London - Lakes - Hadrian - Traquair and more...
Jun 21st, 2016, 08:56 AM
#23
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Loving your trip report - I could kick myself now for not visiting Hadrian's wall while I was in Newcastle but I was just too tired from traipsing around Scotland and decided to give myself a break. One day . . .
Jun 23rd, 2016, 01:15 AM
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The next day: we drove a few miles east to the medieval market town of Hexham. This town is well worth half a day or more if you are visiting the area. We first stopped at the jail ( = gaol), a brute, blunt structure on the outside, appropriately. But do go inside. The explanatory displays throughout are very well done, from the basement where the most unfortunate prisoners were tossed (no windows, no latrine, rats, and a crust of bread if you’re lucky), to the ground floor and the second story. Not to worry, there’s an elevator.
The displays here drive home the brutality of the fighting among the clans and more generally the Scots and the English for centuries, a kind of no-holds-barred Taliban era. The “reivers” (romanticized by Sir Walter Scott) would swoop down on a farm or a village, steal the animals, kill at random, sometimes steal children. The Armstrong clan, for example, ravaged the village of Haltwhistle, our adopted B&B village, in 1598.
This anarchy only came under control after James VI of Scotland assumed the throne of England as James I and London slowly imposed some kind of order. By the way, shortly we shall see where his mother, Mary, rocked him in the cradle in one of the bedrooms of Traquair House, where we will stay for two nights.
We then visited Hexham Abbey. The crypt of the Saxon abbey survives, 7th century, and it can be visited with a verger. It was built from Roman stones taken from nearby structures and Hadrian’s wall. Some still have the decorative carvings visible.
The Danes destroyed the original abbey. The Normans rebuilt the abbey in the 12th century and it survives more or less intact, with later additions. Of special interest near the entry is an 8-foot Roman tombstone with the image of a mounted Roman warrior and a captive crouching at the horses’ feet. The inscription on the base of the slab tells us that this is the grave of “Flavius, Roman standard bearer, died at the age of 25, after 7 years of service.” The was found during excavations in the church many years ago.
We had lunch in the abbey cafe. I love the custom of cafes in churches. This one looked out on a patio and garden and served very good, solid food. I had another couple of glories of English cuisine: broccoli and stilton soup followed by a ham and pease pudding sandwich and a pot of Early Grey tea = contentment.
After lunch we drove a few miles to Vindolanda. History buffs could easily spend a day here. I’ll just say a few things about this large and complex site. Began about 40 years before the wall. Eventually, the fort houses hundreds of soldiers and the attached “vicus” or village housed hundreds of civilians, just as was the case at Housesteads. Excavation continues, with the site archeologists welcoming volunteers to work in the summer. This summer students from the University of Western Ontario were digging away, as well as retirees and teachers on summer break.
The major discovery at Vindolanda a few decades ago were hundreds of writing tablets. After careful conservation and treatment, experts were able to read the inscriptions: all kind of letters, bills, lists of supplies, a birthday invitation from one commander’s wife to another, etc. It was a stunning discovery which shed much light on this northern part of the empire.
Dinner that evening: the Greenhead Hotel in Greenhead, a little west of Haltwhistle, recommended by our B&B. The best meal we had during our three nights in this area. Mains: pan roasted salmon and wild mushrooms on tagiatelle with a tarragon cream sauce, the mushrooms supplied by a local farmer. And of course, ale. And, of course, of course, sticky toffee pudding with custard sauce.
Next: trek over to the coast to visit Lindisfarne on Holy Island and Bamburgh Castle.
The displays here drive home the brutality of the fighting among the clans and more generally the Scots and the English for centuries, a kind of no-holds-barred Taliban era. The “reivers” (romanticized by Sir Walter Scott) would swoop down on a farm or a village, steal the animals, kill at random, sometimes steal children. The Armstrong clan, for example, ravaged the village of Haltwhistle, our adopted B&B village, in 1598.
This anarchy only came under control after James VI of Scotland assumed the throne of England as James I and London slowly imposed some kind of order. By the way, shortly we shall see where his mother, Mary, rocked him in the cradle in one of the bedrooms of Traquair House, where we will stay for two nights.
We then visited Hexham Abbey. The crypt of the Saxon abbey survives, 7th century, and it can be visited with a verger. It was built from Roman stones taken from nearby structures and Hadrian’s wall. Some still have the decorative carvings visible.
The Danes destroyed the original abbey. The Normans rebuilt the abbey in the 12th century and it survives more or less intact, with later additions. Of special interest near the entry is an 8-foot Roman tombstone with the image of a mounted Roman warrior and a captive crouching at the horses’ feet. The inscription on the base of the slab tells us that this is the grave of “Flavius, Roman standard bearer, died at the age of 25, after 7 years of service.” The was found during excavations in the church many years ago.
We had lunch in the abbey cafe. I love the custom of cafes in churches. This one looked out on a patio and garden and served very good, solid food. I had another couple of glories of English cuisine: broccoli and stilton soup followed by a ham and pease pudding sandwich and a pot of Early Grey tea = contentment.
After lunch we drove a few miles to Vindolanda. History buffs could easily spend a day here. I’ll just say a few things about this large and complex site. Began about 40 years before the wall. Eventually, the fort houses hundreds of soldiers and the attached “vicus” or village housed hundreds of civilians, just as was the case at Housesteads. Excavation continues, with the site archeologists welcoming volunteers to work in the summer. This summer students from the University of Western Ontario were digging away, as well as retirees and teachers on summer break.
The major discovery at Vindolanda a few decades ago were hundreds of writing tablets. After careful conservation and treatment, experts were able to read the inscriptions: all kind of letters, bills, lists of supplies, a birthday invitation from one commander’s wife to another, etc. It was a stunning discovery which shed much light on this northern part of the empire.
Dinner that evening: the Greenhead Hotel in Greenhead, a little west of Haltwhistle, recommended by our B&B. The best meal we had during our three nights in this area. Mains: pan roasted salmon and wild mushrooms on tagiatelle with a tarragon cream sauce, the mushrooms supplied by a local farmer. And of course, ale. And, of course, of course, sticky toffee pudding with custard sauce.
Next: trek over to the coast to visit Lindisfarne on Holy Island and Bamburgh Castle.
Jun 23rd, 2016, 05:18 PM
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I read 'The Eagle of the Ninth' in junior high school. So someday I must see Hadrian's wall and Vindolanda.
A question: Do you drive stick or automatic in the UK? (On the continent we drive stick, but in the UK we chicken out and splurge on an automatic. Problem is the choice of automatics can be limited at some depots and one is often given a larger car than one might like on such narrow roads.)
A question: Do you drive stick or automatic in the UK? (On the continent we drive stick, but in the UK we chicken out and splurge on an automatic. Problem is the choice of automatics can be limited at some depots and one is often given a larger car than one might like on such narrow roads.)
Jun 23rd, 2016, 06:01 PM
#30
Sue: Not the OP but just my 2 ¢ . . . I am totally useless w/ my left hand. Not the least bit ambidextrous.
But I have no trouble at all driving a stick in the UK/Ireland. It isn't as if one is street racing or trying to pull someone off the line. No power shifting required
Just gentle shifts up and down through the gears.
Many (most) people just assume an automatic is better/easier w/o actually trying a stick. I personally think shifting w/ the left hand (assuming you can do it) is a help -- just another mental cue that things are 'different' and help keeping on the right (left) side of the road.
It might take an extra few hours to acclimate.
Plus I always find something fun to spend the savings on . . .
But I have no trouble at all driving a stick in the UK/Ireland. It isn't as if one is street racing or trying to pull someone off the line. No power shifting required
Just gentle shifts up and down through the gears.
Many (most) people just assume an automatic is better/easier w/o actually trying a stick. I personally think shifting w/ the left hand (assuming you can do it) is a help -- just another mental cue that things are 'different' and help keeping on the right (left) side of the road.
It might take an extra few hours to acclimate.
Plus I always find something fun to spend the savings on . . .
Jun 24th, 2016, 01:39 AM
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@sofarsogood: thanks for the info, but we already arrived in Bamburgh. But we did have some beautiful country roads from Bamburgh over to Floors and then to Innerleithen and Traquair.
@Sue: we have an automatic, and it also has a very good satnav, good for some of the little country roads we've been traveling
@Sue: we have an automatic, and it also has a very good satnav, good for some of the little country roads we've been traveling
Jun 24th, 2016, 02:03 AM
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Holy Island-Lindisfarne and Bamburgh
We had an easy drive from Haltwhistle to Holy Island. We arrived at noon and had to be off the island before 3:10 pm, when the tides rush in and cover the causeway. We could easily have spent a day, and a quiet evening here to enjoy the island's peace after the visitors leave. But we only had a couple of hours, so we visited the ruined Priory and the Castle, the latter substantially rebuilt in the early 1900s by the new wealthy owner, with designs by eminent architect Edwin Lutyens. Lutyens design and interior decor is very fine, a kind of muscular simplified William Morris feel. But I can't imagine spending too many weeks here, it feels so isolated. Lytton Strachey spent a holiday here and said the only thing to do was get drunk. Hard to imagine Strachey stuck on Holy Island.
Then on to Bamburgh. We spent the night at the Lord Crewe Hotel (Crewe was archbishop of Durham; the archbishop controlled this part of northern England for some time). Bamburgh Castle was also substantially rebuilt in the early 1900s by its new owner, Lord Armstrong (was he a descendant of the rowdy Armstrongs who trashed Haltwhistle in 1598, I wonder). The main hall is especially striking, with a complex roof of hammerhead beams, all of teak from Thailand. The castle is high up on a hill and far below is a long stretch of wide beach and dunes.
Dinner at the Lord Crewe: we both had roasted hake with cream sauce and "sea spinach" which looked and tasted like...spinach. Desserts: more sticky toffee pudding of course and raspberry-buckwheat cheesecake, very tasty.
The next morning we awoke to the summer-est morning yet, brilliant sunshine, very warm, deep clear blue skies. We really have been blessed with weather. The manager of the hotel told us the day before, as we checked in, that the previous week there had been days of rain and fog so thick that you could not even see the castle, which was only half a block down the road.
Heading off to...
Traquair, via Floors:
Our satnav took us westward along all manner of little country roads, which was fine with us. We passed rolling, green hillsides, neat as a pin, and herds of sheep and black cattle (a historical marker at one point mentioned "wild cattle" but they looked very tame and polite to us).
We drove to Mellerstain, eager to see the Adam interiors. When we finally arrived we saw that it was closed. This was a Thursday; it's open only Friday through Monday and I had neglected to read the fine print in our guidebook. No matter, we took off for Floors, just a few miles away.
Floors actually provided a very good stop to combine with Traquair. These two sites show two ways that the old landed aristocratic families developed over the last few centuries. Floors: when money got tight around 1900, one turns to the Downton Abbey solution--go find a rich American to marry. Traquair: when money got tight, late 1800s, suffer, live on a shoestring, eventually develop some ways of making money (restart the 300-year-old brewery, open up to guests, etc.)
This means that the interior of Floors has been strongly marked by the decorating ideas of the new American duchess in the 1920s and 1930s, with the ornate ceilings of the two grandest rooms ripped out, new American red oak panelling, new/old Brussels tapestries to cover the largest and grandest room (they cut out part of the largest tapestry so that it would fit around the mantle of the fireplace!)
Traquair has quite a different feel to it, sort of like visiting a slightly dotty but charming old aunt who is still rattling around the castle. A unique experience. Here it comes.....
Next: Traquair
(...all this being written Friday morning, June 24, as I awake early, check the news, my goodness, Brexit, pound loses 11% against the dollar, Cameron resigns...exciting times, as the Chinese curse says)
We had an easy drive from Haltwhistle to Holy Island. We arrived at noon and had to be off the island before 3:10 pm, when the tides rush in and cover the causeway. We could easily have spent a day, and a quiet evening here to enjoy the island's peace after the visitors leave. But we only had a couple of hours, so we visited the ruined Priory and the Castle, the latter substantially rebuilt in the early 1900s by the new wealthy owner, with designs by eminent architect Edwin Lutyens. Lutyens design and interior decor is very fine, a kind of muscular simplified William Morris feel. But I can't imagine spending too many weeks here, it feels so isolated. Lytton Strachey spent a holiday here and said the only thing to do was get drunk. Hard to imagine Strachey stuck on Holy Island.
Then on to Bamburgh. We spent the night at the Lord Crewe Hotel (Crewe was archbishop of Durham; the archbishop controlled this part of northern England for some time). Bamburgh Castle was also substantially rebuilt in the early 1900s by its new owner, Lord Armstrong (was he a descendant of the rowdy Armstrongs who trashed Haltwhistle in 1598, I wonder). The main hall is especially striking, with a complex roof of hammerhead beams, all of teak from Thailand. The castle is high up on a hill and far below is a long stretch of wide beach and dunes.
Dinner at the Lord Crewe: we both had roasted hake with cream sauce and "sea spinach" which looked and tasted like...spinach. Desserts: more sticky toffee pudding of course and raspberry-buckwheat cheesecake, very tasty.
The next morning we awoke to the summer-est morning yet, brilliant sunshine, very warm, deep clear blue skies. We really have been blessed with weather. The manager of the hotel told us the day before, as we checked in, that the previous week there had been days of rain and fog so thick that you could not even see the castle, which was only half a block down the road.
Heading off to...
Traquair, via Floors:
Our satnav took us westward along all manner of little country roads, which was fine with us. We passed rolling, green hillsides, neat as a pin, and herds of sheep and black cattle (a historical marker at one point mentioned "wild cattle" but they looked very tame and polite to us).
We drove to Mellerstain, eager to see the Adam interiors. When we finally arrived we saw that it was closed. This was a Thursday; it's open only Friday through Monday and I had neglected to read the fine print in our guidebook. No matter, we took off for Floors, just a few miles away.
Floors actually provided a very good stop to combine with Traquair. These two sites show two ways that the old landed aristocratic families developed over the last few centuries. Floors: when money got tight around 1900, one turns to the Downton Abbey solution--go find a rich American to marry. Traquair: when money got tight, late 1800s, suffer, live on a shoestring, eventually develop some ways of making money (restart the 300-year-old brewery, open up to guests, etc.)
This means that the interior of Floors has been strongly marked by the decorating ideas of the new American duchess in the 1920s and 1930s, with the ornate ceilings of the two grandest rooms ripped out, new American red oak panelling, new/old Brussels tapestries to cover the largest and grandest room (they cut out part of the largest tapestry so that it would fit around the mantle of the fireplace!)
Traquair has quite a different feel to it, sort of like visiting a slightly dotty but charming old aunt who is still rattling around the castle. A unique experience. Here it comes.....
Next: Traquair
(...all this being written Friday morning, June 24, as I awake early, check the news, my goodness, Brexit, pound loses 11% against the dollar, Cameron resigns...exciting times, as the Chinese curse says)
Jun 24th, 2016, 02:52 AM
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wild cattle - hmmm… I wonder if these were signs to the Chillingham wild cattle - they truly are wild and can only be seen at a distance with a guide.
http://chillinghamwildcattle.com/
http://chillinghamwildcattle.com/
Jun 28th, 2016, 05:50 AM
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From Floors we drove farther west through the Tweed river valley to the village of Innerleithen. This is a lovely valley. The A72 is the main east-west road here but our satnav directed us to narrow, winding secondary roads, which was fine with us. Little traffic, people drove sanely, and it provided some great views.
From Innerleithen we took the signposted road to Traquair House. We arrived around 5 pm, just the time we had notified them a couple of days before. Entering through the main visitors gate, the last day-visitors were just leaving and the place seemed quiet. There were no signs for overnight guest parking so we just picked a parking area close to the castle and walked through the main gates up to the front door.
I said hello to a thin, tall gentleman of a certain age near the front door, introduced myself. He said hello. Pause. I said we'd like to check in please. Pause. Pause. Meditative pause. Then: "Oh, you're guests!" Well, yes, we are in fact guests. Possibly we could check in? Pause. "Do you have luggage?" Well, yes in fact, we do have luggage [unspoken additional information: because we plan to stay here two nights....]
Click, sign of recognition. He informs us that S, the manager with whom I had been corresponding, was away today. T, the housekeeper, was around. Might we find T please? ....to condense the rest of this story: this was a charming introduction to the Traquair experience, which I highly recommend to all who wish a unique, unscripted, un-chic, deeply historically meaningful visit in the heart of the Scottish Borders region. We soon settled in and were given three keys for our room, the drawing room, and the front door of the castle. We were welcomed and treated as long-lost relatives who had the run of the place.
"Traquair" means village on the river. The earliest structure, first mentioned in 1190, was a royal hunting lodge. The oldest part of the present structure dates from the 15th century. The castle is linked to the Stuart chapter of British history. The first Laird of Traquair was James Stuart, illegitimate son of the Earl of Buchan; he inherited the estate in 1491. The direct Stuart line was broken in the late 1800s when the last, unmarried female Stuart died. The estate then passed to the closest cousin, Henry Constable Maxwell, who assumed the name Stuart. The present Laird of Traquair is Lady Catherine Maxwell Stuart.
The central building of Traquair is an impressive four-story structure of whitewashed mortar, a little austere but not forbidding. Two "modern" wings were added in the 18th century. There are a Catholic chapel, a brewery tasting room and museum, and a gift shop in one wing and two guest rooms in the other.
The Stuarts have always been Catholic and Traquair plays a role in the 1745-46 Jacobite rebellion. The family often housed priests in secret quarters up to the Catholic emancipation of the early 19th century. The secret passageways can be seen today together with the chalice, monstrance, and chasuble used in the Mass (the chasuble made in such a way that it could be reversed and placed on a bed as an innocent bed cover, should Protestant inspectors come knocking on the door looking for priests. Mass is still celebrated from time to time in the chapel.
As I mentioned above, Traquair fell on hard times in the late 1800s. With the death of the last Stuart, the Maxwell Stuarts ceased living full time in the castle, merely visiting it for outings. Fast forward to the 1950s and the need to make some money, fast. The Laird of the time discovers the 300-year-old brewery equipment, begins brewing and selling Traquair ales. Today they are prize winners, eagerly sought by ale connoisseurs. The Traquair brewery only produces 400 barrels a year, a tiny amount. Some is sold in the Traquair Arms Hotel down the road in Innerleithen, the rest mainly in the castle itself. (There is a brewery tasting room and shop in one wing of the castle.)
Traquair rents only three rooms, two of which are in the "modern" wing and one, the Lord of Traquair's old room, in the central building. We reserved the central room three months before our trip, taking advantage of an attractive offer: two nights for two people, including breakfast and one evening dinner for two = £400. (Dinners are provided for guests only during high season, only on Friday and Saturday nights, reservations needed.) This was a great deal, delicious, extensive breakfasts in the Still Room overlooking the maze, wonderful dinner.
Another advantage of staying the evening in Traquair is the freedom to wander all over the castle once the main rooms are unlocked at 8 a.m. Visitors are only admitted 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The structure has been "somewhat" maintained and restored, which for us only added to its appeal. The two original library rooms are perfectly preserved. The main library room houses the original collection of 3,000 volumes. The floor-to-ceiling shelves, very old, preserve the original cataloguing system. Sections of the shelves are named after philosophers, their names painted on the top moulding, and the books in that section have identification numbers painted on the spines. So you would look for "Aristotle 308" and so on.
One room on the top floor is full of items relating to Mary Queen of Scots. She stayed here in 1566 with her young son, the future James VI of Scotland and James I of England (the bedroom with her bed and James' cradle is two rooms away from the room we stayed in...historically mind-boggling.) Mary later would be imprisoned by her cousin, Elizabeth I, and beheaded in 1587.
We spent the first night in Traquair castle on Thursday, June 23. We awoke the next morning to read the NEWS! As observers from across the pond, we took no sides on the question but what an amazing series of events in the next few days during the remainder of our stay in the UK.
So Friday we set out for Galashiels, met our friends at the train station. They had come from St. Andrews and they took the new Borders line, opened by Queen Elizabeth last year, from Edinburgh down to Galashiels. We visited Melrose Abbey, paid a visit to the little monument marking the burial spot of the embalmed heart of Robert the Bruce, had lunch, then drove back to Traquair. We spent the afternoon visiting the historic rooms of the castle, the gift shop, and the brewery. Then we walked around the back of the castle, visited the maze and then we made new friends: Lola the border collie of H the chef, Scott and Shackleton the two pygmy mountain goats, and Charlie and Lulu the two Kune Kune pigs.
We had Friday dinner in the Still Room and then after-dinner drinks in the Drawing Room, with a roaring fire (a little cool weather that evening, so the fire was perfect).
Saturday morning we had another outstanding breakfast in the Still Room, packed up, dropped off our rental car at the Enterprise office in Galashiels, and we all took the Borders train line north, with our friends returning to St. Andrews and we going on to Glasgow.
Traquair--I've read that one should never modify the adjective "unique" but I'm going to do that nevertheless: Traquair is astoundingly unique. An amazing place!
Next: Glasgow and the western Highlands
From Innerleithen we took the signposted road to Traquair House. We arrived around 5 pm, just the time we had notified them a couple of days before. Entering through the main visitors gate, the last day-visitors were just leaving and the place seemed quiet. There were no signs for overnight guest parking so we just picked a parking area close to the castle and walked through the main gates up to the front door.
I said hello to a thin, tall gentleman of a certain age near the front door, introduced myself. He said hello. Pause. I said we'd like to check in please. Pause. Pause. Meditative pause. Then: "Oh, you're guests!" Well, yes, we are in fact guests. Possibly we could check in? Pause. "Do you have luggage?" Well, yes in fact, we do have luggage [unspoken additional information: because we plan to stay here two nights....]
Click, sign of recognition. He informs us that S, the manager with whom I had been corresponding, was away today. T, the housekeeper, was around. Might we find T please? ....to condense the rest of this story: this was a charming introduction to the Traquair experience, which I highly recommend to all who wish a unique, unscripted, un-chic, deeply historically meaningful visit in the heart of the Scottish Borders region. We soon settled in and were given three keys for our room, the drawing room, and the front door of the castle. We were welcomed and treated as long-lost relatives who had the run of the place.
"Traquair" means village on the river. The earliest structure, first mentioned in 1190, was a royal hunting lodge. The oldest part of the present structure dates from the 15th century. The castle is linked to the Stuart chapter of British history. The first Laird of Traquair was James Stuart, illegitimate son of the Earl of Buchan; he inherited the estate in 1491. The direct Stuart line was broken in the late 1800s when the last, unmarried female Stuart died. The estate then passed to the closest cousin, Henry Constable Maxwell, who assumed the name Stuart. The present Laird of Traquair is Lady Catherine Maxwell Stuart.
The central building of Traquair is an impressive four-story structure of whitewashed mortar, a little austere but not forbidding. Two "modern" wings were added in the 18th century. There are a Catholic chapel, a brewery tasting room and museum, and a gift shop in one wing and two guest rooms in the other.
The Stuarts have always been Catholic and Traquair plays a role in the 1745-46 Jacobite rebellion. The family often housed priests in secret quarters up to the Catholic emancipation of the early 19th century. The secret passageways can be seen today together with the chalice, monstrance, and chasuble used in the Mass (the chasuble made in such a way that it could be reversed and placed on a bed as an innocent bed cover, should Protestant inspectors come knocking on the door looking for priests. Mass is still celebrated from time to time in the chapel.
As I mentioned above, Traquair fell on hard times in the late 1800s. With the death of the last Stuart, the Maxwell Stuarts ceased living full time in the castle, merely visiting it for outings. Fast forward to the 1950s and the need to make some money, fast. The Laird of the time discovers the 300-year-old brewery equipment, begins brewing and selling Traquair ales. Today they are prize winners, eagerly sought by ale connoisseurs. The Traquair brewery only produces 400 barrels a year, a tiny amount. Some is sold in the Traquair Arms Hotel down the road in Innerleithen, the rest mainly in the castle itself. (There is a brewery tasting room and shop in one wing of the castle.)
Traquair rents only three rooms, two of which are in the "modern" wing and one, the Lord of Traquair's old room, in the central building. We reserved the central room three months before our trip, taking advantage of an attractive offer: two nights for two people, including breakfast and one evening dinner for two = £400. (Dinners are provided for guests only during high season, only on Friday and Saturday nights, reservations needed.) This was a great deal, delicious, extensive breakfasts in the Still Room overlooking the maze, wonderful dinner.
Another advantage of staying the evening in Traquair is the freedom to wander all over the castle once the main rooms are unlocked at 8 a.m. Visitors are only admitted 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The structure has been "somewhat" maintained and restored, which for us only added to its appeal. The two original library rooms are perfectly preserved. The main library room houses the original collection of 3,000 volumes. The floor-to-ceiling shelves, very old, preserve the original cataloguing system. Sections of the shelves are named after philosophers, their names painted on the top moulding, and the books in that section have identification numbers painted on the spines. So you would look for "Aristotle 308" and so on.
One room on the top floor is full of items relating to Mary Queen of Scots. She stayed here in 1566 with her young son, the future James VI of Scotland and James I of England (the bedroom with her bed and James' cradle is two rooms away from the room we stayed in...historically mind-boggling.) Mary later would be imprisoned by her cousin, Elizabeth I, and beheaded in 1587.
We spent the first night in Traquair castle on Thursday, June 23. We awoke the next morning to read the NEWS! As observers from across the pond, we took no sides on the question but what an amazing series of events in the next few days during the remainder of our stay in the UK.
So Friday we set out for Galashiels, met our friends at the train station. They had come from St. Andrews and they took the new Borders line, opened by Queen Elizabeth last year, from Edinburgh down to Galashiels. We visited Melrose Abbey, paid a visit to the little monument marking the burial spot of the embalmed heart of Robert the Bruce, had lunch, then drove back to Traquair. We spent the afternoon visiting the historic rooms of the castle, the gift shop, and the brewery. Then we walked around the back of the castle, visited the maze and then we made new friends: Lola the border collie of H the chef, Scott and Shackleton the two pygmy mountain goats, and Charlie and Lulu the two Kune Kune pigs.
We had Friday dinner in the Still Room and then after-dinner drinks in the Drawing Room, with a roaring fire (a little cool weather that evening, so the fire was perfect).
Saturday morning we had another outstanding breakfast in the Still Room, packed up, dropped off our rental car at the Enterprise office in Galashiels, and we all took the Borders train line north, with our friends returning to St. Andrews and we going on to Glasgow.
Traquair--I've read that one should never modify the adjective "unique" but I'm going to do that nevertheless: Traquair is astoundingly unique. An amazing place!
Next: Glasgow and the western Highlands
Jun 28th, 2016, 07:37 AM
#37
Oh --- I am soooooo glad you enjoyed Traquair. Dinner wasn't on offer when I stayed there but drinks in the drawing room, the run of the place and the feeling of being 'the long lost cousin from the States' . . . that's how it was for me too. Really a bucket list sort of thing
I have a bottle of The Jacobite and two bottles of the House Ale in my liquor cabinet - not to be opened -- souvenirs. One of the House Ales is probably 20 years old w/ the old label the other two are from my stay in 2012.
I have a bottle of The Jacobite and two bottles of the House Ale in my liquor cabinet - not to be opened -- souvenirs. One of the House Ales is probably 20 years old w/ the old label the other two are from my stay in 2012.
Jun 28th, 2016, 12:13 PM
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@janisj, re ale: Yes, I drank the Jacobite ale for two days (sampled the other two on offer, the House and the Bear). The Jacobite is described as "8% alcohol, potent, strong fruit and fennel and spice" and I concur, especially about the 8% bit. Be sure you have a designated driver if you're not within walking distance of bed after drinking this
