The Lord and Lady of Dornoch

So it's a week late, but I thought I would recap our little trip up north last weekend.  Fiona had to be in Inverness on Monday morning in order to join her week long photography course, which would take her out to the Hebridean islands of Skye, Harris and Lewis.  I thought it would be a grand opportunity to head north of Inverness, an area of Scotland we had yet to visit.  While we usually plan these things together, I took the bull by the horns on this one and looked up a good place to cosy up for the weekend with a few good attractions to visit.  I guess it could have gone either way, with me assuming the role of hero or goat, but it turns out I hit it out of the park and we had an amazing weekend.

I chose the small tourist town of Dornoch, up on the northeast coast, as a home base.  It was close by a few historical attractions that seemed quite interesting, the best of which was Dunrobin Castle.  There was also a beautiful cathedral in town and the local pottery was quite well known.  But perhaps the best reason for choosing Dornoch was the hotel - the Dornoch Castle Hotel.  Part of the Bishop's Palace built in the thirteenth century, alongside the cathedral, it offered a good off season special and the grandest room in the palace, the Olde Courtroom, was still available.  It was absolutely fantastic.  It had a high, open beam ceiling with white plaster, a four poster bed and a working fireplace with a wood/coal fire built and ready to be lit.  The walls were covered in antlers and there were little window seats where you could sit and partake in the free dram of whiskey that came with the room while looking out over the courtyard to the cathedral.

The rest of the hotel was equally amazing.  They had a great bar downstairs with an even larger fireplace and good selection of beers and whiskeys, the perfect place to relax and unwind before dinner.  It was good to relax because the dinner menu required some careful attention.  The decisions were difficult, not because it was hard to find something good, but because it was hard to settle on only one of each course.  It was good that we stayed two days, so we could spread the choice out over the weekend.  Fiona had a lobster special (brought in from the firth that day), with a crab and langoustine starter.  I had scallops to start with a fantastic piece of beef for the main.  It was almost ruined by the gorgeous bread they put on the table beforehand.  Clearly homemade it was to die for.  The second night was equally good.  I'd recommend the Dornoch Castle to anyone at anytime.

On Saturday morning we watched a little of the rugby to start the day and then popped off in the car a little further north to Golspie, the location of Dunrobin Castle.  Dunrobin is the ancestral home of the Sutherlands, one of the most powerful of Scotland's aristocratic families.  They always seemed to have a steady supply of daughters to marry into the other families and were frequently spot on in picking the right side in a war.  As a result they could afford to build themselves quite a nice little country house, right on the water's edge.  Unfortunately it was another one of those 'no pictures' castles, because the inside was stunning.  My favourite room was the library, which was wall to wall ancient books, with a large 16th Century globe in the corner and a painting of the Duchess Eileen on the wall over the fireplace.  How these northern lords stuck up in the middle of nowhere managed to get these good looking ladies to come and stay is beyond me.  The painting is absolutely striking and when we looked it up we found it was done by de Laszlo, who also did a painting of the Queen Mother in Glamis Castle that we found equally fabulous.  Fiona's favourite room was the old nursery, which was set up with an abundance of old toys which had clearly seen good use in earlier days.  The china used for the teddy bear tea party was quite exquisite.  But for such a large, imposing castle it felt very homey and comfortable.  There were a lot of other highlights, in architecture and art, but it all seemed to pale in comparison to what you saw when you looked out the window.

The gardens were lush, colorful (especially for October) and laid out in nice geometrical patterns pleasing to the eye.  As you walk down the outside staircases to get to the lower level gardens you pass Giant Rhubarb plants at least 8 feet tall.  The fountains were all in working order and the hedges neatly trimmed.

Another feature of Dunrobin Castle is a falconry demonstration.  They take the offspring of injured birds and a few other foreign species who have been abandoned and use them to keep down the local rabbit population.  We got to see a great demonstration with a red-tailed hawk who could sweep down and low through the people in their seats, and the falconer showed us how he had trained it to attack rabbits.  Next up was an eagle owl, who made absolutely no sound as he swooped down to get his treats.  When the falconer was done with him, he put him down on the seat next to me, and the owl would look over every once in a while and give me the stink-eye.  Glad I wasn't a small rodent.  The last bird we saw was a peregrine falcon, who would go up to the top of the highest tree and then dive down like a bullet.  The falconer would toss up a piece of chicken wing and the falcon would catch it every time.  It was quite a sight.

After the castle, we went back to Dornoch and had a light lunch in town.  We did a quick tour of the cathedral - Scotland's smallest cathedral - or at least we thought it would be short.  We found ourselves as the only two people there, except for an exceptionally chatty Briton who hit on so many stereotypes it was hard to laugh.  He welcomed us to Dornoch quite heartily and suggested it would be a good place for us to retire.  He told us all about the cathedral, because the he had read up on these things - "I went to Oxford and Cambridge, you know".  He had been sent up during the war to get out of London - his family was quite rich because they had been the first ones to start the tea business in Ceylon.  Normally I'd call someone out when they tell me their grandparents started the tea business, but this guy sounded legit.

After a quick lunch and some pottery buying, we hit the four poster for a late afternoon nap before dinner.  We hoped that the weather would hold out long enough for us to set up the telescope, but unfortunately it was a continuous blanket of cloud and light drizzle.

Sunday morning was a little sad, knowing I would have to drop Fiona off in Inverness and then carry on solo back to Aberdeen.  We stopped once in Foulis, the traditional home of Clan Munro, to see if we could learn anything more about the heritage of our godsons.  We learnt quite a bit, including the long and comprehensive list of their traditional enemies - that means you Mackenzies, Macdonalds and Mackays.  We tried to see Foulis Castle, but Lady Munro is still in residence and we needed to book an appointment.  So perhaps some other day.

Parting was indeed tough, but the week flew by and we're now back together again, at least until Fiona jets off to Munich at the end of the week.  Her trip was a complete success and I imagine she will be posting some of her work in the near future.