Friday, 20 April 2012

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. 

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