During the last week of the school holidays we drove just a few miles from home to the small but very historic town of Culross, which is pronounced Kooriss. This is a panorama photo of the town.
This is the palace from the back, in fact I seem to have neglected to take any from the front! As you can see, there’s a good view of the Firth of Forth. The palace dates from 1597 and is a very bright colour, almost orange, but it is the original colour and it was a status symbol as it cost so much to have the building finished like that when it was built.
This photo is of the chickens in the orchard, there was also a lovely border collie belonging to the gardener there but he/she didn’t stay still long enough to get a snap of her. I think that gardener may well have one of the best jobs around.
Look closely and you’ll see that apples can grow in Scotland although it obviously helps if you have a south facing garden and nice big thick walls which store what little heat we might get.
The gardens are steeply terraced with stone steps in about four layers, so you have to be fairly fit to tackle them but it’s well worth it if you’re interested in plants.
There’s a good selection of plants and produce to buy here, the wee wooden stall which you might be able to make out has bags of very unusual varieties of veggies and you just have to make your choice and post your money into the honesty box.
We had planned to visit the palace and abbey in the same afternoon but after doing the town tour and the palace tour we were too tired for the abbey and it was getting late too so we’ll be going there some other day.
These are all National Trust properties and in fact the NT owns over 100 of the houses in the town and they rent them out. Culross is well worth a visit, there’s plenty to see but now that it’s so quiet it’s hard to imagine the place as it was when it was a very busy port, even busier than Leith apparently, which is Edinburgh’s port. It was full of ships which were transporting the coal from the very lucrative mining industry here and before that there was a salt industry.
I am loving the colour of that palace! The idea of the NT owning so much of the town takes me a minute to absorb.
What a lovely tour – thank you!
Debbie,
It’s certainly a change from the usual grey stonework. There is a castle in the highlands which is bright pink and it was the original colour, well researched by historians apparently!
Definitively there are to much to see in Scotland. Thank you for your article! As a Scottish descendant in America, I am always interested on our culture.
Best regards,
Alastair
Alastair,
Thanks for visiting. I hope your business does well. I know that Tunnocks products are very popular with ex-pats when they can get a hold of them abroad, then there’s Orkney Fudge and Duncan’s chocolate!