International Travel Planning … on your own … without a net…Part 9.5
Posted in European Travel, Family Fun, Food, Historic, Museums, Scenery, Shopping, Travel Planning | By Wolfstone | Tags: Castles, Gardens, Scotland, Travel Planning
Scotland: Fall 2009
As promised from yesterday, we’re continuing our journey down to Edinburgh.
Day 12
Aviemore to Edinburgh
Distance: 126.0 miles
Time: 2 hr 48 min
We are going to make a few stops and hopefully we’ll have time for all of them.
1st Stop
The village of Blair Atholl is approximately a 90-minute drive north from Edinburgh or Glasgow just off of the A9, 35 miles north of Perth.
The seat of the Dukes and Earls of Atholl is touted as Scotland’s most visited historic house and is also the home of the Atholl Highlanders, Europe’s only remaining private army. (I think I’ll see if I can rent them out for a few jobs that I have pending around the house.)The tour takes in some 30 rooms including an ornamental Victorian armoury which includes weapons used at the Battle of Culloden, and the ballroom with 175 pairs of antlers . . . now that’s a lot of venison!
The castle grounds are part of an estate of over 145,000 acres of farmland, forests, housing, industrial development and marked trails.
A 9-acre walled garden, a deer park, peacocks roaming the grounds and those strange, Old English Sheepdog looking, Highland cattle are all part of the castle area. And, the kids can play in the woodland adventure playground.
The on-site restaurant (Tullibardine) serves lunch and afternoon tea, and a gift shop is available.
It is possible to tour only the grounds at a reduced fee.
Hours: Daily 9.30am to 5.30pm
Admission: Castle and Grounds / Grounds Only
Adults: £8.25 ($13.20) / £4.00 ($6.40)
Senior Citizens: £7.20 ($11.52) / £4.00 ($6.40)
Children: £5.10 ($8.16) / £2.00 ($3.20)
Family Ticket: £22.50 ($36.00) / £10.00 ($16.00 )
2nd Stop
Just down the road (A9), a little over 10 miles from Blair Castle, is the small village of Pitlochry with an even smaller claim to fame in the hills above …
Edradour Distillery
Edradour is touted as the smallest whisky distillery in Scotland. It might even be the smallest legal distillery in the world. John Reid and his two assistants hand-craft Edradour without any kind of automation. And the location is right out of Brigadoon … complete with a rolling stream and a wooden bridge just in front of the distillery’s white-washed buildings.
With a minute production of only twelve casks of whisky a week, this could well be the most difficult whisky in the world to find! Added to the after production maturity of at least 10 years to reach its peak, Edradour is a rare find.
Tours are FREE … let me repeat that … FREE! And it’s available almost every day of the year. And, yes, there are samples!
And don’t worry if you can’t find it on a map. I have the best paper map of Scotland available and I could hardly find it! And even their website declared its difficulty.
From Pitlochry, follow the A924 Braemar/Blairgowrie road 2½ miles through the village of Moulin. After climbing the hill and passing over a small bridge you’ll see, on a sharp bend, the signs for Edradour.
http://www.edradour.co.uk/main.html
3rd Stop
Two miles north of the city of Perth on A93 is the entrance to Scone Palace.
Celebrated as the crowning place for Scottish Kings, the history of this estate is renowned throughout Scottish history. Shakespeare even mentions this place in his historically and factually inaccurate play, Macbeth. The real Macbeth was actually crowned here in 1040.
Touring the Palace is at your own leisure with docents available to answer questions in each room.
Gift and food shops along with a Coffee Shop and limited engagement full service restaurants are available.
On the grounds, which are able to be toured at a reduced fee, there are several points of interest:
Moot Hill – Deemed Scotland’s most historic site where Macbeth, Robert the Bruce, and Charles II arrived for their crowning ceremonies on the Stone of Destiny, also known as the Stone of Scone.
Wild Garden – Woodland walk including the first Douglas Fir introduced by David Douglas, a Son of Scone.
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Pinetums – Redwoods and Fir trees from 1848.
The Murray Star Maze planted with Purple and Copper Beech to resemble a tartan.
And watch out for those crazy peacocks that seem to spring up at every Scottish estate.
The Palace is only open from April until the end of October, while the grounds are open all year, but, only on Fridays after the Palace closes down for the season.
Admission: Palace and Grounds / Grounds Only
Adults: £8.50 ($13.20) / £4.80 ($6.40)
Senior Citizens: £7.30 ($11.52) / £4.20 ($6.40)
Children: £5.30 ($8.16) / £3.20 ($3.20)
Family Ticket: £24.00 ($36.00)
Well, we finally make it back to our last extended stopover, Edinburgh. From here we will also journey out from the city on two of our four days.
Next Week: Day 1 In Edinburgh + Battlefields, Castles and Monuments
Tags: Castles, Gardens, Scotland, Travel Planning