A glorious sunny but hazy morning greeted us as did the rural aroma of
cow manure, as is common in farming areas!
Tim and I had a brisk walk appreciating the local environment.
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| Local places |
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| Post box - in a wall... |
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| Our street |
We trotted back to New Community Church in Inverurie for the third
Sunday in a row and it felt like home. What
a warm welcome we have had from this lovely group of Christians! Rich fellowship and genuine caring is so
evident. And so we move on…
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| Luke and his friend Mhairi (pronounced Vahry - Gaelic form of Mary) |
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| Drum Castle |
As the big kids are not particularly interested in the National Trust
properties we want to explore, they chose to stay at home whilst Karl, Luke and I
headed off to Drum Castle, Deeside and we were not disappointed.
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| Perfect day for castle exploring |
Drum Castle, is so named because of its geographical situation on the ridge
or “druim” in Gaelic. It is a grand
looking castle with a 13th century square tower, believed to be one
of the three remaining oldest tower houses in Britain. Given to William de Irwyn in 1323 by Robert
the Bruce, it stayed in the Irvine family for nearly 700 years until 1975. Through the ages a Jacobean mansion house was
added to the original tower in 1619 and there was also a Victorian addition and
renovations to complete the grand building we toured through today.
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| 13th century tower dominates the castle |
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| 1649 extension |
There was lots of lovely Delft Blue pottery around the house including
vases for tulips which symbolised wealth as tulips were highly valued.
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| Lovely chair in nursery |
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| One of the Irvine Clan |
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| Delft Blue horse |
Bonnie Prince Charlie was hidden in this castle for 2 years. It seems he did the rounds of the castles
around this area as we hear about him everywhere! The castle was a homely sort of place to walk through and I suppose this
was because it was lived in until 30 years ago.
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| In the tower |
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| View from the roof |
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| Checking out the slate |
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| Roof top views |
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| Solid stonework which has stood for nearly 700 years! |
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| The Chapel |
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| Stained glass window in the small chapel on the castle grounds |
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| 15th century - symbolising knights |
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| Showing older (tower) and newer parts of the castle |
We particularly enjoyed climbing down the steep stairs into the cellar
and up the uneven spiral staircase to the rooftop of the 13th
century tower. It was the highest castle tower
we’ve climbed up to this point and felt very grand!
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| Always a bit of fun climbing towers |
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| Adventure play ground |
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| Biggest thistle I've ever seen! |
The surrounding woodland is lush and lovely and apparently there are
squirrels, deer, badgers and hedgehogs living there but sadly we didn’t see
any!
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| Woodland walk |
Luke enjoyed the very different and lovely adventure playground there
and enjoyed being just with Karl and I without the other kids. They all seem to vie for individual attention
but I can’t clone myself!!
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| Hay in the sun |
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| Drum Castle from over the hedge! |
We had passed the Cullerlie Stone Circle on our way so we stopped there on our way back. These stones were only excavated 1934 and I wonder how many others such stone circles lie hidden in farmers' fields near here. It is pretty amazing to touch these stones rolled here by ancient people.
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| Och aye, there's nothing quite like driving along to find a stone circle! |
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| Stone Circle photobombed by Luke |
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| These stones were probably a burial chamber |
A perfect, if a little hazy, evening drive through the golden fields of barley back to our spot. Another week has flown by.
Another impressive castle to explore! :)
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