetable with a little smoked bacon. It has been raining on and off all day today so the soup was very warming.
Lunch today was at the Royal Hotel in Stonehaven – very delicious (I had grilled fish, Jill a Cajun chicken salad, Jennie soup and Richard a Club Sandwich).
