Edinburgh Castle: Edinburgh, Scotland

Number 13 - Edinburgh Castle

We visited Edinburgh castle while on a little mini break to Scotland to do some castle exploration. It was our third and final castle of the holiday (we'd already done Bothwell and Stirling) and we tried to leave a good half day for it, as we knew it was huge!

Walking up to the castle through the Royal Mile is really atmospheric. Though it wasn't festival season when we rocked up, I've been to Edinburgh Festival once and would certainly recommend it. It's like nothing I've ever done before or since, absolutely buzzing and such a large variety of shows, arts and food. Really great.

Anyway, back to the castle, it's massive. It sits on top of a giant hill that I've discovered was created out of volcanic rock. We discovered the structure was a castle within a castle; so you had two sections, an outer and an inner one. The outer section had lots of high walls and cannons, to protect the fortress. I guess they hoped no enemies would ever make it to the inner bit.

 

You accessed the inner castle by climbing some rather steep steps.

The inner part of the castles had palaces and rooms filled with art. As well as more museums and some beautiful flower beds.

 

Edinburgh castle started being built in the 9th century but has had new bits added over the years. In the 16th century it was nearly all destroyed, apart from the chapel, so we made sure we went in and had a look round there.

The views over the city were really breath taking, the castle was certainly in a good position to see everything all around it. A lot of people clearly work tirelessly to make it look spic and span as it was in great condition. We had a slice of cake and some juice in the tea room/cafe which was all very nice. 

We spent a rather large amount of time watching some of the guards keeping watch outside the interior palace. They have to hold these gun/sword weapons and stand there for hours protecting the palace. 

One of them had clearly been their ages as his arm was shaking - we felt very sorry for him, I almost offered to take over so he could grab a sandwich. I'm not sure how long they have to stand there, but eventually they marched around and swapped over. There was also a wedding party at the very inner most part of the castle. What an amazing wedding venue it would have been - if only we'd known before we each got hitched. I have to say, the bride's dress was a little revealing, but each to their own.

 

There was a military museum with lots of information about the battles fought and lost at the castle, and in Scotland in general. There was also a little cemetery just for the soldier's dogs.

We stayed as late as we could, but then our stomachs started rumbling, so we decided it was time for dinner. We walked about fifty miles to find a Chinese restaurant that tripadvisor told us would be good, and it was (though we moaned about having leg ache throughout)! I can't remember the name of the eatery, sorry about that...

Cost: £16 per adult to get into the castle

Hints and tips: Edinburgh is a great place to visit in it's own right, so why not go for a mini break and then spend a whole day at the castle, there is so much to do, we were rushed with only half a day.

Stirling Castle: Stirling, Scotland

Number 12 - Stirling Castle


We got the train to Stirling and decided to walk to the castle. We absolutely took a wrong turn and ended up on a wood lined path, with the castle above is. We couldn't work out how to get in and just kept walking and walking until we were behind it. 

We were about to despair when we reached the entrance randomly from the back (I assume this is the frustration many of the enemies felt when trying to get in). There was a large green and a rather imposing statue overseeing the land. There is a gatehouse where we got our tickets. Then it was time to explore. 

Let's not beat around the bush, Stirling castle is breathtaking. There was so much to see and do, you could easily spend all day there, unfortunately we had also set out sights on visiting Edinburgh on the same day, so we had to be realistic with our exploring mission.

The castle was built in the 12th century, but new bits have been added over the years, so visually many of the buildings looked very different. 

With lots of people in medieval clothes we couldn't resist asking some questions about the history, and I have to say the re-enacters really knew their stuff. We popped in to one of the palaces, which had been decorated in the style of years ago. A man dressed as Henry VIII had a chat with us and then have Chloe a giant unicorn horn to pose with. The unicorn was decided on to be the supporter of the Scottish Royal coat of arms, and James V owned lots of tapestries which featured unicorns.

I think my favourite part about the castle were the gardens. They were immaculate, and had stunning views. 

I dread to think how many gardeners they need to employ and to keep it looking so lovely, or how long it takes them all.

 

We ended up being there in April 2012, which is when Stirling Castle celebrated the end of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. This meant lots of soldiers in uniform plodding around and a canon salute which was deafening. Chloe loved it! It seemed this was a very rare occurrence, so it was very lucky we were there on that day. 

Cost: £14 for adults

Hints and tips: Train tickets in Scotland are really reasonable so if that's an option for you, take it. If you have kids, there were a good amount of fun activities to keep them entertained. On your way up the hill in Stirling just takes the steps by the big statue or you'll end up taking the extra long route, like we did. 

Stirling castle has it's own blog. However if you'd like to read more about this blog, and why we ended up taking on this castle challenge, check out my first blog.

Bothwell Castle: Uddingston, Scotland

Number 11 - Bothwell castle

In April 2012 I surprised Chloe with flights and an overnight to bonnie Scotland. My aim was to do a castle or two but, unlike me, I had no real itinerary (though I knew we must do Edinburgh). 

Our flight was at 6am so we were in Scotland at 8:30am ready to go. Check in at our hotel wasn't possible until the afternoon so we decided to google any nearby castles. We got a very cheap train ticket to Uddingston which housed Bothwell castle. 

We dragged our suitcases across uneven paving, for what seemed like a life time, but eventually we found the lovely Bothwell castle.

I think the first thing that struck me was the colour, a rich terracotta. 

Very different to anything we'd seen up to this point. Bothwell was built in the 13th century and has been owned by a number of powerful families during it's history.

 

There was lots of information about which spaces formed each room and how they would have been used.

It was a ruin but lots of it was accessible and still in tact. We were able to climb sections and there were lots of passageways and window slits to peer out of.

The person managing the sight that day was a very chatty and friendly lady who even lent us a guidebook while we wandered round. 

We also ended up joining 'Historic Scotland' as we liked her so much, though we were assured we could use it in England too. 

Costs: £4.50

Hints and tips: it's quite a walk from the station, particularly if you're lugging suitcases around.