12 August 2015 - Castle Fraser

Sunshine greeted us this morning which is always a good start to the day!

I was busily doing breakfast dishes when I thought there was something a bit scratchy down my trousers on my leg.  On investigation it was a big spider, hopefully not poisonous and from whence it came is still a mystery.  Had we been in Australia, I might have been more concerned.  I have kept the spider's carcass in a bottle just in case we need to identify it but there seems to be no reaction to it on my leg. I think I'll hang my clothes up very carefully tonight in case he has some relatives lurking about.

How would you like that down your trouser leg?

And so school continued....Annika has to write a crime story so she has plenty of tales from castle history to draw on for a juicy bit of "faction", Tim has to do a futuristic essay complete with neologisms and Luke decided to research the life cycle of a slug instead of the prescribed topic of a life cycle of of chicken which he declared he'd already done at kinder and school.  School is all rather interesting if you ask me - not like when I was at school!

Castle Fraser

As we enjoyed the Castle Craigievar so much yesterday, we decided on another castle today: Castle Fraser.  We were glad we went to Craigievar first as Castle Fraser is much more grand with wonderful gardens, more interesting interiors and we had more time to chat to the guides.

Castle Fraser with hand stand

 The castle belonged to the Fraser family.  The original medieval tower which is the Great Hall, built in 14th century was added to from 15th century to create a Baronial castle with 23 rooms and 7 storeys of history.  The gardens and landscaped surrounds were done under the guidance of the lady Laird, Elyza Fraser between 1792 and 1814.

"New" entrance, 18 th century

View from the rooftop

The library - courtesy of a postcard!

The Great Hall - note old arch way which was the former door.

The walls are covered with portraits and the furniture is not too grand but definitely high quality.  There are many cabinets of display items from porcelain to fossils and lovely crockery and wallpaper throughout.  Some rooms had fake wallpaper which was actually stenciled onto the wall paint!  There were lots of lovely quilts and needlework about as well.  I feel I'd really like to sit down and do some craft again but it will have to wait as I seriously don't have time whilst we are travelling. 

Hand stand on the roof top

 As with all Scottish National Trust buildings we were not permitted to take photos inside.  Two display items were of particular interest.  One was  a set of prosthetic legs belonging to John Fraser (who had lost his leg in a battle when he was 20 and still lived to 74 and fathered four children).  He was a grand man who had different legs for every occasion: horse riding, dancing, walking, etc and when he travelled all his legs went with him!  The other was two bullets from the above John's body, one which was deflected from his head although his hat has a hole to show for it and the other bullet is the one which injured his leg so badly that it was amputated. 

Gorgeous sunny day for a roof top pose

And a selfie...

Quite a bit of land to enjoy!

And so flies the flag

 When Elyza Fraser was laird, a new entrance was made and it is through this that we entered today.  The former entrance went straight into the Great Hall via a sweeping set of external stairs.  Older features were kept such as a "Laird's Lug", a opening through which the laird could eavesdrop in on conversations held in the Great Hall from upstairs!!  There were also some spy holes!  There were at least two spiral staircases which were in use for our wander around the castle and one went right up to the roof. The flag was flying in the gentle breeze and the view was stunning.

Roof top views

Entrance back into the castle

I had remarked to Karl that the name Fraser came from the French for strawberry.  This was reiterated by the guide who told us that the coat of arms had three little strawberry flowers on it as a symbol for the name "Fraser".

The closest we could get to the coat of arms

There was a partial 'restoration' by the new owners around 1950 who really saved the castle from ruin before donating it to the National Trust.

Following our grand time in the castle where Luke's challenge was to find 10 hidden Lego figurines,  we spent some time in the most  delightful walled garden before we walked along Miss Bristow's Trail through the woods.  Miss Bristow was Elyza Fraser's companion.  We could have called it the Wild Raspberry Ramble as Karl and I feasted on about half a punnet each of delicious wild raspberries.

Flowers in the Jim Fuller border

Love the colours

Door to walled garden

More vibrant colour

Luke in mid air

Lovely against the blue sky

 One feature of note on the walk was the Moses Well, a natural spring which has old stone panels erected around it, thought to be from a 17th Century Dutch church.  Luke and Annika delighted in splashing each other with the water....sibling fun!
 

The Moses Well

Who splashed who first?

Lovely paths with wild raspberries scattered for those want to  who look

Nature's art work

Walk finished, homeward bound

 On the way home I felt something trying to bite me! This time it was a tick trying to find a bit of me to burrow in!  It must be my day for attracting mini beasts!  I am glad I got the tick before it got me!

Kirkton of Rayne - very cute name!

 It was such a beautiful evening that after dinner, we all went for a walk down the lanes around here.  The sunset was very gorgeous over the hills and wheat fields with sheep calling their lambs in the still air.  Apart from our noise, and a couple of cars, the countryside was very peaceful.

Evening walk

Evening light

There's Mither Tap and the Bennachie Ranges