On Tuesday the Travel Continued

On Tuesday my traveling the loop around Aberdeen and making my way back to the Edinburgh area continued.  The drive for Tuesday was a short one in mileage since I was only trying to make it from just west of Aberdeen to St. Andrews.  The shortness easily allowed for two stops along the way.   

First, I got to appreciate an early morning fog spreading across the city.   I walked down to the Hardware store to purchase an adapter to replace the one that was left back at the farm.   Were is Lark when I need a dog to blame for forgetting something?   By the time I located what I needed the fog had lifted enough for this tourist to drive safely out of town.

First stop of the day was to see Crathes Castle, Garden and Estate.   The estate boasted another of those tree line lanes and meditative water features.

The castle was one that only allowed you through with a guide so I spent the few minutes waiting by wandering around the grounds being thankful that years ago one of the previous owners took up the hobby of planning a wide range of trees from around the world while his wife concentrated on the flowers.  This picture is of his Giant Sequoia. 

And his Douglas Fir

And the I headed off to walk around to the entrance of the castle and start the tour.

Walking past part of the garden where the plantings surrounded the croquet lawn.  

The walled garden

This is the old part of the castle that remains today. To the right at one time there were two later additions referred to as the Queen Ann additional and the Victorian addition.  Those additions served the family up through 1920's until there was a fire and what remained of both sections had to been removed for safety.

This was the original kitchen. Men and boys were generally the ones to work in this part of the kitchen because of the labor involved in maintaining the fires, the extreme heat and the weight of the large cast iron pots.

This is part of what would have been more of the prep kitchen where the food would have been taken after it left the fire. This part had been "modernized" and served at one time as  the functioning kitchen in the 1920's.

The castle also served as a hospital during the war for soldiers recovering from their wounds.

The old part of the castle is known for its painted ceilings. Some of the paintings had been covered over the years, some has been restored and much has been preserved.

This is a memory quilt from a time long ago and beyond all memories. 

Detail of the carving on the Lord and Lady's four poster bead.

Picture of a funeral from the 1920's. 

This is the hall where the Lord of the castle would hear petitioners and also hand down decisions and punishments to the individuals under his authority.  They have the ledgers and records of those decisions and as far as they can determine no one was ever put to death but there might have been some time spent in the stocks back in the day.

A chair from the children's nursery.

The aftermath of the fire.

Getting back on the road I drove west to the coast and had plenty of time to explore Dunnottar Castle. This castle, or what remains of it, sits on a clifftop on the edge of the North Sea complete with the sounds of gulls and the smell of salt water and seaweed. I parked and walked out to the grounds past the mobile snack stand and a couple and their faithful friend stopping for a snack.

The castle has a long history, as many of them do, but is best known for the small garrison of men that held off Oliver Cromwell's army for 8 months and was able to protect the Crown Jewels of Scotland.  The castle also hosted the likes of William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots -she did land many places over her lifetime didn't she - and the future King Charles II.

A view of the fields above the castle.

Ready or not there is a bit of a hike ahead of us.

Sounds of the cawing birds flocking over head.

As I mentioned some castles were known for their parties and others for their defenses. 

The great hall as it was built in one part of the castle.

The  Smithy's space.

The stable.  When part of your job is to ride around the countryside and check up on your tenants and other minor social and power players it was important to have a stable of nice horses.

Don't worry if you can't match the description of the Chapel with the building above.  I couldn't either or at least not very well. More importantly, I just let my mind wrap around the time spans.

This is the Drawing Room that was restored. The work was completed in 1927.   

And then it was time to make my way back up to the car park.  Don't tell my daughter but I took two rest stops before I made it to the top. 

This was the small B&B that consisted all of two room on the back side of the house with a common area set up between then with two small tables ready for breakfast.  The view out the window is of the back graveled lot for parking.   Again though the cottage was just one in a street lined with small homes, but about a block down the street there was a small Inn and Pub/restaurant which was within perfect walking distance.

There is only one more day exploring left.