We wanted to experience Scotland to its fullest so we took a little trip on the Malt Whiskey Trail as Scotch Whiskey is world famous.
There are loads of local distilleries dotted all over the countryside. Most of them are all owned by large conglomerates now but they are pretty amazing to see.
Kevin did lots of research to find just 1 distillery to tour and he settled upon Glenlivet.
Apparently Mr. Smith is unpopularly famous in the area because he patented his whiskey so that he could call it "the" Glenlivet whiskey. What this did was to get attention from the government and got all the whiskey makers to pay taxes on their products. Kevin went on the tour of this working distillery while the kids and I watched Pochontas in the cafe on the mini DVD player as they don't allow under 8's on the tour. They were very accommodating to us though because after about 5 minutes a gentleman walked up with about 8 glasses of whiskey with a jug of water and two small glass of juice. He held out the tray and asked if I would like to try some 10 year old whiskey, I thought the jug of water was for me to water it down a bit, but it was actually for the squash (juice concentrate) he brought for the kids. How silly of me, but I did try a few sips of the whiskey and even though I'm not a whiskey drinker at all, this was actually not bad. I love the little jug that he served the water in that I bought one as a souvenir but Kevin loaded up on a few bottles of whiskey for himself and for gifts.
The fog lifted slightly enough to reveal some beautiful Scottish landscape.
This afternoon we visited Blair Atholl Castle. Scottish home of the Dukes and Earls of Atholl this is one of the most beautiful castles in Scotland and one of the most visited. We found that the current Earl is about 80 years old and lives with his family in South Africa. The white castle certainly stands out against the deep greens of the beautiful landscape.
You aren't actually supposed to take pictures inside the castle and they have people patrolling to make sure you aren't but I did it anyway...I understand the purpose of preserving things but I've come so far and I'm going to get some pictures. I liked this little plaque that listed out payments for passage on the Tummel Ferry...carts pulled by horse, every score of sheep, each coach pulled by 4, then 2, then 1 horse...how interesting.
The Dining Room
A 19th century bathroom..
This is the ballroom adorned by hundreds of deer antlers as is much of the house, but it was technically the only room you were supposed to be able to take pictures of. Pretty much all of the rooms throughout the house were pretty amazing and with all the places we've been it did stand out. They also had a fun little hunt for Addison to find particular things in each room which she did very well at and had lots of fun doing.
The estate was beautiful and the weather was absolutely amazing for once on our trip and it was turning out to be a perfect day.
After going through the house we made our way to the walled garden where the kids had fun chasing and feeding the ducks.
The gardens were COMPLETELY refurbished as it was left to grow over and the ponds were filled with muck. We joked as the sheet said they could only afford one full time gardener to take care of it all, but it must have taken an army to do what they've done to it. The most amazing part of the visit though was that we happened to run into an English lady who had lived in AMES, Iowa for 22 years while her husband did research and taught some there. She was back in the UK now and visiting Scotland with her sister but being alum of Iowa State we couldn't believe how truly small the world was at that moment.
Some really furry oxen...cuddly looking fellows!
There was a church on the site as well that we walked through...Kevin got this amazing picture of one of the crosses in the cemetery shadowed against the church.
Another bonus and lure for us to visit this place was the adventure playground. The equipment was really intended for a little bit older kids but our little ones still had fun.
The wooded background was lots of fun for them to play around in.
Of course everyone was sad when we had to leave because it was such and amazing place and day for us all, but our Scottish tour must go on.
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