Today we experienced a whole range of Scottish weather. Awoke to clouds, then as we drove up the mts, we drove through fog and blustering winds, (had snowed 3 days before) then we had sunshine. Shona and Ella picked us up at 9.00 AM and we headed off to Spreyside via Deeside. We arrived at Glenlivet Distillery about 10.30 AM but there are new laws in Scotland and no alcohol can be served before 12.00 PM on Sundays. So we found a coffee shop and had morning tea, then headed off to the cooperage at Spreyside. When we arrived there, we found it did not open on the weekends. Not a good start to the day!! We then drove to Glenfiddich Distillery where we arrived in time to be the first group of visitors for the day.
We did the tour of the distillery and ended up in the tasting room. There we tried 3 different whiskies – 12, 15, 18 year old varieties. Very nice too. We had lunch at Glenfiddich, then drove to Craigievar, the castle that once belonged to the Forbes Family but is now managed by the National Trust of Scotland.
Shona was a bit worried that we would not arrive before closing but we arrived about 4.00 PM. We did the tour of the castle. We had been told that Disney Castle is designed on this castle and there is certainly some similarity between the two. We had an excellent guide who showed us the castle. It has a very narrow spiral staircase that winds its way from the bottom to the roof or the castle. Also has a secret hiddy hole for treasures or people. The William Forbes who built the castle in 1625/6 made his fortune from trading across the Baltic. He was known as “Danzig Willie”. The plaster ceilings are in the Renaissance style and people come to the castle just to see these ceilings. This castle is generally regarded as Scotland’s best preserved and most loved tower house.
Thanks to Shona and Ella we have had a wonderful few days in Ballatar.
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