From Castle to Castle

Lough Eske

Staying at a castle was one of my friend's desires for our trip two years ago to Scotland. it didn't happen then but we were able to fit in a castle or two this time. Generally these were manor houses (ie houses where the local ruling family lived) and they'd been given from Irish earls to protestant and English families. It's a pretty complicated history. Many had romantic face lifts in the late 1800s to give them the castle look.

Now? You try and keep up a castle. Many have lodging available and we stayed at a higher end, newly remodeled one (with attached conference center and spa) and then at an older one which had layers and layers of history upon it.  Both were interesting but I really liked the older one which had all sorts of interesting nooks and crannies to go exploring. It was really pleasant inside with the perfect weather we were having but I can't quite imagine what it must be like in the winter.

After a really wonderful run with K again on that loop stopping to take photos, we had a leisurely breakfast and checked out of the newer castle. We drove to where we could show the friends the lovely view of the lake that we'd seen on our run.  It was even more gorgeous!

Markree Castle

And we headed to the next older Castle. It was nice to have some more leisure time to just read and relax and explore the castle. It's a well lived in castle and worn in places. The owners have owned the castle for 350 years. Yes, we did have a turret in our room!

Meanwhile back at the castle... haha! Relay stuff.