Gallivanting Through the Borders

Let me just say that today was totally awesome!  We began the day with a scrumptious breakfast at our B&B in Kelso,

then we headed out the door to make the walk to St. Mary's for Mass.

We always enjoy the warm reception that we receive when we attend Mass in Scotland, and today was no exception.   I particularly enjoyed the older parish priest, who had such a great relationship with his parishioners.  He was like a doting grandfather to every child in that church, and those kids obviously thought the world of him.  What a great way to start the day.

After Mass, we made the drive to Lauder to visit Thirlestane Castle.

This is certainly one of the more unique looking castles that we have visited.  

Thirlestane is known for being the longest inhabited castle in Scotland. It belongs to the Maitland family and has been in their possession since 1590 when it was built by 1st Baron Maitland, Lord Chancellor of Scotland.  It is now the family home of the Duke of Lauderdale, who continues to live in part of the house with his wife and two young children.

In fact, his two delightful young children were running about the house with their mum while we were touring.   Their giggles surely made the castle seem so much more homey!

The family stems from as far back as William the Conquerer, and the line is well documented on a large poster that stands in the dining room.

The walls are adorned with paintings of ancestors, and this is considered to be one of the finest collections of family portraits in the country.

The house was filled with so many interesting items that it is literally impossible to list them all.  But here are a few highlights:

In the billiards room stands a screen that is decorated with fly fishing ties, so if you are a fishing enthusiast,  you just might find this to be quite fascinating.

In case you are unaware, this particular part of Scotland is known for the Salmon swimming in its rivers, so it should come as no surprise to see that this was very much a delightful past time for the family.  

The present Duke's father was an avid photographer, and there was a room devoted to his various cameras as well as many of his photos.

The small library holds a bible that was printed in 1772 by Charles Eyre and William Strahan, then printers to the king.  It was given to Anthony Todd whose daughter married James 8th Earl of Lauderdale. 

From here we found ourselves climbing a spiral staircase upstairs, only this one ran in the opposite direction.  It is believed it was designed to allow a left handed swordsman to defend himself against an enemy.

The staircase led into the earl's dressing room which held the charter conferring the Duke's English peerage on the wall.  His coronet appears in each corner of the ceiling.

From the dressing room, we headed into the bedroom, which, as you can see, is quite spectacular.  

I particularly liked this painting

It really stood out on the wall and the details were quite vivid. 

Even the curtains in the room were amazing.

Next to the bedroom was another bedroom

It is said that Bonny Prince Charlie slept in this room after he won the battle of Prestopans.  We did ask if there was a lock of his hair somewhere in the house, but were told that they knew of none.  A couple of years ago, while touring the Highlands, it seemed that just about everyplace we visited had a lock of his hair on display, so we couldn't resist asking.

But we did learn, that in 1994, when some digging was being done near the castle, a sword was found nearby that was determined to have belonged to one of the men in Prince Charles' army who had set up camp outside the castle while Charles was inside in a cozy bed.  The sword hangs in the entranceway of the castle.

The rooms outside of the bedroom are simply amazing.

Sorry...did I say I was posting a few photos?  

How about one more?

Look closely and you'll see the photographer in the mirror!  He was so excited about that photo that I couldn't resist posting it as well.

After finishing this tour, we headed back to Kelso and parked our car at the B&B while we made the walk to Floors Castle.  I'm not sure how many people actually walk through the front gate into the grounds, because more than one of the attendants seemed a bit surprised that we had walked.    I didn't think much of it at first, but believe me, when I was hobbling down the road at the end of the visit, I could completely understand!  Let's just say that my feet, as well as other body parts, weren't too happy at the end of the day.

Along the way from our B&B to the castle, we passed Kelso Abbey, which we might check out tomorrow prior to leaving.  But I'm not promising anything!

When we finally reached the entrance gate, I did take note that there was no castle in view.

But after walking for a bit, I was able to finally spot it in the distance.

Of course we ended up taking the wrong path (most people drive in), and we found ourselves approaching the back of the castle, which, you must admit, looks pretty amazing.

We had to walk around the house to the front in order to enter.

We were greeted by a delightful woman who was eager to give us the history of the castle.

This home is a bit younger than the one we visited earlier, having been built in 1791 by the Duke of Roxburgh.  It lies across the Tweed River from Roxburgh Castle (now just a few stone ruins).  

Photos were not permitted inside (you're probably breathing a sigh of relief at this point), but we did learn so many fascinating details from the many tour guides placed strategically in the building.

The house is built with a French flair, resulting in the name Floors being a variation of the French, Fleur.  You probably noted the extremely unusual cupolas on the top of the towers.  Just not something we've seen often in the many Scottish castles that we have visited. 

The 10th Earl inherited the castle along with 55,000 acres when he was only 19 years old, and he has devoted his life to maintaining the property to keep it running.  He actually lives in the house, and it is used quite frequently by the family for events, and at Christmas.

The view out of the back window overlooks the Tweed River, and one can see the town of Kelso in the distance, as well as the Cheviot Hills which set the border with England.

We spent quite some time walking through the various rooms and learning the fascinating history of the house.  We then decided to walk further to see the walled gardens, but not before stopping to attempt to capture a photo of the castle in its entirety.

We hadn't quite realized how far the gardens were from the house, as most people drive there (did I already say that?).  But how fortunate that right next to them is a lovely tea house, so you bet we stopped in for a brief respite.

And do you want to know what they had?

Scones with clotted cream and raspberry jam, made on the premises.

And, I must say.....it was just delightful!

Rejuvenated by our treat, we then headed to the walled garden.  It isn't as elaborate as some that we have seen, but it certainly did have some unique features.

The Millennium Gardens feature the initials of the present Duke and Duchess as shown in this placard that stood in the grounds. 

You must need a drone to be able to see that, because I stood on a bench, extended my arms at full length, and this was all I managed to see:

Not quite the same, is it?

But the other garden was bursting with vivid flowers in a variety of colors.

Personally, I thought these apple trees were rather clever.

I'd like to try those myself!

And, here was a fenced in garden where they grow berries.  The enclosure ensures against birds or beasts eating the fruit.

The structure was built using wood from the grounds, and the acorns that adorn the posts were turned from an employee who does woodworking.

That was one of the most impressive features of the Floor Estate.  The foodstuff sold in the shop was all made on the premises.  There was a freezer stocked with frozen pheasant ready to be cooked, as well as fish from the Tweed, jams, preserves, all kinds of cake and tarts, everyone of them made on the premises.   Quite an accomplishment.  Obviously, all of the profits from these endeavors help to keep this building and the grounds maintained properly.

Time was now getting the better of us, and we knew that the estate closed at 5:00 pm.  But we had been told, since we had walked through the gate, that we could just let ourselves out a side gate at our convenience should the entrance be closed.  So, although we weren't worried about being closed in or kicked out, we certainly didn't want to overstay our welcome.

We decided to take the river walk back to the exit/entrance.

Now, it should come as no surprise to you to read that the walk took way longer than either of us had anticipated.  You know what?  It just doesn't look as long on paper as it does when you are walking.  That's all the defense I have to offer.

But, we headed out, along the garden, and through a wooded area, when we came to a fence that needed to be spanned in order to get to the river.

That's up, over, and down.  Sounds easy....if you are young. But I'm a "concession" now...and my legs and feet were feeling yesterday's adventure of climbing up two different sets of very steep turrets, and, believe me, they were not happy!

But, I grinned and bore it and made it over.  Ok, maybe I didn't grin.  A better description is probably"groaned".  But I made it over, and then, realized that we were in a field.

Now, I don't mind walking through a field, but walking through grass that is dappled with sheep droppings is an entirely different story. It's kind of hard to enjoy a river view when you have to watch every step you are walking, especially since I hadn't anticipated this when we left for the day and I wasn't wearing boots.

But, we followed the signs

which took us through a couple more obstacles, this one being the easiest. 

But you can't be too hefty because that it is a very narrow turnstile! 

Finally, it looked like we would be near the river, 

just one last obstacle and we were on the path!

The views were awesome!

And pheasants were popping up everywhere!

Someone must have told them that their friends were in the freezer section of the gift shop because they were taking off like wild fire as soon as we got anywhere near them!

But I had been so busy dodging doo-doo, that I hadn't realized we would be sharing the river trail.

And I'm not sure if our presence was appreciated. 

Did you note the black face?  This is a special breed that is exclusive to this area. 

They ended up happily moving out of our way, which was certainly a relief.  

We finally reached the point where we could walk through one last gate and make our way up to the road.

But as we were walking, I noticed some tension in the nearby cattle.

I actually blame it on Marty's red jacket, as they didn't seem to be annoyed by me. So we just kept a safe distance, and made our way to the road.  By this time, the exit was closed, so we looked for the gate on the side, and made our way out of the grounds to begin the walk back to the B&B, where I somehow managed to make my way up the stairs and plop in a chair!

Now, how was that for an awesome gallivanting day?  

And I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings, how about you?