Crathes Castle

Today is the penultimate day of this little  trip so we treated ourselves to a fairly minimal drive and a good explore of Crathes Castle.  An interesting place where the old 17th century house has survived but a Queen Anne and a large Victorian extension were both destroyed by fire in 1966, along with the majority of the family's possessions. What remains are some wonderful old rooms furnished with gorgeous antiques and extraordinary painted ceilings. 

And, even better, a great walk through woods on the surrounding estate for Berry (and us!) and a quick pootle in the walled gardens - just the bare, woody and evergreen bones at the moment but a new area being constructed and it'll be good to revisit soon and see what the spaces look like when clothed.

When I planned the route I was hoping for a good weather day and great mountain views as we travelled up to Grantown- on-Spey.  Unfortunately, low clouds and rain started us off in the fading daylight and then it was too gloomy to really see anything. But we got glimpses of a spectacular view down the Dee valley, wriggled along beside the Don and finally descended into the Spey valley in the dark. The area is still obviously saturated with standing water in the fields and evidence of watercourse flooding after their biblical rain last weekend. The rivers were swollen and fast-flowing and there was plenty of debris by the roadside. I know Orkney has had some rain too and we're praying we don't return to the mess we had last time. 

So we are now holed up in Grantown for the night. The TV doesn't work here so no World Cup (hurray!) but a pleasant evening of reading ahead.

I've plenty of backblipping to do too ;-))