11 August 2015 - Craigievar Castle

It was significantly cooler than yesterday this morning - you know, nice summer temperatures of 15C and a bit cloudy.  We all settled down to school pretty well.  Luke's module over the next few weeks is about farms, the animals, the produce and the relevance to us.  He has to choose a farm animal to research and he chose...drum roll...a crocodile!! I suppose there are crocodile farms so we'll go with that!  We even have photos from Bangkok where we visited a crocodile farm. 

One of the other parts of the unit is researching where food comes from so we were encouraged to make pikelets to think about wheat and eggs and milk. Luke enjoyed the cooking session and we all enjoyed the results!

Luke cooking for "school"

 Having researched National Trust properties in our local region, we decided to head for Craigievar Castle,   which was promoted as a "fairy tale" castle.  Indeed, it did look majestic against the grey sky in its pink "harling" (render).  Harling, we were told by the guide, came from "hurling" the mixture at the wall and "harling" being the Scottish version of the action!  Karl was later told by a different guide that "harling" comes from Norwegian for throwing.  Old Norse and old Scottish have many words in common.  Two which come to mind are "kirk" for church and "bairn/barn" for a child. So, we have another word in our family lexicon, which might come in handy for Scrabble one day!

Craigievar Castle

Craigievar Castle was lived in until 1963 and it wasn't connected to electricity even then.  The National Trust have cared for it since then and have saved it from ruin.  The roof and harling have been restored but they continue to have problems with the humidity due to the climate which is obviously quite damp!

Remains of protective wall - granite used for other building - pilfered...

 It was handed on through the generations of the Forbes family after the land and partially completed castle was purchased by William Forbes from the Mortimers in 1610.  William Forbes was a trader of timber with the Baltic States.  One of the rooms was lined with Lithuanian Pine treated with Ox blood to make it look more red like mahogany!  Very creative!

Narrow granite staircases

Today the castle stands as a seven storey example of Baronial architecture complete with turrets and winding granite staircases which go all the way to the roof!  Somewhere along the track, a Baronetcy was granted so the title of Lord Sempill (through marriage) and Baron remained until 1965.  Peerage, peerage, peerage...

Muzzled bears - The Forbes coat of arms

Back to the Castle.  Very soon after entering we were struck by tartan everywhere: upholstery and carpet, the Forbes tartan of course which is blue and green.  Photos were not permitted in the castle so I can only remember the rooms looked like a gigantic kilt!

View from the roof

 The plaster ceilings were probably more ornate than the rest of the decor and were done by Italian craftsmen on their way up Scotland. There is a huge plaster Stuart Coat of Arms over the fireplace in the Great Hall.

Scottish flag - not windy enough to flutter today

This castle only had one door, which was protected by a granite wall with four round towers and high little inaccessible windows. 

The walls have mainly portraits of the generations of Forbes, some fairly amateur but two stood out as very lovely and they were painted by Henry Raeburn.  One other portrait had been painted with egg white which had turned a greenish colour over time making the subject look rather ill but he fathered 9 children so he must have lived for a while!

Family photo - most of us are smiling!

 The castle wasn't furnished with great opulence as one would expect and the beds were little and ordinary apart from the master bedroom.  There was a secret staircase, disguised as a cupboard, and a priest hole up in the roof.

Another roof shot - brave roof tilers in those days - imagine putting the slates on the turrets

We had a tour guide to show us around who was knowledgeable and pleasant to listen to.  We were pleased that it wasn't raining as we were permitted out on to the roof.  The view was amazing and there was something rather special about standing on the roof of a castle!!  The granite stairs were spiral and narrow and it was very exciting to climb up them!

A great angle for this picture if i say so myself!

Not quite our Aberdeenshire accommodation!

The original Forbes coat of arms was of three muzzled bears but when John "Red" Forbes (? 18th Century)  took over as Laird at the age of 21, he wanted to appear fierce and able to defend his castle

he changed the coat of arms to one with three snarling dogs and had the motto: "Dae not vake sleiping dogs" (Do not wake sleeping dogs!) - rather threatening!!!

Hand stand in castle grounds

Fairy tale castle

Lovely walking track

Scotch Blackface Sheep

Laird of the manor!

Tim assessing the "climb-ability" of this old tree!

We went for a walk along a track near the castle and found raspberries and delightful farm scenery!  Back home it was haircut night and Luke mastered the art of graffiti faces on junk mail so now everyone has moustaches and tattoos.