Author Kim J Cowie's travel blog
National Trust for Scotland
Visited Crathes Castle, a tower-like castle. From the upper floor one can get a fine view of the extensive walled gardens. The castle has an attached wing in a Victorian style. This wing was formerly bigger, but was burnt out in the 1960’s and was rebuilt to a lesser height and ground plan. We walked around the walled gardens which are arranged in multiple sections and are very fine.
Visit date: May 2014
National Trust for Scotland
Castle Fraser is a substantial tall castle built with three wings, and a long courtyard enclosed by a pair of service wings. We were able to visit the entire interior on a self-guided tour, and were able to get onto the roof of one of the wings, which gave a great view of the grounds. We visited a walled garden.
Visit date: May 2014
National Trust for Scotland
Pitmedden Garden is a fine walled garden, originally created in the 17th century. When visited there were a few modern sculptures in the grounds, and displays of farm life in outbuildings. The attached house is not open to the public and of no particular interest.
The gardens are well worth a visit.
Visit date: May 2014
Historic Scotland
A ruin with interesting carvings on the gatehouse.
We also visited Tarves Churchyard, where there is a tomb for William Forbes, featuring an arch with carvings.
Visited May 2014
NTS
There has been a castle on the site of Fyvie since around the 13th century. It was originally a square fort built around a courtyard, but with successive phases of construction it became a grand house built on part of the square outline, with major phases of construction in the early 17th century, the 18th century, and the 1890’s. The South Front preserves the original entrance and the lower part of the original South front. The last owner sold the castle and most of its contents to the National Trust for Scotland in 1984.
Internally, the castle contains a series of grand, fully furnished Victorian interiors, and, dating from the sixteenth century, a fine spiral staircase or ‘wheel-stair’.
In the grounds is a grand lake.
(visited 6 May 2014)
NTS
Craigevar Castle was built in the late 16th century by the Mortimers of Craigievar. Like many of the Scottish ‘castles’ it is more a defensible house than a castle. In the early 17th century a new owner ‘Danzig Willie’ removed the parts above the fourth floor and had them replaced with a highly decorated array of turrets, dormer windows and balustraded viewing platforms. Internally, the castle has moulded plaster ceilings dating from 1624. A new roof and other minor alterations were made in the 19th century.
The thick-walled ground floor has a lobby protected by a heavy door and the traditional Scottish iron grille or ‘yell’, two cellars and the kitchen. Above is the double-height Hall with a vaulted and plastered ceiling, and a small musicians’ gallery above the screens passage.
Above the Hall are two floors with bedrooms, and above that a floor with the maids’ room and the Long Room, originally a long gallery with (almost certainly) a fine plaster ceiling, but later partitioned up for servants’ rooms, and opened up again in the 1950’s.
The castle is surrounded by an extensive park with trees.
Tea rooms were a Glasgow institution in the Edwardian era. Among them were the Willow Tea Rooms, with interiors designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Kate Cranston. Tea rooms fell out of favour, but with renewed interest in Mackintosh, the Willow Tea Rooms were recreated. Some parts of the interiors are original.
Actually, Mackintosh is not a difficult style to copy, judging by the ‘Rennie Mackintosh Hotel’ at which I stayed, originally a temperance hotel.
The tea rooms are part of the ‘Mackintosh Tour’, so they are used to people popping in to have a look, but remember that their main business is to sell teas and souvenirs.
The Willow Tea Rooms are at 217 Sauchihall Street and 97 Buchanan Street.
Gallery
GoMA is housed in an elegant neo-classical building in Royal Exchange Square in the city centre. It is claimed to be Scotland’s most visited modern art gallery (presumably because it’s free and in the city centre.) Previously, the building was a business and commercial exchange. The main hall is used for changing exhibitions, and there are smaller spaces upstairs. There is also a general public library in the basement.
The exhibition in the photos is Aleksandra Domanovic ‘Things to Come’ (Modern gender-conscious art with images from sci-fi and manga).
It is recommended that you travel by public transport if visiting GoMA.
Visit date 4 May 2014.
Glasgow Cathedral was founded in the 12th century and is still in use as a church today. Unusually, it is owned by Historic Scotland. It is open daily for visitors when not in use for services.
The Cathedral has an extensive Lower Church under the south transept and the eastern end. There are relics of the cathedral’s long history, and some modern stained glass.
Inside, the Cathedral is rather dark. It is an impressive building, and worth a visit.
There is a striking Necropolis on a hill nearby.
Admission is free.
Visited May 2014
Private
Magdalen College (impress your friends by explaining that it’s pronounced ‘maudlin’) was founded in 1458, and the present buildings were erected at various dates between then and the 21st century. The college has been visited by kings and princes, and has had famous students including Edward VIII (when Prince of Wales). 20th century fellows include the English scholar and theologian C. S. Lewis and the historian A. J. P. Taylor.
Today the College has a large number of students, many living in the historic rooms on the campus, and an endowment of around £170 million.
Visitors are welcomed at certain times (entrance charges payable) and allowed to wander around the public areas (not the student areas) and admire the historic buildings. The Chapel and Choir are famous, and the Chapel, with its largely 19th century interior, is very impressive. The Hall is also worth seeing, as are the quad with the cloister and gargoyles, and the exteriors of other buildings.
The guidebook supplied isn’t very good as it does not have a map or pictures to help you figure out what you are supposed to be looking at. (Clue: it starts to your extreme right on entering the first open space). Best bring your own.
Car parking in the area is very limited, so I advise using the Oxford Park & Ride instead.
The Botanical Gardens are across the road, and there are other colleges nearby whose quads can be visited, and river walks.
