A Literary Heaven

Shiver me timbers! 

  Did I mention that Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island just a few cottages away from where we were staying in Braemar?

And, that Old MacDonald had a room…….ee – eye – ee – eye – oh?

But it was time to head on, so we “took the high road” and we “took the low road”, as we drove away in Scotland in the morn’n.

Over hill and dale, weaving our way through the Cairngorms. Did you know that a large mountain in Scotland is called a Ben? (just some trivia for you)

The road was twisty and narrow, and at one point it became quite obvious that

Little Bo Peep had lost her sheep.

Hey!  We could tell her where to find them!

Luckily, there had been a hand drawn map side posted at the side of the road as a warning.

At first, we thought the sign was quite amusing, but we could see now that it was posted for a good reason.

This little guy seemed to be confused as to what to do when we showed up, and he kept running down the middle of the road bleating, “Maaaaa-ma!   Maaaaaa-ma!”

What an adventure!

My hope of seeing a Highland Cow (coo as they say here in Scotland) were met when we spotted one obviously posing for anyone interested in stopping.   He was so friendly, that  I expected him to start doing a jig!

When we entered the grounds for Blair Castle, we were greeted by an attendant who insisted on selling us two “senior” tickets.  I suppose that I should start getting used to that.  I attempted to argue with him, but I don’t think he heard me.  (He was pretty “senior” himself!)

This castle was built in 1296 by the Earl of Atholl. While he was off fighting in the Crusades, his neighbor kindly decided to build the tower and move his family in.

When the Earl returned, he complained about the "squatter" to King Alexander III and won back his land, evicted the occupants, and built the rest of the castle around the tower.

The inside is filled with  heirlooms and historical items dating back from the 1^st Duke of Atholl and carried through the 11^th Duke, who died in May 2012.

The holding were quite remarkable, with original hand stitched bed hangings dating from the 1690’s and sets of chairs with needlepoint covers that were painstakingly sewn by the wife of the 2^nd Duke of Atholl.

All of the rooms were quite amazing.  The only room in which we could take photographs was the ballroom.

If you're wondering why THIS would be the only room permitting photography, then you are not alone.  Believe me, when I think of the word "ballroom" I would never imagine something with antlers mounted all over the walls.

Or swords, for that matter.

Antlers seemed to be a big theme in this room as well as in the hallways, which were lined with them throughout the house.  The rooms, however, were decorated quite elegantly, in direct contrast.

 On the estate stands St. Bride’s Kirk where Bonnie Dundee, the Jacobite leader, is buried.  His breastplate and helmet are on display inside the castle.  I was surprised at how little this man was.

The grounds also feature a huge walled garden, known as Hercules Garden.  

We spotted a Little White Duck floating on the water  and, as you can see, there were plenty of lily pads had he wanted to take a bite!

 We headed out to make our way to Birnden to the Beatrix Potter Garden.  I had been looking forward to walking through this special place. 

 Let me just say that what you see is just about the whole of it.

We did see Peter Rabbit with some friends,

and Mr. Jeremy Fisher having a chuckle on a rock (he's in the far right corner)

I’m kind of worried that the Mr. Tod, the Sly Fox  might have had Jemima Puddle-Duck for lunch, because she was nowhere to be found.

It took all of 5 minutes to walk through the garden.  I had imagined much more.  Marty said that it was a good thing that I hadn’t planned this stop as our main adventure of the day!

But I certainly did love this quote by Beatrix Potter.

Since we obviously had some time, we decided to walk through the Hermitage, a lovely wooded walk that leads to a spectacular waterfall

What a lovely way to end the day!

Today I'm off to find some seals!  

But, I don't plan on climbing out on any rocks like someone else I know.

Castles in the Cairngorms

The morning began with a fabulous breakfast in the breakfast room offering a lovely view.

This was the "Continental" Breakfast choice. 

Apparently people on the Continent can have some delightful breakfasts!

After our pleasant meal, we hopped in the car and headed out early to Balmoral Castle which is about 9 miles away, but the drive takes about 20 minutes.  My goal was to avoid as many tour buses on this narrow road as possible.  Early is always better, and it worked out quite well for us. 

The weather was a bit brisk today, and I'm grateful that I packed the wool liner to my coat, because I definitely needed it!  Braemar has the recognition of being the coldest town in Scotland.  That does explain the chill in the air.

Balmoral Castle is the Highland Retreat for the Royal Family.  The Queen visits from late July through late October, so the castle is only open to the public from April through mid-July.

 

Actually, let's say that the Castle Grounds are open to the public.

 £10 gets you onto the estate, where one can walk around at leisure, but there is only one room in the castle open for viewing. It is a very large drawing room, with wood paneling and many photos on the wall. A couple of display cases feature items from Victoria and Albert, and there were 6 dresses, one from each decade, that Queen Elizabeth wore at various events. They were pretty spectacular.  Unfortunately......no photos were permitted. 

Because this is the Queen's vacation home, the gardens are designed to bloom when she arrives, which is in last July.  There are very large rose gardens.....but none in bloom yet.  I'm not quite sure how they can control the blooming time of a rose. Since Roses tend to continue blooming through the summer,  this aspect of gardening confuses me.  The point is.....we didn't see one rose.

But, there were some other beautiful gardens to view. The flowers are grown in such a manner to assure plenty of various types to make up arrangements while the Queen is in house. (or should I say....in castle?)  Flowers adorn the interior daily.....at least that is what the audio guide stated.

This spectacular  castle was built by Queen Victoria, and Prince Albert was personally involved with planning the gardens.

This was Victoria's favorite retreat, and she and Albert spent many summers with their children on the estate.  It's really easy to see why she would enjoy coming here to escape the London dirt and heat.

There are very large vegetable gardens where the produce is harvested to serve in the castle.

The view of the castle from the gardens is beautiful.

The river Dee runs along the estate grounds.  Salmon and trout are fished from the river.

We spent several hours walking the grounds and enjoying the beauty of the surroundings.

One interesting fact of which I had been unaware was that Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip are both descendants of Victoria & Albert.  Their great-grandparents were siblings, and Albert and Victoria are  great-great grandparents to both.  I never realized that they shared the same lineage.

We finished our tour walking along the River Dee to get to the car park, and began the drive back to Braemar in what appeared to be perfect timing, as we passed several tour busses headed to Balmoral.

Our next planned visit was to Braemar Castle. 

One might think that this would be a disappointment after visiting such a grandiose estate as Balmoral, but our experience was quite the opposite.

We LOVED this castle!  It is community owned, as the locals did not want to risk losing it when the owner decided to sell it many years ago.  The castle was lived in until 1950, and the volunteers have been working hard to keep it preserved.  

We paid £6 to enter the castle where we were greeted by an extremely entertaining tour guide named Betty.  I can't tell you how much fun we had as she took us from room to room, explaining the history that is displayed in each.  

She began with the basic history:  Braemar Castle was originally built by the Earl of Mar in 1628. 

It's history included being burned during the Jacobite uprising,  rebuilt and used as a garrison until 1797, then taken over once again by the Earl of Mar, 10th Lord of Farquharson.

This castle consists of many turrets, and we began by entering up a set of stairs to the first level.

The first interesting thing that Betty pointed out is that the the turret steps lead up to the left rather than the typical up to the right. Apparently Lord Farquharson was left handed, and it was easier for him to maneuver the stairs in the opposite direction.   Pretty clever, don't you think?

The first flight was built with a couple "trip" steps, where the rise is slightly higher, so that an invader running up the steps, "trips" due to the slight difference. 

Betty took us through nearly 30 rooms in the castle, each decorated with furniture that had been donated to the castle. She explained that when the castle was sold to the community, the owners took all of the "good stuff", as she put it, with them.  So, there were only a few items originally left in the place.  But, local people donated many items of historical significance, and as people find items in their houses that have been squirreled away, they offer it to the castle to display.

Each of the bedrooms on the corners had a turret attached, and were set up with a desk, or vanity table.

Can you see the "curve" to the door to this room?

The curved door leads to the room of the "Black Colonel", a Farquharson who originally burnt down the castle.  The room is noticeably colder than the others which Betty told us is supposed to be because it is "haunted" by the Colonel.  People claim to have seen his face on the bedpost and smell tobacco smoke in the room.  It was funny to see Betty tell the story, because it was obvious that she found it all to be just a bit of hoopla.

The drawing room was large and inviting.

  The dining room table was set up for entertaining.

 The windows  offered a spectacular view of the sheep in the fields.  They were original, with wide sills,  and some of the shutters had "graffiti" markings from soldiers who had carved their names into the woods when the castle was a garrison in the 18th century.

The place was just brimming with history of the locals, as well as Royals, who used to attend the Highland Games on the Braemar estate.  There were photos of Queen Elizabeth enjoying the fun year after year.  This place has been buzzing with activity for centuries.

Betty was brimming with enthusiasm throughout the tour, and the next thing we knew, an hour and a half had passed before we walked back out the door!  I'd say that we got our money's worth.

One last significant landmark here in Braemar.

The front of this cottage holds an engraved plaque that states that Robert Louis Stevenson lived in this house while he wrote Treasure Island.  We learned from Betty that he actually wrote the first 18 chapters here and that the names of the characters actually came from the school ledgers in the town.  

Apparently the man was so popular here in the town, that his wife got tired of answering the door for people who wanted to see her husband.  So, when they knocked at the door and asked for Mr. Stevenson, she would tell them that he was not there, he was in Edinburgh.

In the meantime, Stevenson was out in a back shed, writing the book.  He had named the shed "Edinburgh".  So, when his wife mentioned that he was in Edinburgh, she wasn't lying.

Clever, don't you think?

Cranford in the Cairngorms

OK, I'll admit that traveling in the Scottish countryside with Marty behind the wheel can cause me a bit of anxiety.  It took me awhile to adjust to sitting in the opposite side of the car, and then there's the merging on the highways and the roundabouts and narrow country roads.

Marty has never had an issue with this.... just me.  

I found myself grasping the seat or shutting my eyes quite frequently.  But things got better, and I finally found myself much less stressed when we were driving around.

Then, Marty decided that it would be "cool" to drive a manual transmission.  He claims that he chose this option because it would guarantee him a smaller car, and he seems to have no issues with the shift being on the left hand side as he drives.  In fact....he drives it like a pro.

Or should I say like a wannabe pro race car driver?   

He used to get annoyed when locals would come right up against the back of the car, then suddenly pass him on the road.  He would say "No matter how fast I go, it's never fast enough for these people!" I would calmly tell him not to take it personally, and let the person pass. He would relent, but wasn't happy about it.

Well, yesterday, HE was one of those people, and I was sure to remind him of it.

Let me just say that my knuckles are still white from the experience!   

The drive north was certainly quite interesting.  I saw my very first SQUIRREL CROSSING sign.  I'm not quite sure what you do if you see a squirrel on the road, and Mr. Zippee was driving kind of fast if one decided to dart onto the road, but, luckily, we were spared that adventure.

Once you enter the Cairngorms, there isn't much but rolling hills with grazing sheep.  The roadside warnings here featured the head of an elk and a rotund sheep.  Marty says that the elk is really a sign for deer. They must have some large racked deer in the Cairngorms!  Luckily, we didn't see those either while driving in.

One sign stated, "Beware of animals on the road."  I suppose that covers it all.  

Our most exciting road moment occurred when we nearly reached Braemar.  There was  a large double decker bus heading towards us on the narrow road and I had always warned Marty that in situations like this, he needed to slow down and move to the side.  I had personal experience with this when Stacey and I took the bus to Falkland (which may explain my bus anxiety).  

Marty spotted the bus just about the same time that I saw a very large sheep that had managed to meander to the side of the road.   I yelled "Sheep", hoping that Mr. Zippee would slow down.  Marty did manage to swerve away from the bus, but we were fortunate that the sheep changed her mind and decided to hop along back towards the fence.  It was a close call, that's for sure.

We were almost at our destination by this point, thank goodness, and we pulled into our B&B and parked the car for the night.  

The Cranford Guest House is quite lovely, and Sarah, the owner is quite the hostess.  She offered us a cup of tea upon arrival along with home made brownies which were quite scrumptious.

Once we settled in, and Marty finished his conference call (which lasted an hour and a half), we headed out to dinner, and then explored the town.

This is the view from our bedroom.

We walked over the "Clunie" Water into town.

 We had a scrumptious dinner at the Braemar Lodge, just around the corner from our B&B.  Marty's ale glass confirms that we are in the Cairngorms.

Personally, I find the plaid carpeting to be entertaining.

After dinner, we decided to hike the Queen Victoria trail, since the sun doesn't set until about 10:00 p.m. 

 This apparently was one of Victoria's favorite loops to ride in her carriage

We walked along the trail past the grazing sheep, across the road, and up into the mountains, where we found an entirely different type of wildlife.

Slugs.

Lots of them.  And, Marty couldn't resist taking a photo of one of the many.

The only other excitement along the trail was spotting a red deer who seemed to be curious as to why Marty was photographing the slugs.

He was the only one that we saw on our walk,and to be quite frank, that was perfectly fine with me!

Today we're off to explore some castles.  No surprise there, right?

First on the list:  Balmoral, vacation home of the Queen.

Until next time......