Howdy, strangers! How areyou guys? It has been AGES since I have been here. I really don’t have a good reason why I haven’t published, other than that life took over, and I got lazy. Funny how that can happen, huh? I realized over the weekend, that today, August 11, is the fourth anniversary of this blog. So, how could I possibly let the day slip by without posting something, and maybe, just maybe?…spur myself on to get back into the groove.
In light of that, today, I would like to tell you about an interesting ruin located 3.5 miles south of Nairn, Scotland (about thirty minutes northeast of Inverness).
Hello there, friends. I am looking out my den window at a completely joyless day – well, weather-wise, at least. It is 32ยบ F and misting, with more freezing rain expected later today. It’s the sort of day that makes me extra appreciative of my cozy, warm house and that the first day of spring is only about five weeks away! In light of the weather, I thought today I would talk about Duffus Castle, which we visited on a lovely (and warm) afternoon in May 2019.
Duffus Castle (or Doofus Castle as Mr. C and I like to say just to be silly – admit it, you thought it too) sits near the coast of the Moray Firth in the Moray region in northern Scotland. The site lies about an hour to the northeast of Inverness and ten minutes southeast of Elgin.
Duffus Castle is a fine example of a motte and bailey castle, a common design during the 12th and 13th centuries in Scotland. Don’t worry. I had to look that up too. Wikipedia describes this type of fortification as one having “a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade.” Duffus was at one time a more defensible castle than it appears today, as it used to be surrounded by the now drained Loch of Spynie.
Today’s castle might not be considered a showstopper by some, but this ruin is one of my favorites. This is Corse Castle.
Corse Castle sits alongside a minor road (well, less than a minor road, really), off of the B9119, near the village of Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. In fact, if you didn’t know it was there, you might well miss it! Formerly a medieval tower house, this sixteenth-century castle is now a lonely roofless ruin, surrounded by deep overgrowth.
For this week’s challenge, Amy is looking for our photo interpretations of ‘old and new.’ I immediately thought about these photos that Mr. C and I took last year, of the Royal Air Force practicing touch-and-go maneuvers at RAF Lossiemouth, the military airfield located just four and a half miles from Duffus Castle. To see and hear the sleek, loud, fast jets flying past the 14-century castle ruin was quite an extraordinary sight!
Royal Air Force Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest military air stations in Scotland. The base is located in the northeast part of the country, on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth, along the Moray Firth coast.
Hey, everyone. How are you today? I hope you all are staying well.
What sorts of things have been occupying your days? I have been teaching myself how to bake bread – along with the rest of the world, it seems -ha! I’m getting pretty good at it if I may say so myself!
Today, I’d like to give you a quick peek at Fordyce, Scotland, and the fairy tale castle that graces the center of the village. This utterly charming and (as locals would say) “chocolate box” town is located in Aberdeenshire, in the northeast section of the country, set among scenic rolling hills and only about a mile from the sea.
It’s cold. It’s gloomy. It’s the time of year when cabin fever starts to become a very real thing; although, I just realized the official start to spring is only 31 days away! Woop! Anyway, to cheer myself up on this gray Monday (well, this, and maybe watching a few episodes of “The Great British Baking Show”), I am going to take you guys to Scotland’s “Pearl of the North”; the BEAUTIFUL, the GORGEOUS, the OH-SO-STUNNING Ballindalloch Castle.
One really never knows what surprises life will bring. We could have never imagined this accidental find in our past, or how we are going to experience it first-hand in our very near future. Someone pinch me!
Coming Spring 2020.
This week’s challenge is from Ann-Christine at Leya.
It has been a cold and wintry few days here in Virginia, so today I’m thinking back to a beautiful, warm day last May when Mr. C and I traveled along the Aberdeenshire coast to see the ruins of Findlater Castle.
