Castles and Palaces

 Well, you can't visit Scotland without going to see a few castles and palaces. Before we left I found out about the Historic Scotland Explorer Pass which you can buy for a two week period. It lets you visit a number of sites for free; three of the sites we were planning to visit were on the pass. Since it was less expensive than buying the separate admissions to each place, we each bought a two-week pass.

The first castle we saw was Stirling Castle. It was our first day out of Edinburgh. Our first stop was to see the Kelpies, Duke and Baron in Falkirk. Then it was on to Stirling Castle,  the castle was the childhood home of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Duke and Baron

King's Knot, at one time it was a formal garden

The Great Hall

Robert the Bruce

Stirling Castle

The next day we would see a palace, Scone Palace near Perth. Scone Palace is the home to the Earl of Mansfield and his family, since as it is still a home, photographs inside the palace are not permitted.  I did mange to get one or two.  It is at Scone Palace where Scottish kings were crowned and where at one time you would find the Stone of Destiny. That stone is now in a new museum in Perth, Scotland but it is still used for coronations, the last time being for King Charles III.

One painting that you will see in Scone Palace is that of Dido Belle and Elizabeth Murray. Dido Belle was the illegitimate child of a British Naval Officer, she was raised by her uncle, the first Earl of Mansfield. If you're interested, you can watch a fictionalized account of her life on Disney Plus, the movie is called Belle. The grounds of Scone Palace are quite extensive, we walked some of it but didn't do the maze or the formal gardens as we still had a three hour drive to get to Inverness.

In Inverness, we did see Inverness Castle but only from the outside, like the last time I was in Scotland, the castle wasn't open to the public. Last time, I was there it was still being used a prison, a courthouse and municipal offices; now it's under renovation and, at some point in 2025, it will be opened to the public as a must see visitor attraction, perhaps reason for another trip to Scotland.

After Inverness, we drove the Great Glen, along Loch Ness, famous for a certain monster, to Urquhart Castle. This was another site included with our Historic Scotland Pass so all we had to do was go online to reserve our timed tickets and parking space. Urquhart Castle is a ruined castle, it played a role in the wars of Scottish Independence and was at one time a royal castle.

We drove past the town of Spean Bridge where our B&B was located to spend some time at Glenfinnan where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised the clans.

Loch Shiel

We didn't see our next castle wasn't until we got to the Isle of Arran. We had taken a fairly early ferry over to the island so we went to Brodick Castle before going to our B&B. Brodick Castle was once the seat of the Dukes of Hamilton; it is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland. At Brodick Castle we were allowed to take pictures inside as it is no longer a home but a museum. The grounds again have beautiful gardens.

From the ferry

The sitting room

Country Garden

The Stag

Brodick Castle from the gardens

Library

Staircase with Stag heads

The last castle we visited was actually the first one we saw, Edinburgh Castle. On arrival in Scotland, we only had two nights in Edinburgh, on our return, we had three nights so we had decided to go to Edinburgh Castle when we got back. It was another site on our Historic Scotland Pass so again all we needed to do was book our timed ticket. There were only tickets available from 1pm onwards but that worked out just fine as we'd had the long drive back from the Isle of Arran the evening before. 

Inside the castle

Dog Cemetery

National War Memorial

Great Hall

The crown jewels of Scotland are held in the castle but you can't take pictures of those, nor can you take pictures inside the National War Memorial. There are also few museums inside the castle, two regimental ones and two on the prisons that were once in the castle. 

There are so many other castles, palaces and stately homes that you could visit. I think it would take a lifetime to see them all. When I was posted to England, I took a membership to English Heritage. It got me in free or with reduced admission to many such places and there was a reciprocal agreement with the National Trust. It was well worth the membership.