We were up early to make the most of our day journeying to
Edinburgh. After a quick stop at
Inverurie Tesco for supplies and some new jeans for me after I tripped over the
other day and tore my trousers and knee! We conquered the 20 plus roundabouts to exit Aberdeen
and were finally cruising down South!
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| Barry Mill |
We followed our Tom Tom diligently but we temporarily a bit
unsure when it led us down some pretty narrow rocky and gravelly tracks but we
did arrive at National Trust’s Barry Mill as we’d hoped. It turned out that the Tom Tom had taken us
down the old main road from Arbroath to Dundee right to the Mill’s door. We had to drive a bit further down the more
conventional route to find the car park and official entrance to the mill!
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| Still functioning today, the Barry Mill stands solid. |
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| The kiln |
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| Looking out from the upper window |
Barry Mill was established in 19th century as the
local mill for oats. It was illegal for
land holders to mill their own oats so it was all brought to the mill. It is a water wheel driven mill and still
operates on Sundays as a mill. We had a
terrific tour guide who included the kids patiently and allowed them to start
up the water wheel and the whole apparatus turned into action. Our guide explained how the milling process
works. We were permitted to touch various
parts and really learned a lot!
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| A couple of boys to be roasted? |
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| The inner working of the mill |
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| Looking down on the river into which the mill water flows. |
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| The kiln from the outside - lovely red sandstone |
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| The water wheel starting up with the boys' help. |
Outside the lade, or little stream which carries the water
from the burn was just a little too tempting for Luke who overbalanced in it
and walked through the water! Boys!
The
woodland walk was full of
wildflowers
and the apple trees were dropping apples….lovely!
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| Barry Mill with lade |
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| Bridge 1740, built for the main road from Arbroath to Dundee |
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| The old Miller's cottage which will be a holiday cottage once restored. |
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| I love the overgrown garden: full of possibilities |
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| A beautiful butterfly on our woodland walk. |
The rain started for a brief but fairly heavy shower so we
quickly go back in the car and tootled on South.
Crossing the Tay Bridge in Dundee was a
little confusing due to roadworks but we managed and drove on to Falkland.
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| Falkland Palace |
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| Falkland Main Street - old pub 1607 |
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| 1610 - over 400 years old! |
Falkland is a pretty little historic village with a central
water fountain in the main street, a church and importantly a beautiful castle!
Falkland, named because of Peregrine Falcons
used in falconry and hunting in the oak forest in the times of the Royal Stuarts: Falcon
(Falk)-Land.
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| Entrance to the palace |
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| Ceiling panels |
Falkland Palace has been likened to the Scottish royal
family’s version of Balmoral being the country retreat for the Stuart kings and
queens, including Mary Queen of Scots. It
had been part of the Scottish nobility’s properties since 1100’s. King James IV
and James V restored this palace in Rennaissance style. After the Union of the Crowns, James VI,
Charles 1 and Charles II all visited the palace. Part of the palace was damaged by Cromwell’s
troops but the ruined part is well incorporated into the remains and the restoration
of the king and queen’s bedroom done in the 1950’s is very lovely.
The most restoration was done by the 3rd Marquess of Bute in
the 1890’s, who put his initial “B” on the window shutters and had carved
panels with his children’s face on them installed. Parts of the palace are still used today by
the care taker.
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| Looking out of the windows to the Main Street |
The painted ceilings and painted panel walls were beautiful
and there were magnificent portraits of the Scottish royals adorning the walls.
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| The old King's chamber, now in ruin |
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| Quite imposing from the garden |
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| Impressive walled garden |
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| Lovely lilac daisies |
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| The world's first tennis court! |
The walled gardens are beautiful and again there were trees
laden with ripe apples.
Falkland Palace
boasts the world’s first tennis court, which varies slightly from modern day
tennis and was played by Mary Queen of Scots.
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| ......and over she goes! |
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| Exploring! |
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| Statues! |
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| Through the orchard and grasslands |
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| Trying a freshly picked apple |
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| Pretty garden bridge |
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| Falkland Palace is very impressive! |
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| Central water fountain in Main Street |
We had a wander up the main street and came across a second
hand violin and antiquities shop where the proprietor was playing beautiful
guitar music. We poked our heads in and
in no time Karl was playing his guitar which had been signed by Pacapena, a well-known
Spanish Flamenco guitar player. He and Karl
had a great old jam session and it was lovely.
The chap, a retired detective from the Glasgow murder squad, now runs
his shop of curios and seems to revel in his quiet life. He gave us a potted history of most things in
the area! He is a hill runner (at 73)
and has run Ben Nevis 21 times! Luke,
our little charmer, was given a novelty thimble in the shape of a knight with
visor and was delighted to look at the stuffed puffin, owls and a raven. We could have talked for hours but we were
still on our way to Edinburgh.
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| The lovely violin and curiosity shop where we spent a good while chatting |
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| Some curios |
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| A puffin from Iceland - 100 years old |
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| Scottish wildcat |
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| Karl and the shop owner having a jam session! |
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| Lovely music! |
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| Statue of the local man Onesiphorus Tyndall- Bruce who funded the building of the church in 19th century - once again, he inherited money from his wealthy wife! |
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| Pretty Falkland buildings |
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| Over the Firth of Forth |
The traffic and the rain was heavy driving into Edinburgh but
we arrived safely in Penicuik and were welcomed by Jane with a lovely
meal. The kids settled eventually. What a full day!
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