A Summer in Chilly, Wet Scotland.

Castles, kilts, bagpipes, and lots of outdoor wandering make for a lovely time. Forget the research!

I needed a change of scenery amidst the tourism of Portsmouth and managed to find an absolute jewel in the south west of Scotland outside of Aberfoyle called Duchray Castle; a lovely and small 16th century castle nestled in the wild and green Queen Elizabeth Forest Park.

I found Duchray Castle and her owners via my favorite work-away organization, HelpX. Recently converted into a luxury B&B, Duchray boasts four well appointed rooms with a great hall or vault, lounge, and a fabulous trained chef and event manager for her owner. During the summer the castle hosts weddings and lays off the daily grind of hiking B&B guests - I stayed from July 15 to August 21st to help with the weddings and it was lovely - despite the rainy days and chill in the air!

My hosts, Frances and Oliver Bigwood were fantastic. Immediately I settled in, which admittedly rarely poses a challenge for me, and fell in love with the combination of luxury, simplicity, old and new of Duchray. While part of the castle you see above is original and from the 16th century, much was added in the Victorian era. Mostly, though, the magic of the B&B came from Frances and Oliver. While it would be easy to ramble on about Frances' impeccable design taste and Oliver's dedication to structure and grounds keeping, I'll allow you all to read about it for yourself and from the horses' mouth. Read all about it HERE ... and maybe whet your appetite for a Scottish adventure starting at Duchray.

The vault in Duchray has an incredible mantel - the wax drips down and creates such a romantic effect perfect for weddings, and, of course, cozy and inviting in general.

Granted, I was still in the middle of my masters dissertation. Anyone who has spent a modicum of time around me, though, knows that a place such as Portsmouth (while lovely) is not going to keep me long against the rest of the UK and my favorite country (outside of Greece), Scotland. No worries, all my school work came with me and for those who may be interested themselves, the National Library of Scotland is fabulous. I may just go back and hang out there for a while. Frances' schedule at Duchray was ideal as it gave me most days in the week off to work but also with days of B&B work which provided relief from the tedium of dissertation work.

My time in Scotland consisted of lots of relaxed walks, tons of midge bites (will not miss those little buggers), treks into the village of Aberfoyle simply to use my phone, weddings, trips to Edinburgh to use the NLS and see the Military Tattoo.

I may not have moved about Scotland as much as I would have liked but neither did I work as often as I should have. Rather, my days were half-full of bobbing about the woods and reading more spy fiction novels for my dissertation than I ever thought I would - it'll be a while before I watch a Bond film. At the very least I had a lovely setting for it - although moving from the Portsmouth sun and into the wettest place in Scotland was not ideal it did dispel my freckles to their winter-time dusting. Find the positive.

With all this inviting green it would be hard to imagine NOT wandering off a little each day.

__________

I do need to clarify before anyone gets ideas about me having too much fun instead of working - I did not stay in the castle proper. I did not get to parade about being a princess and I didn't even chuck a stuffed cow from battlements. Instead there was a small cottage at the beginning of the Duchray estate that I shared with another girl (also to clairify, this arrangement in no way lessened the greatness of Scotland or Duchray but...for your castle envy). It was lovely because it was private and I got my very own bat.

I am honest enough to admit that he scared the crap out of me and I yelped and jumped quite violently when he flew at my face. Truthfully he may have been flying above my head...but hey.

Edinburgh is a fantastic city. Small, historic, artsy, full of good food, shopping, and hikes. While most of my time there was spent in the National Library, I spared some time for other stuff too. If ever you are in the area, Edinburgh is an absolute must-see. The best part for me was finally being able to go back after 11 years! My favorite thing in Edinburgh this time around was the Military Tattoo that hopefully, one day, I'll get to experience again. As always, having to leave Scotland is saddening and I am already looking forward to the next trip!

Victoria Street terrace

This has been added simply to compare the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow - only about 40 minutes apart and so very different. This is a mounted statue of the Duke of Wellington and he has a traffic cone just behind his horse. In Glasgow, though, Wellington wears his traffic cone on his head. Cheeky.

Representing the People's Liberation Army, China has a dragon showcased in the castle facade with steam and fog billowing from the entry way.

Lots of men (and women, but let's focus on what's important) in kilts with bagpipes. There are fewer things that captivate me so. To be clear, I love the bagpipes and the kilts - not just the kilts.

Representing the US, the USAF Honor Guard Drill team. There were far less of them than any other represented group but the place was silent as they flipped those guns around - pretty neat and zero fumbles! (go USA!)

Outside of the bustle of Edinburgh and the bust wedding weekends, Scotland was and remains a superstitious and spiritual place. When in Aberfoyle I saw a fairy walk so I checked it out.