Balveine Castle

Another very impressive Castle

dandilion growing out of the wall

I love this picture

Glenfiddich Distillery

Me and Rod at the entrance to Glefiddich

The stills

Our guide Lorna

Lorna pouring shots for the German young men who sat with us, they were very nice guys, and were interested in our country

Stag art

Ladies you would not believe how beautiful the Washroom was so here are the pictures not the baskets under the sinks for the used paper towels , there were even places on the other side to apply makeup wow!

Even a sitting area to relax in lovely leather chairs

Coffee shop was a beauty as well

We really enjoyed our free tour and the drinks at the end ///

Delgatie Castle

Lion on the balcony watching over all

Entrance with the two Stags

This beautiful statue was sitting on top of a very high shelf  I thought it was so beautiful, a pure white Monkey with the black flie on the hand at first I thought it was a real fly..but no it was part of the artwork Capt. Hay was a real collector

Ceilings in many Castles are like this painted with scenes and sayings one saying said " as a dog turneth to his own Vomit, so the foole returneth to his own foolishnes

Guest room

one of the two paintings I found tucked in under a chair ...It was so beautiful

This was the other one

A view of the front entrance patio area from the second floor window

This is Joan Johnson "Chef Supreme and keeper of the Castle

The small cement structure to the left is a fountain then the Chapel that is attached to the castle

Small mill

Looking towards Joan's cottage through a old garden area

Delgatie Castle from the road



The Lairds Kitchen

Our Lunch dessert Coffee Cake



This pool was the last thing Capt. Hay made before he died at the age of 91 in 1997....Joan told me the story of how she came to be keeper of the castle ...30 years ago she was working in a Cafe/ catering shop in Turrif Capt. Hay who owned the castle came there every day and through conversation with Joan and others he found out that she was looking for a place to live because her daughter was very frightened to sleep in the cottage they had in town, Joan had tried for two years to help her daughter overcome her fears, Joan thought there may be something mentally wrong with her....well anyway the capt. said he had a empty cottage on his property and it was available so they went to see it Friday and moved in on Sunday. Capt. ( as Joan called him) took her daughter for a walk that very night and she slept fine in her new bedroom. Joan wanted to pay for staying in the cottage but capt. refused and so they struck a deal Joan would clean and cook for him ( as his wife had died in 1976) and he was all alone they never had any children. Joan said the capt. spoiled her daughter and that the two of them were so happy when they were together , he would take her to town and buy her anything she wanted. Some of the town folk talked about Joan behind her back called her a loose woman etc. The Capt. new his end was near and made a new will in it he put his estate in a trust all but the cottage that Joan and her daughter lived in he gave this to her and the surrounding land...wow! there were apparently two long lost relatives who came forward tyring to have Capt. declared mentally incompetent well the DR. said he was of sound mind so that ended that battle ...Joan said that the Capt. worked tirelessly on the upkeep of the Castle, that he was always building or repairing something, he had just finished the cement pond and came in happy with his work ...Joan said he didn't come down for breakfast in the morning and she found him dead in his bed....So she has been caring for the Castle along with some other people who volunteer ...there is also a Band B in a building nearby and she says people have wedding there and they have a huge table in the chapel they serve the catering from...and her daughter was married at the Castle and her son in law is writing a book about the castle and capt. Hay ...I loved her story hope  you all do as well.





Tolquttow Castle ...

Really impressive reuins of Tolquttow Castle

We loved this old place

Look at the size of the fireplace

The floors on most of the upper rooms are gone imagine building this stone by stone

The Crest

Found the pidgion in a turret room at the top left the door open for it to fly away

This is taken faceing towards the living area , open courtyard

Had a really great look around Tolquttow Castle just reuins but you could feel the past. The lady that cares for it and the giftshop and sells tickets has lived in a stone cottage that was once stables for 6 years now, her son who is 9 says he sees a man sometimes when the are closed walking around, the lady says she here a woman singing. Neither have any fear.  She allways  opens the office with a " Good Morning Call out" and closes with "Good night" She was saying in the 1700 the Castle had been abandonde and the local folk started stripping the stone and wood from the Castle to make there homes stronger and better keep the elements out...they took quite a bit by the look it Ha! She was quite upset at what they had done, very protective of her Castle, I told her if she had lived in those times I would not have agrued with her, and bet she would have put a few in there place ...She agreed.

Cullen Skink

Yesterday at The Laird's Kitchen in Delgatie Castle we had this absolutly delisious bowl of thick soup made with smoked haddock, potatoes,onions and milk Oh! Boy another favorite  

My favorite ...Sticky Pudding

This is our very favorite dessert and at the rate we are eating them I feel a weight Gain coming on

Castles ...Food...Scottish Country side

Scotland day one and two

This is the Full Scotish Breakfast which looks just like the full English...This was not as good as Trish and Alan's

Rod ate every bit of his , I left some on the plate

St. Mary's Church/ Collage

was a really beautiful Building

Statue's near the entrance to St. Marys

Christopher in his Rider shirt checking out the Saskatoon berry Jam

A very Pretty Ann Marie...so very nice to see both of them

Oh! Yes our first very nice policeman...we were totally lost coming from the airport, we had pulled into a wooded area to try and sort out the Tom Tom and I saw a car load of police 4 of them, so I waved at them and this one got out and was going to set our Tom Tom for us the others had these funny looks on there faces, well Rod got it just as he came to the car, he reminded us to stay to the left and thet left , as we were turning onto the highway I looked over and there was the police car waiting to see if we got going OK they all waved as we went by...Ha!





Lovely Ol Graveyard near Duthie Park we walked trough some checking out the gravestones

Duthie Park very nice place

We started day one with the drive from the Airport in our Volkswagen diesel Car ...bloody efficient little car an automatic and we have driven about 150 miles so far and only used a 1/4 tank of fuel , it was a bit of a job for Rod to get use to the way of driving in the UK ...Likely didn't help when i would cover my face and scream Ha! Well he is a old hand at it now Ann Marie came to our Hotel on Tuesday and we three all walked to Duthie Park, and along the river it was so pretty all the daffodils in bloom everywhere and of course the Dandelions that no one worries about they grow big everywhere and really look lovely. Then we went to a Local Restaurant/ Hotel and had a great lunch, Ann Marie headed home and we just stayed in and rested went to bed early. Wed. Rod and I went to two Castles really enjoying them both, we were trying to get back to the B and B to meet up with Ann Marie and Christopher for Dinner, well we were late they were hungry and so they took a takeaway Chinese and headed to Ann Marie's, we caught up with them and they came back to join us at dinner we had a great visit.Would you believe I forgt to charge up my camera and so only got pictures of the church we stopped at . I have pictures on my phone and may figure how to load them to my Lap Top before I get home Ha!. Just was watching the news and there are people already waiting at Buckingham Palce for the big wedding of Will and Kate tomorrow, would you believe he (Will) is out as we speak shaking hands and thanking these people for coming out...what a nice guy :)