I’m going to skip the day that we drove from Preston to Nairn. It was an all day adventure with one stop at Scone Castle in which we were not allowed to take pictures inside.  It was good for checking out and stretching our legs though. 

We woke up early at our lovely Bed and Breakfast in Nairn called Sandown House.  It is in a cute town and we can walk to the beach.  They have a nice variety of food to eat for breakfast and I particularly love their fruit cup with homemade granola and yogurt.  We left a little later than we would have liked and arrived at Dunrobin a little after 11:30. It was quite busy when we arrived and parking was limited.  When we bought our ticket, the clerk told us that they were still having the falconry exhibition for the next 20 minutes.  We hurried down the steps to the garden to check it out. 

The tickets were 14 pounds each. They have two falconry exhibitions a day.  One is at 11:30 and the other is at 2:30.  There was a small crowd gathered for the exhibition and we could see the falcon swooping as we got closer.  The falconer was swinging this rope around and around and the falcon was following it until it finally caught the end, which had its meal.  The falconer then told us about going hunting in the moor.  It was fascinating.  They bring a dog with them and the dog finds the grouse and points.  He will remain pointing for more than an hour (the falconer found that out when he couldn’t find the dog for that amount of time).  Then he releases the falcon and walks to the other side of where the birds are located.  The falcon gives him a signal, then the falconer cries out and flushes the birds out of the grass.  This is when the falcon speeds down to catch one.  He only succeeds about 10% of the time.  They are flying at such incredible speeds that a small mistake and they will miss.  The falconer did an amazing job explaining things and keeping our attention. 

After the demonstration, we walked over to Victorian museum.  It was originally built as a summer house. We were surprised to enter and find ourselves surrounded by taxidermies of animals of all different types, but a good number of deer looking animals as well as an elephant and giraffe and many many others.  They were all shot by family on safari or collected. Many note which family member shot it. The museum had three floors in open rooms.  You could climb above the animals and look down, you could go into the next room and go downstairs to see an incredible number of birds or up the stairs to see memorabilia of the family that owns the castle as well as geological finds on the site. It was interesting. 

We then climbed back up the castle and took pictures of the gardens and entered the castle itself. Dun means hill or fort, so the castle is Robin’s hill. It was built in 1235 (possibly started as a fort) by the Earldom of Southerland. It is one of the seven ancient earldoms Scotland and they were one of the most powerful families in Great Britain. The actual castle was not built until the 1400s, but exchanged hands many times and was not updated until the 1700s and again in the 1800s, which is what you see today from the outside.  The inside had to be remodeled in the 1900s after a fire destroyed most of it. It was a boarding school for seven years in the 1960s, but reverted back to a family home.  Even though it is open to the public, there are private rooms still used by family members. It is one of the oldest inhabited houses in Scotland. 

I happened to be wearing a flannel the day that we toured the house and I matched the carpet since it is also the colors of the family.  I was very impressed with the inclusion of an elevator. 

It was an interesting stop on our long drive and I would definitely recommend this castle, especially if you arrive in time to see the falconry demonstration. 

The rest of my pictures are from our drive.  I love looking at the heather on the mountains. It gives them a purple hue that is beautiful.  We stopped to take a picture of Old Wick Castle.  It was closed because it needed repairs.  It was down this tiny road that appears to lead to nowhere.  It gave us some great views, so I’m glad we kept driving. 

Our last stop was in John o’Groats at the Duncansby Head Lighthouse and Duncansby Stacks.  We parked near the lighthouse and then walked through a field filled with sheep to get a good view and picture of the stacks.  There were people that walked all the way to the beach (descending with a rope ladder).  The sheep want nothing to do with people, so don’t try to be friendly, they will run.  You also need to be mindful of where you are stepping since the sheep live there and poop all over.  It was a beautiful walk nonetheless. 

This last picture is of a house we saw from the drive with a castle in ruins by the water. There are probably hundreds of places like this in Scotland. It’s just so neat to see just driving along.