Aberdour Castle, Fife

Aberdour Castle, info Board 1

It was back in October when we visited nearby Aberdour Castle for the second time, it must have been about 15 years since we first went there. It’s just a ruin now but there are parts of it which are quite habitable – well almost. If you want to enlarge the photos click on them.

Aberdour Castle, Fife

Aberdour Castle, Fife

The gardens are well maintained now and they even have an orchard.

Aberdour Castle from Garden

The photo below was taken from the Doocot (Dovecote)

Aberdour Castle , from Doocot, Fife

But there are habitable rooms in the castle as you can see below. With a few rugs, tapestries and curtains I could quite happily move in!

Aberdour Castle,Fireplace ,Fife

There is a rare painted ceiling

Painted ceiling, Aberdour Castle, Fife

And a large hall which is actually bigger than these photos make it look.

Aberdour Castle, Hall, Fife

I’m sure you can hire this place for a wedding, if you are so inclined.

Abedour Castle, Hall, Fife

James Douglas, the 4th Earl of Morton acquired this castle in 1564. He loved gardens and his travelling in Europe and particularly Italy had influenced him when he set about planning his garden. Sadly it doesn’t take long for gardens to disappear once a property falls into disuse.

Morton's Garden, berdour Castle, Fife

Aberdour  Castle, info Board , Fife

 

 

 

Aberdour Castle doocot (dovecote) in Fife

We visited Aberdour Castle one afternoon  last month, we hadn’t been there for years and it looked like quite a lot of work had been done in the gardens. Below is a photo of the dovecote – or as we say in Scotland the doocot (dookit). This is obviously a beehive type construction, they are various different designs but I think this is the most elegant kind. I would love to have seen the structure which was on the right hand side of the grass, it looks like it was a wall with pillars, going by the outline, but is long gone now.

Aberdour Castle, Doocot + grounds, Fife

As you can see, inside the doocot is ringed with stone shelves which have nesting niches for the pigeons to nest in – or doves if you want to be posh. They were important sources of meat for the castle inhabitants, especially during the winter months when hunting wasn’t so easy.

Aberdour Castle, Doocot interior

I’ll do another post about the castle soon.

 

 

Aberdour, Fife

I’ve been neglecting ‘Pining’ the past couple of days because yet again I’m up to my elbows in wallpaper paste – doing Gordon’s old bedroom now. No don’t say that I should get professionals in to do it because in my experience they are just expensive bodgers so I would rather do it myself, I can bodge just as well for free!

Anyway, a couple of weekends ago we decided to go for a walk around Aberdour (again), just about six miles along the coast going towards Edinburgh. It’s too long to walk there so we took the car and by the time we got there it was chucking it down with rain. But you wouldn’t think it from the photos, it was one of those ‘April shower’ days in September.

Firth of Forth

The Firth of Forth

We went to Aberdour so that my husband could take a photo of the war memorial there, he’s sort of ‘collecting’ them, which is a Sisyphean task if ever there was one as they’re all over the place and sometimes in the most unexpected locations, but I leave them to him. I was more interested in this ancient doorway leading into the grounds of Aberdour Castle. It dates from 1632.

Aberdour Castle Garden

And this is what you can see when you get through the doorway.

Aberdour Castle Garden

Aberdour Castle Garden

It’s still pretty and colourful even in September. Aberdour Castle is one of the few castles which I think would have been quite comfy and pleasant to live in in its heyday and it’s worth a visit if you’re ever in that vicinity.

By the time we walked around Aberdour my feet were absolutely squelching wet, completely drookit. What is it about modern footwear manufacturers? They seem to have lost the ability to make shoes and boots waterproof. I had on my fairly expensive hiking boots and after about a year they started to leak. Am I expecting too much? Is it just me or do other people have the same problem with footwear nowadays?!