Continued from part 3…
Friday rolls around and we’re nearing the end of our holiday. One last adventure up near Inverness today before heading back down to Glasgow tomorrow. We had a little continental breakfast, and set off East out of Inverness.
We drove along the A96 towards Elgin, planning to visit just two destinations today: Duffus Castle and Pluscarden Abbey, but on the way we saw signs for a couple of other castles, so decided to stop in at those too.
First was Cawdor Castle and Gardens. It wasn’t in the plan, but Helen spotted the sign on the side of the road, so we took a detour.
In pretty much every way, this was a toned-down version of Dunrobin castle, but for a similar price. Lots of privately-owned, expensive-to-visit castles in the North-East of Scotland it appears. It was lovely, but was a little underwhelming after yesterday.
We walked around the castle first, listening to the audio guide in each room, then went outside to the gardens. I couldn’t find any as-interesting rooms as the haunted room in Dunrobin, but it was very well-presented.
Outside, we visited the 1200-tree hedge maze, but unfortunately it was closed, so I couldn’t carry out my plans to re-enact the scene from The Shining with Helen and an axe. So we took a walk around the gardens, then went back to the car.
Second was Brodie Castle. We got to the entrance, but realized it was another very similar situation with another £11 entry fee per person, so decided to just take a picture of the outside and move on.
The third stop of the day was the town of Elgin. It was around 1:30pm by this point, so we stopped in at a small Italian restaurant called Scribbles. Helen ordered the cauliflower and cheese soup with a side of truffle fries, while I had a duck and hoi sin calzone. It was delicious, we’d recommend this one.
After lunch we took a walk around town. They had a Walkers shortbread shop, something I’d never seen before, so naturally I had to buy a lot of shortbread! Up the hill there was a nice bookstore called Yeadon’s where Helen bought a couple of local crime novels, then around the corner to a couple of little craft stores – Crafted in Moray, and Bee Crafty. Helen found a lot of craft gear for scrapbooking.
With several bags, we sat down for a dessert at 19 Crepes and Coffee, which was also delicious, then went back to the car to move to our next destination.
Fourth was Duffus Castle. About a 15 minute drive from Elgin down some country roads. This was more my type of castle. A ruin set in lovely scenery, and completely free.
It was a proper motte and bailey castle, that was originally built in wood in the 12th century, then upgraded to stone in the early 14th century.
The layout of the castle was great, I was able to take not one, but two photospheres! One of the motte at the top:
And one of the bailey at the bottom:
If Dunrobin was the best “complete” castle we’ve visited this holiday, Duffus was the best ruin.
Fifth was Pluscarden Abbey, a working abbey, the only Benedictine abbey in Scotland, and the only living medieval monastery in the UK. It was set in the forest, very quiet, very peaceful.
Around the back, we found the shop full of handmade goodies. There wasn’t anyone there, and the shop ran on a trust system. We grabbed a few bits, paid ourselves using the card machine, then got back on our way after a little look around the accessible areas.
We also read all about Baxter the Benedictine Cat, a cat that lots of merchandise was created for, who lived in the monastery for 18 years with the monks, hunting mice and birds. Sounds like he had a great little life!
On the way back to Inverness, we stopped in at the out-of-town retail park, where Helen picked up some more craft-bits from The Range, after which, we ate dinner at The Snow Goose, a pub just out of Inverness to the East.
Finally, we returned to the hotel for our last night’s sleep in Inverness before heading back down to Glasgow in the morning.
What a busy day you’ve had. Shame you dissed Cawdor Castle, it looks lovely to me apart from the very drab exterior. In contrast Brodie Castle looks a much more welcoming colour and you were too tight to pay your £11 each. You have to understand that the rich aristocratic land owners need your hard earned money to keep them in the lifestyle to which they’re entitled. That cross shaped pancake looks superb, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better presented one. The ruin looked like a ruin to me but the Abbey looked special.
Cawdor was nice, but I think I’d have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t been to Dunrobin the day before. We’ve already paid more than enough for castle entries this last week, couldn’t warrant another £22! And yes, the crepe was brilliant. Very chocolatey though, so you wouldn’t have liked it.
So where’s the calendar of Baxter the cat? Or some Abbots Kitchen chocolate?
Love the mix of castles and food.
We’ve got some abbots chocolate, still haven’t tried it yet, still working through the shortbread we brought back!
With Baxter, one of the monks had written a book where he took pictures of the cat, then wrote a verse relevant to the picture. We very nearly bought it, but didn’t in the end.