Going to a castle(s)

We all went to two castles.  Castle Mey right up the road from Thurso and Dunrobin Castle down a bit from Thurso in Golspie.  These two castles are about as different as they can be - Castle Mey belonged to the Queen Mum, and it's pretty much 'normal'.  By that, I mean, she furnished it with thrift store finds and everything is a little threadbare.  There are stuffed animals balanced on the tapestry that her grandchildren placed, that she thought was very funny so she left them.  


The thought that Prince Charles comes to this castle for a month every year in its current condition - to relax - makes a really obvious point that they are just people.

Castle Mey from it's walled gardens

The locals love the Queen Mum and even though for the most part the Scots are not royalists, there seems to be an appreciation for the fact that the royals love Caithness as much as the locals love Caithness.  The people that provide information throughout the tour worked for the Queen Mum and are working in the castle when it's closed for royal visits. They like to tell stories, which makes it seems like you are seeing inside a very private world.

Dave and Charlie at the overlook at Castle Mey - I know, they are both so cute!

Dunrobin Castle is the longest continuously occupied castle in Scotland.  It looks exactly like you would think a castle would look like inside and out.  There are some pretty fantastic gardens, an outbuilding to house their stuffed animal collection from all of their safaris, including a duck billed platypus - a very different stuffed animal collection from Castle Mey.

Dunrobin Castle from it unwalled gardens

It was a trip to Dunrobin that convinced Queen Victoria that Scotland was cool and so they went and purchased Balmoral.  They had a bed made special for her visit, and it has gold doves on the pillars all in a different positions  There are 189 rooms in the castle, and the tour let's you see 20 of them.  The most interesting part is how additions were made to the castle making very interesting rooms and passages.


Most Americans that come to England say I want to go to a castle - I assume that is because we don't have any castles.  They are interesting, but it's about the same level of interesting as going to someone's house for the first time and seeing how they've put it together and what they have surrounded themselves with - and let's admit it, that is always interesting.


One of my favorite things about these visits are the tea house and the extras.  The extras are a topic for another post.  But the teahouses...

Favorite dessert: Lavender Meringue - it's at Castle Mey teahouse

I sometimes just drive out to Mey for this - it is always slightly different, but always fabulous!  Thankfully, I took this photo to send to Jason who was at work while I was eating tea...