Isn’t this a fantastic castle? It’s so castley! It’s exactly the sort of thing I would draw when I was young and went through a castle-drawing phase: turret, crenelation, crenelation, crenelation, turret.
And castles of this sort are just one of the many many many reasons I love Scotland. When Cath and I were students here we bought Historic Scotland passes and would spend every weekend hopping on trains to as many castles as we could manage within a days’ journey of Edinburgh.
This particular castle, Craigmillar, is just a hop, skip and a jump from the city center of Edinburgh. From Craigmillar’s battlements you can actually see Edinburgh Castle’s battlements. This was the castle that royals (such as Mary Queen of Scots) would go to for some down-time; away from the hullabaloo that was medieval Edinburgh. It was the Hamptons to their Manhattan penthouses — except, you know, draftier and . stoney-er.
From the top of the castle you get these gorgeous views of the Firth of Forth (a rather large bay-like body of water that flows into the North Sea).
Below, I’m keeping a look-out for parties of marauding English — the most intimidating door-keeper this castle has ever seen:
Mettle necklace • H&M jacket and tank (organic cotton range) • AE belt • thrifted Coach bag and Reiss coat • Madewell skinnies • Frye boots
The great thing about these castles is that it’s not like in the States where most of the ruin would be cordoned off (do we have ruins in the States?). You can climb all over them: sneaking down spiral stairways and squeezing through secret passage ways.
Lead-paned windows! I live for this stuff!
Here’s a photograph to show you how close we are to Edinburgh — spitting distance really:
I took about a million and a half photographs because it was so sunny and so wonderfully castley, but I don’t want to bore you guys with too much stone. I hope this is just a glimpse to get you thinking “Scotland. I need to go to there” (ignore the fact that this has been one of their rainiest Springs for an already rainy country. It becomes sunny whenever you visit a castle.).
So what do you say? You wanna come castling with us?
—–
Dear Cath,
As much as we love Edinburgh, I really think one reason we fell in love with this country is the train trips we took to all those castles. The only downside to Craigmillar is that it’s not one of those castles with a giftshop and tea room. Remember those? A bit of Scottish tablet, some tea, and then searching through their tea towel collection. Crazy, wild college kids that we were 😉
I sooooo wish you were here to go castling with us! I think Matt likes them, but he grew up going to crusader castles all over the middle east and thinks Scotland’s castles are newbies. Who knew I married such a hoity-toity castler?
I hope you guys have some fun plans for the weekend! Our only big plan is going to eat at this fancy pants place.
LOVE,
Lar
I remember Craigmillar! But I forgot how much free range you could have there. Can you image being able to have access to some not-so-easy-to-climb stairs in the US? I mean, you can’t even go to the second floor of Monticello because Jefferson made his stairs too narrow and steep for most. And ADA compliant? Forget about it!
Visiting castles with you and hopping on trains is truly one of the best memories of my life. We must visit at least one castle when i come to visit you!
xoxo, cath
Haha, a “Fantastic castle.” As opposed to those crap castles.
Seriously though, we just don’t have structures in America that were built with places to pour weaponized tar from. That’s so badass.
Crazy wild college kids looking at tea towels made me giggle in my cube. As did your castle-snob of a husband! 🙂
If you can, go to the ruins of Fast Castle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Castle and http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/coldingham/fastcastle/index.html) – the walk down to the edge is rated as one of the best in Scotland!!
There are no guard rails (there is one sign that lets you know falling off the edge is bad for you), and you can walk straight up to the end and look for seals in the water. Just amazingly beautiful and romantic in a “cover of a cheap romance novel” way. And now I’m sad I’m not independently wealthy so I could just jet-off for some castling. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. (Oh, and if that wasn’t enough information for you – there’s a painting of Fast Castle in the free portion of the National Gallery!)
CL! Amazing! I wish you could be my tour guide here. I will absolutely check out Fast Castle — it’s so close and I’ve never even heard about it! And I think the “cheap romance novel cover” castles are the best!!! And talk about cold– right on the water like that? Those 14th century Brits have far more grit than I have.
xoxoxo,
Lar
I wish I could be your tour guide too! I only spent about 5 days in the city but fell in love with it. Have you been to the free museum – (http://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/Museum-of-Edinburgh) – it was great! My favorite was the medieval trash chute – it just went straight to the street, which.gross. Oh! And! Craig Ferguson (the Late Late Show on CBS) is from Scotland all this week – I dvr it since I’m old and can’t stay up that late 😉
I’m such a bad Edinburgh tourist, CL! I’ve never been to the Edinburgh Museum. Thanks so much for linking it. I tend to keep well away from the Royal Mile (I’m a wuss in crowds), but I’ll definitely check it out some time soon!
And that’s so cool that Craig Ferguson is in Scotland this week! You’ll have to tell me how it is 😉
xoxoxo
Very castley, indeed! Never mind being cordoned off–in Atlanta anything that old and crumbly would have been knocked down and replaced with a high-rise condo by now. 🙂
I’m so jealous, for so many reasons, but castles! Wow!I totally went thorough a huge castle drawing stage. In 1st grade I was even banned from writing any more stories about flying and probably princesses.
In a word. YES! I do want to come castling with you. 2013 sound good? 🙂
Great pics, L!
this is so beautiful! oh how i love all the castles of europe! *sigh*
definitely. OH MAN, definitely. I told my husband that our first trip out of the country together should be to Japan, (then England) but now I’m totally wanting to go to Scotland. For serious. I want a castle (that isn’t drafty and is self-cleaning) to live in, and a few years ago started researching getting a castle built in the US (I know, the tackiness of moi!) and it costs, like, a million bazonking dollars. So no castle-home for me, but maybe a-castling in the future.
Hehe I’m really digging the way you’re captioning your photos lately. Scotland seems like such an incredible place, and your dispatches just make me want to go even more!
oh man, that looks super cool! i loooove castles.
I love Craigmillar Castle. Our daughter was married in there in 2010 with a costumed wedding fitting the period.
Oh how wonderful, Nancy! I bet it was beautiful!