After spending the night in Aberdeen, we headed south once more. Our first stop was Dunnotar Castle. There is a lovely walk out to this remote spot and I enjoyed that, especially since the sun was out! I just love the sea, sun and these dramatic cliffs all combined together.
Here we have a view of the ruined Castle. For you history buffs, this castle, when it wasn't a ruin was visited by William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, the Marquis of Montrose
, and the future King Charles II.
However, the most important event, and most famous, was that a small garrison held out against the might of Cromwell’s army for eight months! They miraculously managed to save the Scottish Crown Jewels, the ‘Honours of Scotland’, from destruction. The crown, sceptre and sword can now been seen on display in Edinburgh Castle.
Our next stop was Edzell Castle and Gardens. Mom and I are outside the main gate of this ruined castle in the above picture. It isn't the castle, however, that is so special. It's the gardens that draw the visitors here.
I happened to notice this lovely spider web as I went down a flight of stairs. I was pleased that my attempt at a picture actually worked, so I thought I would share it!
The castle itself is made out of red sandstone and it was once home to the Lindsay family. They were referred to as the 'lichtsome Lindays', meaning the 'carefree Lindsays' back in the day. Mary Queen of Scotts visited here, as well as her son, James VI.
Here I am standing in the lovely gardens. They were certainly worth the visit! Apparently they were added in 1604 and are unique in Britain because the walls contain a series of carved panels. These portray the Seven Cardinal Virtues (on the west wall):
Fides (trust),
Spes (hope), Caritas (charity), Prudentia (prudence), Temperantia (temperance), Fortitudo (fortitude), Justitia (justice); the Seven Liberal Arts (south wall): Grammatica (grammar), Rhetorica (rhetoric), Dialectica (argument, or logic), Arithmetica (arithmetic), Musica (music), Geometria (geometry), Astronomia (astronomy); and the Seven Planetary Deities (east wall): Luna, Mercury, Venus, Sol, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. Sir David Lindsay intended them to 'delight, entertain, and instruct' his visitors.
Here is a picture of one of the walls with its fantastic little niches for the flowers. Each colour represents something important about the Lindsay family's coat of arms and you can see the various carvings I mentioned above in between the sections of niches.
This is a view of the garden from the tower. If you look very closely at the hedges around the beds, you will see that they form words. These words comprise the two Lindsay family mottos:
Dum Spiro Spero (while I breathe I hope), and
Endure Forte (endure firmly).
I liked both of these mottos and may consider adopting the first of them for my own family motto one day.
Our next stop was the lovely golfing town of St. Andrews. This is my third visit to the place and I don't get tired of coming here because it is so lovely and peaceful. We stayed in a B&B very close to this beach and had a nice walk into town from here. We ate Tex-Mex food for dinner, of all things, and it was really tasty.
These next two pictures are of the St. Andrews Castle. Last time I was here it was under all sorts of scafolding and I didn't get any good pictures. This castle had been constructed by the 1100s and by the 1200s became the official home of all the bishops and archbishops of St. Andrews. The young James I visited here once.
It finally fell into ruin in the 1680s after the ascension of William and Mary to the throne of England. Kind of sad, really, because it had a long history and a lot of grandeur.
After spending the night in Aberdeen, we headed south once more. Our first stop was Dunnotar Castle. There is a lovely walk out to this remote spot and I enjoyed that, especially since the sun was out! I just love the sea, sun and these dramatic cliffs all combined together.
Here we have a view of the ruined Castle. For you history buffs, this castle, when it wasn't a ruin was visited by William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, the Marquis of Montrose, and the future King Charles II. 
However, the most important event, and most famous, was that a small garrison held out against the might of Cromwell’s army for eight months! They miraculously managed to save the Scottish Crown Jewels, the ‘Honours of Scotland’, from destruction. The crown, sceptre and sword can now been seen on display in Edinburgh Castle.
Our next stop was Edzell Castle and Gardens. Mom and I are outside the main gate of this ruined castle in the above picture. It isn't the castle, however, that is so special. It's the gardens that draw the visitors here.
I happened to notice this lovely spider web as I went down a flight of stairs. I was pleased that my attempt at a picture actually worked, so I thought I would share it!
The castle itself is made out of red sandstone and it was once home to the Lindsay family. They were referred to as the 'lichtsome Lindays', meaning the 'carefree Lindsays' back in the day. Mary Queen of Scotts visited here, as well as her son, James VI.
Here I am standing in the lovely gardens. They were certainly worth the visit! Apparently they were added in 1604 and are unique in Britain because the walls contain a series of carved panels. These portray the Seven Cardinal Virtues (on the west wall): Fides (trust), Spes (hope), Caritas (charity), Prudentia (prudence), Temperantia (temperance), Fortitudo (fortitude), Justitia (justice); the Seven Liberal Arts (south wall): Grammatica (grammar), Rhetorica (rhetoric), Dialectica (argument, or logic), Arithmetica (arithmetic), Musica (music), Geometria (geometry), Astronomia (astronomy); and the Seven Planetary Deities (east wall): Luna, Mercury, Venus, Sol, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. Sir David Lindsay intended them to 'delight, entertain, and instruct' his visitors.
Here is a picture of one of the walls with its fantastic little niches for the flowers. Each colour represents something important about the Lindsay family's coat of arms and you can see the various carvings I mentioned above in between the sections of niches.
This is a view of the garden from the tower. If you look very closely at the hedges around the beds, you will see that they form words. These words comprise the two Lindsay family mottos: Dum Spiro Spero (while I breathe I hope), and Endure Forte (endure firmly). I liked both of these mottos and may consider adopting the first of them for my own family motto one day.
Our next stop was the lovely golfing town of St. Andrews. This is my third visit to the place and I don't get tired of coming here because it is so lovely and peaceful. We stayed in a B&B very close to this beach and had a nice walk into town from here. We ate Tex-Mex food for dinner, of all things, and it was really tasty.
These next two pictures are of the St. Andrews Castle. Last time I was here it was under all sorts of scafolding and I didn't get any good pictures. This castle had been constructed by the 1100s and by the 1200s became the official home of all the bishops and archbishops of St. Andrews. The young James I visited here once.
It finally fell into ruin in the 1680s after the ascension of William and Mary to the throne of England. Kind of sad, really, because it had a long history and a lot of grandeur.
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