Blackness Castle: The Ship That Never Sailed, Above the Firth of Forth From the south shore of the Firth of Forth, Blackness Castle looks as though it has run aground. The pointed prow at the north end, the square stern at the south, the tall central tower rising like...
Dalhousie Castle: The Medieval Hotel Where Cromwell Slept, Eight Miles from Edinburgh King Edward I used it as a staging post during his campaigns against Scotland. Oliver Cromwell occupied it briefly during the English Civil War. Sir Walter Scott was a guest. Queen...
Ballindalloch Castle: The Pearl of the North, Home to the Macpherson-Grants Since 1546 According to local tradition, the original laird of Ballindalloch chose the wrong site for his castle. Everything he built during the day was mysteriously demolished by the...
Floors Castle: Scotland's Largest Inhabited Castle, Above the River Tweed When the 1st Duke of Roxburghe needed a new house in 1721, he turned to William Adam — the architect who would later father Robert Adam and establish the most celebrated architectural...
Dunvegan Castle: The Fairy Flag, Eight Hundred Years of MacLeod and the Loch of Skye The Chiefs of Clan MacLeod have lived at Dunvegan Castle for over 800 years. Not visited occasionally, not returned to — lived in, continuously, for more than eight centuries. No...
Caerlaverock Castle: Scotland's Triangular Fortress, Where Edward I Came, Above the Solway In 1300, Edward I of England laid siege to Caerlaverock Castle with a substantial army, and a herald named Walter of Exeter was present to record the event in a poem. The...
Inveraray Castle: Where Scotland's Most Powerful Clan Meets the Shores of Loch Fyne The Campbells have been the most politically significant family in the Scottish Highlands for over five centuries — Earls of Argyll since 1457, Dukes since 1701, Chiefs of one of...
Balmoral Castle: A Highland Paradise Above the Dee, the Royal Family's Most Private Home Queen Victoria called it "my dear paradise in the Highlands." She and Prince Albert had searched the Highlands for the right estate; when they found Balmoral in...
Drummond Castle Gardens: The Formal Terraces That Played Versailles, Above Perthshire The drive to Drummond Castle is itself a preparation: a mile-long avenue of beech trees, reaching overhead, narrowing to a vanishing point ahead. It ends at a gate. Beyond the gate,...