Friday 20^th June                       COCKENZIE  -  CASTLE  FRASER  -  BRIDGE OF DON (ABERDEEN)

Well, it’s been yet another travel day, and a lovely one, which is not always the case! Today the gods of travel have been good to us, as have the gods of weather.

We were up around 7 in Turret Cottage, and after breakfast began the process of final packing, stripping of bed linens and checking we hadn’t forgotten anything. I was looking out for Squiggle, our resident squirrel, to say goodbye, but he was no doubt up a tree in the front garden. Our resident robin had steadfastly foiled all my attempts to photograph him, but Glen finally got a photo this morning, much to my delight. Finally, by about 8.45ish, we were ready to leave.

                                                                        Squiggle

                                                          Robin (both Glen's photos)

We parted ways with Glen and Carol for the day; they wanted to see Aberdour House which is on the north side of the Firth of Forth. It did sound delightful, but I’d checked the National Trust book and realised that Castle Fraser is only about a half hour’s drive to the west of Aberdeen, our destination for today, so Lex and I headed for there.

Note to my Thompson cousins: (will be boring for everyone else; you can skip). We MUST have Fraser ancestors. Our GGG Grandfather was James Frazer Thomson, son of John Thomson, who married Jean Dempster. By the Scottish traditions of naming children, John’s mother should have been a Fraser. The most likely names for his parents according to the traditions are James Thomson and Ann Fraser. I’ve searched the records for many years and nothing conclusive has ever come up, but I do live in hope!

Going over the bridge

The Ochils

We skirted Edinburgh on the same A road which took us to Queensferry the other day, but this time continued to the west a bit, and crossed the firth on the new (2017) road bridge. This is like no other bridge we’ve ever been on; when I looked at it from the boat, I assumed that the huge cable supports stretching out like a 70s string art piece were on either side of the bridge, and you drove between them. They weren’t. Both sets were together in the middle of the bridge and not that far apart. It was quite spectacular. From here we skirted Dumfermline and headed north, with my favourite mountain range, the Ochils (pronounced orkills) to our left. From the 1600s onwards, many of my Scottish ancestors owned properties in the foothills of the Ochils, so we spent a lot of time there in 2014.  By half past ten we were both looking for a cuppa, so we diverted into near the little town of Errol (which we’d visited in 2014; more ancestors!) An internet search had revealed the café, The Pickled Peacock there. We were their first customers for the day, and it was a lovely find in the middle of nowhere! The staff were very welcoming, and had cups of tea and a slice of delicious lemon cake to share before going on. We drove around the outskirts of Dundee, with the Caingorms on our left, continuing north, and finally arrived at half past 12. To our shock and horror, the temperature at this stage had reached 27 degrees! The locals were in heaven. We found the café first, in the old servants’ quarters, and had a lovely lunch – I had toasted cheese and pickle sandwiches, and Lex the Carrot & Coriander soup and a roll.

The Pickled Peacock for morning tea!

Castle Fraser was built over several centuries – it was an existing rectangular, 2 storey stone building in the 1500s when the first Lord Fraser was created. The Great Hall is still in this building. One interesting feature was that the door was a storey up! Everyone had to climb up a very rickety wooden ladder to get in, and if danger threatened, they would simply pull it up. You can still see where it was from the courtyard. Over the years, the family enthusiastically extended, putting on turrets and towers and favouring the French coned roofs (common in Scotland, which liked France a lot more than the English did.) More wings and a courtyard were added, too, and a walled garden.

Castle Fraser back and arch leading to courtyard

Front view

The first Lord Fraser

The castle was nothing like what we’ve ever been in; for example, the main turret has six levels, and there are bedrooms and living rooms piled one on top of the other, joined only by a spiral stone staircase. 200 steps. It must have been massively inconvenient to live there! We went right up on top of the roof of the main tower, and there were lovely views all around. By this stage, what looked like storm clouds were massing, and I eyed them anxiously, but so far nothing has come of them. They did cool it down just a little.

The walled garden seen from the castle roof

We headed back down the stairs, visiting adjacent rooms along the way. The Frasers remained at the castle until 1921, when the last surviving daughter, Theodora, was forced to sell it as she couldn’t afford to maintain it. She had a carved stone set into the wall with the dates of their occupation and FINIS to show they had gone. Sad. It was bought by Viscount Cowdray, who mainly wanted the land. His niece, Lavinia Smiley, was the last owner, and gave it to the National Trust in the 1980s. She, her husband and her father had spent years renovating it, so it was certainly a worthy acquisition.

Unusual sundial in the walled garden

Lex's photos

Once we’d finished looking through the house, I had a happy perusal of the gift shop. Then we went for a walk through the walled garden, which National Trust volunteers restored in the early 2000s. Although it’s been just over 20 years, it’s lovely to see how good it looks now.

When we’d finished, we headed back towards Aberdeen. It took just over half an hour to reach our accommodation for the night at the Premier Inn. We have a very comfortable room (though the wifi reception is lousy) but we’ve got meals included in our rate, so it’s lovely not to have to worry about cooking tea, cleaning up etc. Glen and Carol arrived at about 6, after only getting lost a few times, and we met at 6.30 at the restaurant. We’d all bought the ‘meal deal’- 26 pounds each which gave us a drink and two courses tonight, and the full breakfast tomorrow (which should set us up nicely for the day.) Lex and Carol had the entrée and main, and Glen and I had the main and dessert. We are all so, so full. It was a very nice meal.

                                                                   Premier Inn for the night

Tomorrow, we explore Aberdeen before getting on the ferry for our overnight trip to the Shetlands!