This morning began with a brilliant sunrise, and Marty took advantage of the perfect conditions to head out for an early walk to start the day.
As mentioned yesterday, our travels on the NC500 have come to an end and it is now time to journey east.
But not before we enjoyed another delicious breakfast at the Factor's House B&B in Cromarty.
That, in combination with delightful conversation between a Scottish couple and ourselves, with whom we shared a table, really made our morning special before we packed up the car to head to our next destination.
We are staying in Portsoy, along the north coast of Scotland, in the eastern side of the mainland, thereby the acronym, NE250. But our travels are really only the NE125, as we experienced the bottom half of the circle several years ago on one of our gallivanting adventures.
But, our first stop once we were off the Black Isle was Cawdor Castle.
The center of the castle, or keep, was built around 1380, with several additions added on by owners in subsequent years.
Interestingly enough, historians were able to date the structure by scientifically testing the age of a holly tree, which stands in the middle of the keep. (This brought to mind a childhood memory of a neighbor who added a wing onto the house, but left a tree standing in the hall. Perhaps he knew the history of Cawdor?)
The property was originally that of the Caldor family, and in the 16th century, it passed to the Campbell family who continue to own it. There is apparently a literary connection to MacBeth, but the dates of the castle do not correlate with the time period.
The interior was filled with fascinating furnishings.
including wall tapestries from the Don Quixote collection.
As is the case in so many of these type of residences, fine art was displayed throughout the many rooms, way too many to analyze in a quick tour.
We ventured outside to take a peek at the maze which is celebrated as very special.
Unfortunately, the maze itself was no longer open to the public.
Unlike so many that we have seen in the past, this maze was made from pruned holly bushes, making it really quite unique.
The gardens still offered some blooming beauty despite being late in the season.
and there was a bird feeder at the entrance that attracted dozens of these chaffinches for our enjoyment.
We were very surprised at how busy this venue was as we watched more than one tour bus arrive, loaded with people. It's really the busiest place that we've encountered on this trip, and we were happy to go on our merry way within short time.
Twenty minutes later, we arrived at Brodie Castle, which seemed to me to be a much more pleasant atmosphere. This is a National Trust Property, and since we have Royal Oak memberships, we get admitted at no cost.
There were no formal gardens to peruse, although the story was that there had been many years past. But there were extensive walks that one can take, some featuring wild flowers growing along the path.
And, much to Marty's delight, there was an authentic Pictish Stone standing near the entrance to the car park, on display. It has apparently stood in that spot since 1840, when it was rescued from a cemetery.
The stone is from the 7th century, and I find the distinct details to be remarkable.
Another delightful feature of this castle is that it had two tea shops. The one near the entrance was nearly wiped out due to large crowds earlier in the day. And, although the one behind the castle was lacking scones, it did have cake. Cranachan cake to be exact. And I wasn't the least bit disappointed to make the substitution.
If it makes your mouth watering while gazing upon it, then you are quite correct in your analysis. It was scrumptious!
The interior of the castle was only available by private tour, and when we arrived at 1:00, only the last time slot was open: 3:00, and we were told that we were the last two to secure a spot. I'm dubious about that comment as there ended up being 35 people in our group for the tour. And the guide kept saying that it was an extremely large group. But, although it was a bit tedious waiting for such a large number to move from room to room, I think it's great that they opened up the opportunity for people to explore the interior.
King Malcolm IV granted the lands to the Brodie clan around 1160, and the castle housed the family for well over 800 years prior to being sold to the National Trust. The 25th Brodie of Brodie, laird and chieftain, was named Ninian. He had not been originally destined to be the heir, since he was the third son, but his two brothers predeceased him, leaving him to carry on the legacy.
His father, Ian, the 24th laird, was known for having bred over 400 varieties of daffodils that are planted scattered around the estate. Obviously, this was the wrong time of year to see that beauty but I imagine that it looks pretty remarkable in March and April when the blooms open.
Photos were not permitted of the inside and I won't bore you with many details, but one thing of interest to me was the first floor library. It holds over 6500 books, with the oldest being from 1540" "The City of God", written by St. Augustine.
As we walked from room to room, our guide, Rachel, entertained us with family stories and explained the genealogy through paintings adorning the walls. History told of one laird spending a fortune on attempting to build gardens to match Versailles, only to be left with 3 million pounds of debt that carried down through generations. A wealthy heiress helped to defray some of the loss, but the family never did regain solid footing financially.
The tour took well over an hour (remember....a lot of moving...slowly....from room to room) but Marty and I were really quite impressed with Rachel's skill in keeping us enthralled during the process.
By now, it was well past 4:00 pm, and we had more than an hour to our destination, so we headed out on the road to begin our NE250 tour. We finally arrived in Portsoy, a harbor town that lies on the Moray Firth.
We are staying at Durn house, a restored Georgian house with links to Bonnie Prince Charlie and the battle of Culloden. Marty commented on the fact that it resembles many of the manor houses which we have toured over the years.
I had booked dinner as the site made it seem necessary. We pretty much had the room to ourselves for most of the evening.
It's obvious that someone has a real liking for deer here:
And, if that isn't entertaining enough, we're still trying to figure out just why this chair sits in the corner of the bathroom.
I'm game for hearing ideas if you have any.
Until tomorrow....
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