A Day Around Nairn

Scotland day around Nairn, northeast of Inverness

Monday, June 12, 2023

Looks like we're no longer in the land of the WCs. 

Now we're in the land of the loos.

This morning we went for a looong dog walk in the woods with old friend Aileen and new friend Lorna while Herb and the other guys golfed at a course in Nairn. This is about an hour from Dornoch, so we were out for the day.

Mary's ready for hiking.

We're on the Logie estate in Scotland, near Nairn. The house behind us belongs to the Logie family, who are happy to let anyone hike in their woods and fish in their stream.

Rhododendrons on display.

Another sister pic, thanks to Aileen, while Dava the dog does silly things in the river like submerging his head to pick up a rock for Aileen to throw for him - back in the river.

An old wall from 1829 just hanging out in the woods.

Logie Steading is a cute little set of shops and a family park. Did you know that a "steading" is an older word for a stable? I did not. So the old Logie family stables are now a shopping center.

After our walk we had a nice lunch in the courtyard, looked into a few shops, and I just might have found another gift to bring to the baby 😁

Here's a bit of the old stable wall outside the courtyard.

Aileen was kind to drop Mary and me at Cawdor Castle for a bit of Scottish tourism.

Crossing the drawbridge with our audioguide thingy.

Cawdor family crest

"Be Mindful"

Lady Cawdor seems to enjoy adding modern art pieces to the castle and grounds.

Another dark and rumbling storm hovered nearby, 

but fortunately never actually poured on our heads.

Towards the end of our indoor tour of the castle, Mary was heading for the lowest level to check out the old kitchens. It was fun to see how similar parts of the castle are to historical homes in the US like the Breakers or the Elms in Newport.

We found the old whiskey cellar, but otherwise forgot to take other pictures while inside the castle.

We kept commenting on the thickness of the stone walls.

It's quite an edifice, isn't it? The gardens were beautiful, but the storm clouds still rumbled nearby, so we cut our outdoor time short.

The minotaur bust in the center of the maze of holly hedges was impressive.

This path of beautiful Scotch laburnum trees was stunning. Looking back towards a perpendicular alley, we could see the little yellow petals falling slowly, like light snowflakes. And the flowers smelled so beautiful - like honeysuckle.

Done golfing for the day, our chauffeur Herb picked us up from the castle with an hour or so to kill before dinner, so we went back to Nairn Golf Club for a beverage. Fortunately, we were prepared with a change of clothes.

From there, we were off to Aileen and Robert's beautiful home for dinner.

Aileen made hosting a lovely dinner for 9 look easy. 

Lots of laughs and it was back to Dornoch to crash - more exploring tomorrow.

Sunset over the Moray Firth.

- Christine