31 August 2015 - Haddo House

Bright clear skies turned to rain and 13 C by the end of the day.  It is, after all, the end of summer and seasons are much more clearly defined here than they are at home.

Two front teeth fell out in two days!

 Today was our last chance to see Haddo House as tours for general public are only on Mondays and Sundays.  Haddo House has been owned by the National Trust since 1979. I think bus tours go through on the other days.  When I thought of a house, I thought the building would be smaller than a castle but it wasn’t!  The big kids chose to stay back at the cottage to do school work and Luke was more than pleased to have us for himself!

Approaching Haddo House front entrance - white granite from Aberdeenshire

Grand stairways added by Ishbel Gordon - pink granite posts from Peterhead, quarried by prisoners.

 Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor to Haddo House. Prior to her first visit, she sent a marble bust of herself in preparation so the Marquis could prepare a room for her!  What high self-esteem!  So she arrived to find her bust beautifully mounted over a fireplace in the pride of place!  She was still not satisfied with the room they had prepared for her!  There’s no pleasing some people!

Beautiful fuchias!

The various Earls of Aberdeen and Marquesses of Aberdeen from the Gordon family who lived in Haddo House have made changes to the original house over the years.  The last renovation was by Ishbel, wife of Johnny, who spent the equivalent of 40 Million Pounds changing the Georgian interior to Victorian and building a different entrance hall.  The portraits adorning the walls were of either occupiers and their families or the Scottish nobility.  Charles II featured in more than one painting. We learned that if the subject was pointing up and averting their eyes from directly looking out of the painting, they were already dead and pointing to Heaven.It was considered bad luck for a dead person to be painted looking out of the painting.

Coats of arms in the garden

The Gordons lived on this site for 500 years and the last member of the family who lived here died in 2009.  Haddo House was built in 1732 after the previous dwelling was burnt down by the Coventanters.

The Entrance Hall

The paintings were spectacular and I particularly loved the whole room of watercolours of the 85 castles of Aberdeenshire  by James Giles. There were many notable paintings. The 11 lovely animal paintings in the Entrance Hall were off Aesops Fables with the story written in gold paint below the painting.  These photos were taken before we were given the spiel about no photos!

Beautiful fireplace installed by Ishbel - the top of which is actually a bedhead !  Old fashioned uprecycling!

Aesop's Fables on the wall -  indicated good morals of the house.

Toothless Luke!

 During WWII, Haddo House was a maternity hospital for mothers evacuated from Glasgow.  The 1200 babies are known as the Haddo Babies and they still meet up today!  The last Marquis and his wife, June, who lived at Haddo House adopted 4 children but had no biological children.  The law stated that the adopted children were not permitted to inherit the property although they had all the other benefits of their wealthy upbringing.  There was an Earl of Aberdeen along the track, George, known as Doddie, who was the instigator of offering Haddo House as the emergency maternity unit in WWII, who had epilepsy.  His mother forbade him to marry any woman of childbearing age so that the epilepsy would not be passed on.  However, it is rumoured that he may have been the father of at least some of the 4 adopted children - but, it is only gossip and not substantiated.

The Chapel

 The family chapel was most impressive and is still used today for monthly services and also weddings.  Photos were not permitted on the tour although I believe they would be for weddings!

Lovely spot for a walk!

 It was lovely to have a wander in the vast grounds and to the lake through the forest. I saw three red squirrels but they are so quick that I couldn't photograph one!  We wandered up to the gardens and sat there to have our snack.

Haddo House lake

Up the Lang Scottish Mile (about 200 metres longer than a normal mile)

Wouldn't mind a lake like this!

Back of the house and garden

 There were a few others on our tour including a young laird and his wife from a castle in the west who had  relatives who had owned Fraser Castle.  Luke was playing with their little girl who would have been 3 or 4 years old.  They were a nice unassuming couple but Luke missed his chance with the heiress!  As mentioned before, many of the castles have been able to survive because of marrying wealthy women.

Manicured gardens

One of the guides, Alan, resplendent in his Farquharson kilt, was very entertaining with a thick Aberdeenshire accent.  He recounted that his sister brought home an English boyfriend and his father's only comment was that he had a funny accent and needless to say, the boyfriend never darkened their doorstep again!  Alan was also very informative about the Scottish clans, which really acted as tribes who respected their chiefs and the chiefs really looked after the clan members.  He likened the clans to American Indian tribes.  He also reckoned that the Scots liked a good fight hence all the tartans and warring that went on!  Alan had retired early and was a paid guide for Haddo House.  He did a jolly good job.  Our other guide was Linda, who was also very knowledgeable, had stories to tell. 

Looking down the lang mile

Luke LOVES black pudding and other Scottish food like Haggis so I bought black-eyed Lorne Sausage (square bit of sausage with black pudding in the middle) and he gobbled it down for dinner!

30 August 2015 - Destiny Church, Leith before heading back to Aberdeenshire

After a leisurely play with the dogs and a slow breakfast - and importantly for Luke, watching the end of "Frozen", we went with Jane to Destiny Church, Leith.  It was into the afternoon before we left Edinburgh with a 3 hour drive ahead of us.  We planned a stop about half way and turned off the main road at Forfar.  We tootled along looking for somewhere to stop for lunch and we found a fabulous ruin: Restenneth Priory. 

A beautiful ruin in a field up a little track right off the main road.

It is SO good to have great signage - we can learn so much!

 King David I keeps cropping up -  I just read up about him yesterday at St Margaret's Chapel in Edinburgh and here he is quite some miles away in Forfar.

Incredible that these type of relics remain!

Doorways were quite narrow - obviously no overweight monks!

More research revealed more detail. The oldest  masonry, in the surviving tower, indicates a church was on the site during Alexander's reign (1107-24). David I (1124 - 1153), Alexander's younger brother is believed to have established this priory for Augustinian canons.

However this site is in the middle of the old Pictish Kingdom and there was a church at Restenneth from 710 AD built by King Nechtan.  It was then probably called Egglespethir! It may have even been the Pictish church dedicated to St Peter! Oh, history is so interesting...it is hard to digest it all!

No idea what this symbol  meant but I am sure we saw similar in London on the kerbsides and no one could tell us what the symbol meant then!  (an addendum:  Kirsten added: " the arrow symbol on the stone is probably a surveying benchmark, used to check the level of the stone/height of the land" - thanks Kirsten!)

A beautiful setting!

It is hard to imagine this place being a thriving hub!

 Another stop was needed for toilet purposes as of course the priory didn't provide us with such.  Even with a quick pop in to a fast food outlet - without purchasing any food - the scenery was very lovely with the subtle colours and dark clouds gathering.

Roadside beauty

We arrived back to our cottage in Kirkton of Rayne in time for a quick pasta sort of dinner.  Luke is most distressed about a wobbly tooth with is hanging by a thread and he won't twist it!  The other tooth fell out last night with minimal hassle but for some reason, this one is causing a problem.

29 August 2015 - A day in Edinburgh

We had a lovely breakfast followed by a walk by the North Esk River near Jane and Grant's house in Bankmill Lane.  Accompanied by their very sweet Dachshunds, Peaty and Sadie, the kids loved the walk .  It was a lovely walk made even better by wild raspberries.

North Esk River

Jane with Sadie and Peaty

The kids are besotted by the little dachshunds

Who wants a doggie?

Dachels taking Luke for a walk

We left Jane to catch up on her various tasks and drove into Edinburgh and took the bus 47 from Park and Ride.  We alighted the bus not really knowing where we were but soon spotted the Castle - who could miss it?!  It is built on a huge rock over looking the city.

Edinburgh Castle

Luke with deer skull at the RSPB stand at the market beneath the Castle

Imposing!

Robert the Bruce

The queue! - orderly of course!

After a brief queue and departing with 62 Pounds for our entrance, we joined the crowds looking around the Castle.  It is huge and we there for several hours.

History within, outside and on its rocky walls

AND we saw the fireworks flashing and cracking over the castle - AMAZING!!!

The view is magnificent.  It was a clear day and we could see to the water.

The Last Sleep - lots of gruesome history here!

The Forewall

From St Margaret's Chapel - this is from a page in a gospel book from this beautiful little chapel, thought to be the oldest building in Edinburgh.

St Margaret's Chapel is the oldest building in Edinburgh.  Margaret (1047 - 1093), the "Pearl of Scotland", was about 23 when she married Malcolm III of Scotland in 1070 who was much older than she was.  She apparently lived the "ordered life of prayer and work".  Malcolm adored her and she maintained a simple way of living regarding herself aa only a steward for the riches of royal life.  Malcolm and Margaret travelled to Iona, the cradle of Christianity in Scotland, and rebuilt the monastery there.  She had eight children, one being King David I of Scotland.  She was canonised by the Church of Rome.  She had lived her life spending long hours in prayer and was admired by all.

Mons Meg

Mons Meg, a bombard given to King James II of Scotland was built in 1449.  It was taken to the Tower of London but Sir Walter Scott campaigned for its return which was achieved in 1829.

Cannon fodder

The castle is built as a fortress and towers over Edinburgh. It is possible that humans have lived here since 2 AD.  There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of David I (1124-53) and it was a royal residence until 1603 when the Union of the Crowns took place and Scotland and England were united. King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England.    The Castle continued as a military barracks and has seen many conflicts.

 The castle also now houses several military museums which are all a bit different but there was so much information to take in.

Edinburgh from the Castle

Lunch outside The Scottish war Memorial

Handstand outside the War Memorial

We were not permitted to take photos inside the War Memorial. It is grand and a fitting tribute to the Scots in WWI.  It is ornate with thistles and Scottish themes.

Somehow I love the old diamond shaped view everyone in those days had.

Restored panels with James and Margaret's names

One of five cannons facing over the city.

Cheeky!

Annika's turn

...and Tim!

We, by chance, coincided our visit with the Edinburgh Festival so the streets were absolutely packed with street performers and crowds!  The atmosphere was great and it seemed like the city never stopped.  In a different life time, I would love to plan to see some performances which were in every available venue.

Street musicians

The Royal Mile

My favourite street statue

There are many street statues from Marie Antoinette to a copper woman but the bicycle guy was my favourite.  We wandered about and found a bit of peace and quiet from all the noise in St Giles Cathedral, a grand building.  I asked the verger there about the winged oxen depicted over Luke and the other symbols for Matthew (a man), Mark (a lion) and John (an eagle).  He couldn't tell me why the oxen and lion were winged but could say that these symbols were common.  He also said that we would find winged lions all over Venice's St Mark's Square so we will look for them when we arrive there in a couple of months.

Inside St Giles Cathedral - some now familiar coat of arms on the flags: Strawberry flower for Frasers, Dogs for the Forbes clan

John Knox

Some other street entertainment

Cute little alleys all going off from the Royal Mile - it was so tempting to explore them all.

Down Advocate's Close

Another street statue that we saw blink!

Grant, Jane's husband, is a tour guide for German tourists travelling in Scotland.  Our evening in Edinburgh coincided with his tour so while he dropped his group at the Tattoo, he joined us for dinner.  We had a short time in a queue at Pizza Express, which was excellent given the number of people in Edinburgh.  Ali, Jane and Grant's boarder came, too.  It was noisy and fun.

Karl, Tim and Ali

Jane and Grant

Ali and Jane

A family shot!

Grant, generously offered to show us around, before he had to meet his tour group at the end of their visit to the Tattoo.  He even explained the word "tattoo" was a word taken from Dutch, said by soldiers who had to finish up their drinking half an hour before they were on duty.  Grant led us down the Royal Mile to the Elephant House where J K Rowling penned the first Harry Potter book.

Even Alexander McCall Smith wrote in this cafe!  I would love to go there and be inspired.

A cafe for my next visit to Edinburgh!

Grant took us down to Greyfriar's Bobby who was a dear little dog who sat by his master, John Gray's graveside for many years and the people of Edinburgh fed him.  Both the dog and his master are buried in Greyfriar's Churchyard.

Greyfriar's Bobby

There are plenty of pubs so why not call one: Greyfriar's Bobby!

Lovely old Edinburgh scene by churchyard.

The churchyard is also of historic significance in that the Covenanters, a group of Christians who refused to accept the divine right of the Monarchy, were persecuted for their beliefs and suffered the wrath of the King's followers.  There were many executed in this churchyard, and in Grassmarket and their heads were displayed on poles as a disincentive to others who may  have chosen to hold the Covenanter's doctrines.

  

Grant in his tartan kilt being tour guide!

This pub in Grassmarket was the place where those being hanged nearby had their last drink - play on words noted!

We were just in time to wander up the hill again to see a fabulous display of fireworks at the end of the Tattoo coming from the Castle.  What's more we could hear the music  of the National Anthem and Auld Lang Syne which Grant, Karl and I sang loudly and held hands with everyone as is the tradition!  How very special!  We farewelled Grant as he dashed off to meet his tour group and Jane drove the kids and I back to her place and Ali drove Karl back to the car.  I was glad not to have to take the bus from Park and Ride as I reckon the crowds would have been huge.  What a fabulous day we had!