Today we’re making our way to the Inverness area to take in Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, Culloden Battlefield, and Clava Cairns. This whole trip the gps in our car has had a mind of its own. It takes us on a completely different route than our friends. Today was no exception. But the problem is that sometimes we can’t seem to find some of the places we want to go. And that was the case today. We eventually got it sorted out by putting in a different addres...

Today we are leaving our villa in Kilconquhar Estate and driving to Elgin in the Highlands. It was going to be about a 4 hour drive so we decided to break it up and stop st Dunnottor (pronounced duh-NAW-tour) Castle, sitting on top of a bluff that sticks out into the North Sea. The ruins are nothing short of spectacular. I love learning about the history and trying to imagine what it was like to live in those times. William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, the Mar...

Scone, pronounced Scune, Palace is currently the residence of the Earl of Mansfield. But there’s a lot of history here. In the 9th century, Kenneth MacAlpin established himself as the first true King of Scots. According to legend, he is said to have invited the Pictish King Drostan with all his nobles to banquet with him at Scone. While they were seated, and perhaps taking advantage of their gluttony of both drink and food, the Scots drew out the bolts suppo...

Culross (pronounced KOO-Russ) is a village where you feel you’re in 17th century Scotland. Several films have been shot here that invoke Scottish villages of times past. Captain America: the first avenger and the Outlander television series are shot here. It was a cute Scottish village on the Firth of Forth. Culross served as a port city on the Firth of Forth and is believed to have been founded by Saint Serf during the 6th century. We strolled through the s...

Glamis (pronounced Glahms) Castle is the home of the Earls of Strathmore, and best known as the childhood home of the Queen Mother (Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, 1992-2002). So we decided to pay our respects to the Queen mother who gave birth to the longest reigning monarch in British history and supported her husband, King George VI, through WWII, as seen in the movie The Kings Speech. Driving to it on a tree-lined driveway invokes oohs & aahs. It’s what I think o...