Dumfries & Galloway Adventures

By now you probably realize that if we are out gallivanting, chances are that some sort of adventure will have been in the works.  And, today was no exception.

We began our day with a visit to Threave Castle, which appeared to be relatively close to our hotel, so getting there would be no issue.....right?

Marty had decided to use google maps to find the destination, and so we headed out following those directions, made a left when told to do so, and found ourselves driving down a narrow road which really isn't all that surprising.  We could see the castle in perfect view looming right ahead of us, but the road curved to the left and google said to go straight and we were now in what appeared to be some sort of field with a stone wall separating the field from another.

Now, I must say, we actually have been in similar circumstances in the past, and those have been legitimate locations, but what was nagging at the back of my mind was that there hadn't been any signs for the castle.   So, although we could probably have thrown a stone and hit that castle,  it was fairly obvious that we were not at the correct location, so we turned around and began the drive back to the main road, turned left to the A road, and within a mile we saw the sign to turn left for the castle.    So, all's well that ends well.....right?   And, I just have to say....that farmer who owns the property has one heck of an awesome view everyday!

And, what is really kind of funny is that once we were at the correct location, we couldn't see any sign of a castle in the distance!  We had to walk quite aways before it came into view.

The path takes you to a dock, where you ring a bell for the care taker to come over in a boat to bring you over to the castle.

Now, how cool is that?  (Ok, perhaps we entertain easily.)

The young man was extremely friendly, handed us life jackets, and helped us into the boat for the short jaunt across the River Dee. 

Once across, it was very easy to see the farmer's house whose drive we had encroached upon a little earlier.

I told you he was close to the castle!  

But here we were, on the island with the castle standing stately before us.

Archibald the Grim, built the castle in the year 1369 after he had recently become Lord of Galloway. It was a 5 story house with storage on the bottom floors similar to the tower houses we had already seen.  And we were able to climb up a couple of levels and take in the view of the amazing countryside.

As you can see, this was once quite a commanding structure.

At one point it had an active harbor, and boats were able to to row right up to the outer structure in these inlets that were built just for that reason.

The castle was ordered to be destroyed during the Covenanters' war so that it could not be used again.   It's last use was in 1640 and it was never repaired again.  

After we finished touring the castle, we headed back into the boat for the return trip across the river, but not before the guide took us for a quick trip up the river to see a giant Osprey nest in a tree in the distance.  Heading back towards the dock from upriver, I took this shot of the castle.

It certainly was a fun adventure, and we headed back to the car park along the trail that we had hiked on the way out.

It was really a delightful walk.

From here, we headed to Threave Estate and Gardens.   The castle is actually part of the Threave Estate and was part of the property when William Gordon bought the land back in 1867.

Gordon was a wealthy businessman with a very large family, and he was in need of a summer house that would accommodate them.   So, he bought the land and hired well known Edinburgh architects to design the house.

The house is built from red sandstone that came from a quarry near Dumfries, and it was built in a Scottish Baronial style according to the wishes of Gordon.

The house itself can only be toured at certain times on certain dates, and today was one of those scheduled, so we found ourselves entering the house with Lois as our main guide today.  

Now, let me just say that Lois obviously loves her job and has an overwhelming desire to not only fill in every detail, but also, to add a lot of speculation to those mysteries regarding the family.  She reminded me very much of a tour guide we once had at Kellie Castle, who actually had visitors sneaking out of the tour after an hour just because they couldn't handle one more detail.  

But there were only 9 of us on the tour, so we were in for the entirety, which took a complete hour and a half.  In that time we visited a grand total of six rooms.  When Lois would ask if anyone had any questions, I would grimace and hope that no one would respond.   I knew it wasn't just me who thought this was going on too long when another attendant pulled Lois aside and gave her the time, to which Lois responded, "Good heavens!  Where has the time gone?"  

I'll spare you the details and just post some photos and a bit of commentary.  You can thank me later.

The entrance to the house is actually the ground floor of a turret.   What makes this room particularly interesting is that the windows and the doors are all arched because it is a "round" room.   It featured a very bright and interesting tile floor and a "faux"  mantle piece that replaced the original granite one when Gordon's daughter-in-law, Kitty,  decided to "lighten up" the place a bit.

Note the curved ceilings and the beautiful staircase.

These are fresh flowers that had been picked by the staff who makes up fresh arrangements from the estate gardens every couple of days.  I was impressed. 

Another interesting feature were the staircase spindles.  I just loved them, and was happy to see that Kitty had the foresight to keep them in their original state when she was remodeling.

This was the main sitting room.  It had been dark, but Kitty had it painted and added light curtains and a red carpet to the room.

There were numerous artifacts in the room, but I will only post a few of them:

This pillow was one of two in the house.  They were made after the war, from soldiers' uniforms. The flowers represent the 3 regiments represented in the family:  English, Scottish and Irish.  

There was a painting of Gordon's son (Kitty's husband.)

And painting of William Gordon and his second wife. Interestingly enough, we were told that these two paintings were only discovered a little over a year ago and have only hung on the walls for that amount of time.  It certainly does make one wonder where they were all of these years.

These two were busy documenting every single item in the place for the National Trust.   I think even they were amazed at just how much Lois knew about every single item herself!

This is the one and only fireplace that Kitty kept in its original state.  It stands in the dining room, and I found the granite to be quite lovely.

One of the most unusual features that I noted was the curved windows.  

and the views of the gardens outside were stunning.

Don't you agree?

It really was a pretty house with an interesting family history but you certainly don't need all of those details!

But one of the many facts that I heard today really surprised me, and that was the fact that in 1947, the death tax was 80% in Great Britain.  So, the last owner of the house, Alan Gordon, who had no heirs and wanted to see the home preserved for the future, granted the house to the National Trust of Scotland.  In doing so, he spared the house from certain ruin upon his death.  He used the money savings to make improvements and to set up a trust to be certain that the house and estate would continue to be preserved for the future. 

It appears that his efforts have not gone unheeded.   When the tour was complete, we took a quick looked at the walled garden that is on the estate as well.

There weren't many people about so it was definitely a relaxing and beautiful walk.

From here we headed to Kirkcudbright (pronounced Kir coo bree), to Broughton House, another National Trust House.  We were actually both relieved to see that we did not need a scheduled tour to go through the house and we could amble through at our own pace.

Once again, this house has a fascinating history.  Unlike Threave House, which stands on a huge estate, this house is located on a street in Kircudbright.  It is a Georgian style house that belonged to the Scottish artist, Edward A Hornel.   I must admit that I knew nothing of this man prior to visiting his house, but what an interesting story behind the artist!

Hornel was born in Australia in 1864, but his parents moved back home to Kircudbright in 1866. He was recognized for his artistic talent at the age of 19, and in 1901, he purchased this house and added on a very large room strictly to display his artwork.   His studio was in the back of his house, on the lower level, and he had the  upstairs room designed with a trap door that he could open in order to lift his very large paintings up into the room for display.

The room was very large with a vaulted ceiling and along the far wall stood this mantlepiece.

But the remaining walls were showcases for his paintings, most of which represented young Scottish maidens

or Japanese ladies, whom he incorporated in many works after spending time in Japan for several years.

This photograph of the original certainly does not do it justice, but I wanted to share it anyway so that you can get an idea of this man's talent and style.

On display downstairs are his artist palettes, preserved under glass.

But the man was more than an artist, he was also a lover of wildlife and nature, and so he designed an amazing garden in his backyard.  

I was just amazed at how long this garden was!  It seemed to stretch forever in the backyard!

All in all, it was definitely worth making the trip to see the works of this man as well as the beauty of his gardens.

From here we took a little walk around town

and stopped into a cute coffee house that had these cushions on the seats.

I couldn't agree more.  So we did.....only this time it was a mega scone with jam and cream!

Perfect!

Afterwards, we checked out the new art museum that features artists from Kirkcudbright.  

It actually just opened in July and I'd say it was very well done!  Well worth stopping into if you are the artistic type.

I'm sure that you will agree that by now, we'd had a pretty full day, so we headed back to our hotel in Castle Douglas.

When I booked the room here, I had read that this town is considered to be a "food town", but last night, we couldn't find much evidence to substantiate that.  But, today, Marty found a relatively new restaurant called Mr. Pook's Kitchen.

It is located in an old bank that Mr. Pook, himself, refinished.  The interior is definitely well done, and the atmosphere was quiet and very sophisticated.   Marty walked over to make our dinner reservations,  and was thrilled to tell me that he had met Mr. Pook himself!

As you can tell, he was VERY excited about this food adventure!

Mr. Pook came over to our table to greet us as we were the earliest arrival for dinner, having chosen 6:30 PM as our reservation.  We later learned that we were the last accepted reservation for the evening.  How lucky was that?

Mr. Pook is not only the owner, but also the chef, and he cooks in an open space visible to all sitting in the restaurant. 

After we ordered our dinners, we were brought some hearty bread with this lovely garlic/rosemary butter.

Isn't it pretty? I almost hated to cut into it.

Then, much to our surprise, we were given these complimentary Truffled Mushroom Cappuccino cups.

Delectable, to say the least.

Then came our dinner:  Pan Fried Plaice Fillets with Chard, white wine and cream sauce.

I'm not much a fan of fish, but this was absolutely delicious!

Afterwards, a complimentary peach sorbet with crumble.

Tart and refreshing.  And, we couldn't resist trying the newest addition to the menu:  Spotted Dick with Drambuie Ice Cream and Vanilla Custard.

The perfect ending to our "foodie" adventure.  How wonderful that Marty was able to find this place just a few blocks from our hotel!

Tomorrow we move on, and it's probably a good thing, because if I stay here, my pants surely won't fit much longer!