A couple of weeks ago we decided to take ourselves off for a visit to Newhailes, a National Trust for Scotland property near Musselburgh and not far from Edinburgh. Have a look at the Undiscovered Scotland website here.
We were told not to take any photos of the interior, something that I know the National Trust high ‘heidyins’ are now allowing in all their properties, but this house only has small guided tours and the guide was having a nightmare with a couple of the other visitors so I decided not to argue the point. You can see some of the interiors when you click on the link above.
The house has been conserved and preserved rather than buffed up to look as it would have looked when newly built. It gives it a more lived in feeling rather than the sort of stage set look that you often get when viewing these old buildings.
The original owner of the house designed it himself, he was the architect James Smith and he bought the land in 1686, but over the years the house has been added on to. James Smith had originally intended to become a Roman Catholic priest and studied in Rome but he gave up to become an architect. He ended up marrying twice and fathering 32 children, so I think it’s fair to say that he must have realised just in time that he was not cut out to be a priest!
The house is copiously decorated with shells, particularly scallop shells which are of course the emblem of Saint James (no I’m not a Catholic, it’s just one of those things that I thought everyone knew) but I had to tell the guide about that and I’m not sure she believed me. Anyway, it made me laugh to think that James Smith had purloined the saint’s emblem for his own use.
If you’re in that area Newhailes is definitely worth a visit.
The word heidyins does of course mean – those in charge.
Heidyins? Is that a word unique to Scotland? It’s new to me.
Paula
Paula,
Yes it is only used in Scotland, possibly mainly in the west, it just means – the people in charge. Yins means – ones. Billy Connolly is known as The Big Yin here. Heid (pronounced heed) means head, so the high heidyins is just the high head ones.
I love these scottish words, Katrina đŸ™‚ Newhailes looks lovely. And it would seem that you were there on a rare blue-sky day!
Sandra,
Yes as I recall we saw the blue sky and decided to get out and make use of it! It has been a rotten summer so far although we had some fine weather in May.
Wow that’s a bright green lawn! Very pretty house too.
Stefanie,
That’s how green grass is when you have loads of rain!
We’ve noticed that when palaces or great houses are still “in the family” photography is likely to be forbidden. I get it…but it’s still frustrating to someone like me. (Plus it just seems like a dodge to sell post cards or those “coffee table books” that are never opened again 24 hours after the luggage is unpacked.)
Pearl,
I agree. I can understand that they don’t want flash photography close to ancient tapestries but it’s easy to switch the flash off now. I think if they did allow photography it would end up with them having more visitors, as people would put the images online and it would encourage others to visit too.
On the quasi-occupied ones, I get it. We visited both Alnwick Castle in Northumberland and Dunvegan on Skye in May and both are camera-free zones. Frustrating, but then I wouldn’t want folks taking photos of my stuff either. Of course, if was charging them a fair price to do so…
But then there’s a security risk as well – how better to case the joint?
Pearl,
That’s true, and possibly their insurers stipulate that they must not allow photography as it could encourage thieves. So many of the old castles and towers have absolutely nothing in them though so I think they should be relaxed about photos being taken then.