Gallivanting Geismom: A Picture Perfect Day!

Our B&B, although definitely off the beaten track, turned out to be awesome! Of course, a bottle of Prosecco could certainly have swayed my opinion. But, honestly, the bed was comfy, the towels were fully, and our hostess was bubbly.......just like the Prosecco!

And, the weather continues to amaze us with sunny skies and nary a cloud with temperatures going well into the low seventies today. You just can't beat that!

Today proved to be a delightful day, despite some last minute changes in the agenda which found us stopping in the hamlet of Monymusk to have a look around.

This is a charming estate village, located on the River Don. Most of the town consists of buildings that had once belonged to the Monymusk estate that was purchased in 1712. Most of the buildings were replaced in the early 1800's, but the church tower dates back to 1058, when Malcolm III had it built.

It certainly was an amazing structure and I'm sorry that I didn't get a better frontal shot.

But I did take one of the side, where you can see the church connected to the tower, (and Marty posing in front).

We decided that we would have a look around since our intended destination didn't open until 11:00.

We found a path that we decided to follow, and walking it led to the original Monymusk estate house, which stands very near the River Don.

The views from here were spectacular

There really wasn't much more to see in this tiny village, so we headed out to find Craigievar Castle.

Originally, I had planned for us to visit Castle Fraser on the Castle Trail, but suddenly I realized that I had missed in the planning that Castle Fraser is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Most of the National Trust Sites have random closing days of the week, and I had to research them all to see what would work for our trip. All of them finish with Summer hours on Sept. 30, with many of them closing through next April. I was disappointed that we would miss Castle Fraser, but equally eager to see the lovely Craigievar.

Imagine my disappointment when we drove up the road and saw the last-minute paper sign posted stating that the castle would be closed through March 2016. Apparently someone thought summer hours ended early (or they wanted to be out and about enjoying the gorgeous weather!)

This castle is considered to be one of the best preserved in Scotland, and it has the added notoriety of having Queen Victoria pop in for a visit one afternoon in June 1879.

The views from the front were stunning. (You are probably getting tired of hearing that!)

Although the interior was closed, we were permitted to walk around the grounds to enjoy the beauty of the castle. There were several other disappointed visitors who had hoped to tour the castle as well.

One such visitor informed us that Walt Disney used this castle as his model for the Castle in Disneyland. Perhaps that is why it seems to be familiar?

Now that we had more free time than I had planned, we decided to drive to Leith Hall and have a look around the grounds. I already knew that the building was closed on Tuesdays, but the grounds were open for exploring.

We decided to take a shorter route that took us up and over a mountain that offered outstanding views.

Gorgeous, don't you think?

Soon we were at Leith Hall, which, in itself was pretty spectacular.

Leith is a typical Scottish laird's family home which was built in 1650.

I noticed some unique windows in the place.

as well as the inscription of John Leith above one of them.

We then headed to the much acclaimed gardens.

We didn't get too far when I noticed that there were two Pictish stones standing near the gate entrance to the garden.

I don't think that I mentioned this, but Marty seems to have some sort of fascination with the Picts, so he finds these stones to be extremely fascinating. Why else would I find myself traipsing through a cemetery in search of 4 of them in Inverurie?

This particular stone has some pretty interesting carvings that resemble a dog or a horse.

One of the features of the garden is that it has the longest continuous border of cat mint...apparently 94 meters.

It runs along the entire length of the side wall, and has a lovely scent....... Just ask Marty.

Once again, we were surprised and delighted by what we found in the garden.

Since it was such a lovely afternoon, we decided to take one of the nature walks on the estate. We came across a sign that said, "Bird Hide" and we set off to find it.

After walking quite a distance, we both decided that the bird hide was definitely well hidden! Eventually we found it and stepped inside to see what kind of activity was going on just outside.

No wild or exotic birds, no otters....just ducks. Oh well!

On the way back to the car park, I spotted this lovely little waterfall in the distance.

By now, we could certainly use a bit of a rest, so we decided to head to our B&B in Dufftown. We soon found ourselves on a narrow road and entering Moray. We no sooner passed the sign when Marty spotted activity ahead on the road.