Crathes and Doune Castles

Crathes Castle

16th century Crathes castle was a gift to the Burnett of Leys family by Robert the Bruce.  Are you noticing a pattern here?  Seems that Robert the Bruce made it a habit of gifting castles and hundreds of acres of surrounding land to folks.  Crathes castle sits on 530 beautiful acres with nearly 4 acres of walled gardens.  This castle stands out for its amazing topiary and gardens.

Egg and Egg Cup Topiary

In particular, the "Egg and Egg Cup" topiarys that date to the 18th century.  We found these interesting - mostly because an egg and cup would have never come to our minds when thinking of topiary.  Whoever designed that must have really been fond of eggs!

Croquet Court and Walled Gardens

Crathes castle also boasts a croquet court and plants that are centuries old.  Like many Scottish castles, Crathes castle, was donated to the National Trust of Scotland.  The Trust works hard to maintain the fine gardens here.
 

Crathes Castle and Garden

Inside Crathes Castle visitors will find Scottish renaissance ceilings.  Hand painted and usually themed these ceilings date back centuries.  Many were covered up only to be discovered by workmen years later.

Ceilings at Crathes

 Crathes castle is purportedly also haunted.  Legend has it that a "green lady" haunts the castle and that even Queen Victoria has seen her.  While she has been seen throughout the castle there is one room in particular that she haunts.  Certainly, our guide believes the haunting to be true as do others in Scotland.  Fortunately, we did not encounter the green lady but I don't think I would want to stay there at night.

Doune Castle

 And then there is Doune castle, the castle we all know from Monty Python.  In the lobby, you can purchase coconut shells so you can clomp like a horse throughout the castle, like in Monty Python!!  We had a ton of fun here as we are both huge Monty Python fans.  They gave us headsets and as we walked through the castle there was narration regarding the movie and TV shows that are filmed here as well.  Namely, Outlander and Game of Thrones.

Doune Castle

 Hearing how they set up to film here was fun.  The grounds are not huge so its amazing that they are able to set up all their outside props in such a small space.  Particularly, for the TV shows.

Doune Kitchen

 Above is the enormous fireplace for cooking in the castle (the kitchen).  

Doune Great Hall

 I think they take bits and pieces of different castles for the shows - filming a little here and a little there.  They definitely use more than one.  Turns out many movies are filmed in Scotland and particularly in the Hebrides.  The landscape is featured in Disney films and Star Wars films among others.  It does have that remote, wild feel.  One last castle and then we are moving on.