Oh, Inveraray!

The first full day on the west coast of Scotland was mostly spent hiking (them, not me), so on the second day we went exploring and sight seeing by car… and foot, but no hiking. 

We first set off to see Inveraray Castle, the legendary and historic home of the Duke and Duchess of Argyle of Clan Campbell.

Inveraray Castle (view from car park)

The 13th and current Duke of Argyle is only two years older than me, and married to a Cadbury, of the famous chocolate making family. The current castle was built in the early 18th century and is pretty darned pretty! Its front was used in the filming of last season's Downton Abbey episode where they all went up to Scotland to see Cousin Ruby's family. Honestly, I would not have noticed, but they had some photos of the DA filming in one of the castle rooms, and only then did I connect the dots. 

Bridge near Inveraray Castle

Turrets

The Armory Hall was just inside the entrance and contains quite the display of arms. Guns? Check! Knives? Check! Swords? Check! Pole axes? Check! And so on, and on, and on. Impressive and a bit intimidating!  

Impressive armory hall

In the photo below, you can see a detail of the rifle wheel, arranged in 1783 by the 5th Duke, but also the wee statue of Robert the Bruce, sitting horseback sculpted by a "Princess Louise." No date or other identifier given, but I think Princess Louise was probably a pretty cool chick. 

A wheel of guns & Robert the Bruce

The necklace below was simply a find that had been at Inveraray Castle for as long as they know. It dates back to the Iron Age and was probably found when building the castle. 

This! This is the kind of stuff that I can sit and think about for hours on end… who wore this fancy necklace? Was it a gift? If so, from whom? Was she rich and nice, or rich and bitchy? How did she loose it? How does something so precious as an expensive necklace get lost in the dirt, only to be found 2,000 years later? I can daydream for hours (if given the chance) about the person who wore this necklace...

Iron age neckless

The chair in the picture below didn't have a lot of details, other than it was a gift from a Malaysian aristocrat sometime during the Victorian era. It is carved out of a single, solid piece of wood and is absolutely stunning. Sadly, the photos don't really do it justice, but trust me - it took someone a very, very long time to carve this chair!

Carved, wooden chair

Detail of carved, wooden chair

The tapestry room had original tapestries from the 18th century, but I was more impressed with the ceiling, chandelier, and furniture that also adorned the room. I took the picture of the harp especially for my sister, Toni, as she's been teaching herself how to play the harp for the last few years. Her harp is a wee bit smaller, though! 

Chandelier and ceiling - always, always look up!

Harp for my sister :-)

The painting in the dining room and all of the chairs are original, dating back to the completion of the formal dining hall in 1770. Apparently, when the castle was first built, it was not customary to have a dining room, but by the mid-18th century, dining rooms were coming into vogue, so the 5th Duke of Argyle had this room especially re-designed for such purpose. You cannot really tell, but the paintings were done so as to make the designs on the walls and ceilings look raised, but are actually flat. 

State dining room

The kitchen that is open to the public was last used in the 1950s. It had seven fireplaces, two stewing stoves, two baking stoves, a boiling stove, a roasting pit, and a hot plate; I'm guessing it was hot in the kitchens back in the day! They also had tons of antique copper pots, utensils, and baking equipment that would have even made Mrs. Padmore jealous. 

Kitchen

After we explored the castle's inside, we took a quick walk around the gardens and saw the picturesque front of the castle that they used for the scenes in Downton Abbey. We didn't spend much time in the castle gardens, though, because of the damned midges. What are midges, my American friends ask: think small mosquitos that swarm you like gnats. Yeah, they're evil little buggars. 

Front view of Inverary Castle

Artsy shot of castle

We then drove just a few minutes over to the quaint little town of Inveraray and had ourselves a nice cuppa. "Cuppa" was slang for a cup of tea, but I hear it used to refer to a sit-down with a friend at a tea room that usually consists of a cup of tea (or coffee) and some sort of sweet treat. In Inveraray, my cuppa consisted of coffee and ice cream :-) 

Town of Inverary

After our cuppa, we walked around the little shops and found a small whiskey shop where the boys (and a few of the gals) did some tasting. There may have been a sneaky purchase or two.  

Whiskey shop

Pour your own whiskey

After that, we headed off to see the sea! More on the rest of our adventures in the next blog post. Stay tuned!