Dunvegan Castle is a castle a mile and a half to the North of Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye, situated off the west coast of Scotland. It is the seat of the MacLeod of MacLeod, chief of the Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan Castle is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland and has been the stronghold of the chiefs of the clan for nearly 800 years. Originally designed to keep people out, it was first opened to visitors in 1933. Since then, the castle is consistently ranked as one of Scotland's premier visitor attractions. Over the years, the castle has been visited by Sir Walter Scott, Dr Johnson, Queen Elizabeth II and the Japanese Emperor Akihito.
And also by Grandmère Mimi and Cathy.
Below are pictures of the lovely castle gardens, which were laid out in the 18th century, no doubt at great cost and effort to make them look as natural as possible. The walk through the gardens was the highlight of my visit to the castle.
The bridge and waterfall.
The waterfall up close.
Monkey puzzle tree.
Daylilies? (amyj says that the flowers are Asiatic lilies.)
More flowers...
...and more flowers. (Penny tells me these lovelies are lacecap hydrangeas.)
...and more flowers, including blue hydrangeas...
And a birdie, a sea gull with pink legs and feet. (susan s. tells me the speckled bird is probably a juvenile.)
The sea gull's mate?
All this on the beautiful Isle of Skye.
Text and top photo of Dunvegan Castle from Wikipedia. The other pictures are mine.
I went to Dunvegan Castle on my honeymoon. It was lovely as the whole Isle of Skye was. We had a friend who had been married there, which we thought terribly romantic.
ReplyDeletePenny, the Isle of Skye is a wonderfully romantic place for a honeymoon, or for a wedding.
ReplyDeleteIf you, or anyone, know the names of the flowers in the pictures, I will add them to the subtitles.
Lovely pictures, Mimi. Re the Sea Gulls. . . The speckled one is probably a juvenile. I like to refer to them as teenagers. They are in that awkward stage. It's hard to tell the males from the females when they are grown, but obviously they have no trouble!
ReplyDeleteIt is probably a juvenile herring gull, in it's first year. They are hard to tell apart from juvenile greater black backed gulls, but it's an adult herring gull in the other picture and they are more common anyway in this part of the world (Ireland/Scotland etc.).
DeleteThanks for the information on the herring gull.
DeleteLovely pics. Thanks, Mimi.
ReplyDeleteThe flower above the one w/blue hydrangeas is also a hydrangea - a lacecap.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking us for a visit to Dunvegan Castle-- enjoyed it mucho (now I´d like some shortbread and strong tea--gracias).
ReplyDeleteLeonardo
susan s., thanks for your information on the sea gull. I was fascinated by the pink feet and legs.
ReplyDeleteJCF, thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures.
Penny the lacecap hydrangeas are gorgeous. I'd never seen that variety before.
Leonardo, I have your order. Coming up!
ReplyDeleteI remember Cathy and I ate at the cafeteria at the castle that day, and, if memory serves, the food was pretty good.
Good moning, Mimi! The lilies are not daylilies but asiatic ones. Beautiful by any name. I have really enjoyed your posts and pictures of your trip with Cathy.
ReplyDeleteamyj
Thanks for another vacation special. I love these mini-cybervacations.
ReplyDeleteAmy, thank you for the name of the lilies. I'll add a note to my caption.
ReplyDeletewhiteycat, thanks. I believe this may be my last post on the trip to Scotland, unless I find more pictures that I want to post. After weeding out what were, in effect, duplicates, I still have well over 400 pics.
The gardens and the flowers at Dunvegan Castle were just beyond beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYes they were, Cathy.
ReplyDeleteMimi, you should make a CD/DVD of the trip. Maybe Jonathan could put something together ... slide show with music. Then they could be offered for sale. Just a thought. I would buy a copy!
ReplyDeletewhiteycat, Cathy and I have asked Jonathan to make a highlights video, but he has not so far, In fact, I have not so much as seen his pictures. All he'd have to do is put them in an online album and give us access, but he has not done that, either. Sigh...
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't have all that many pictures, because he forgot to bring his charger, and his camera ran out of power part way through the trip.
Too bad. Perhaps someday he will get around to it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe one day....
ReplyDelete