We took a day trip to see Kellie Castle in Fife today. It was about an hours drive from where we live in Edinburgh.
It was our first trip to see Kellie Castle, and we were really looking forward to seeing it. Wikipedia states that records of the castle go back to 1150, although what we see today does not appear to date from that far back - more like the 16th century or so.
It was quite a nice place to visit and also had a lovely walled garden to the rear of the castle, plus a circular walk through woodland around it. We spent around 2+ hours there; checking out the gardens, doing the circular walk, visiting the tea room and then going on a guided tour of the castle.
The gardens were really nice. I loved their sunflowers, which were starting to wilt now - but they still looked pretty fantastic.
You could also buy veg and flowers from the garden. The carrot above was looking pretty fancy indeed !
The castle itself looks very typically Scottish. The tour guides explained that it was developed over hundreds of years, with bits added on, etc. It started out as one small defensive tower section, which was described as a defensive mansion - and then got expanded over the years.
It changed hands many times over the years, and was even rented out at one point by a farmer around the 18th century, who actually kept his animals inside it (and ruined it) !
It was in a fairly ruined state until the Lorimer family rented it out at a very cheap rental price in the late 19th century, on the proviso that they would renovate it - and what a job they have done. It has preserved the castle for future generations.
The tour took us through a number of rooms inside the castle, but not all of them. Although it is quite pretty inside, its not as old as you might think, but thats because it was ruined, and hence was restored towards the end of the 19th and into the 20th century, and hence thats the sort of age you see in the rooms.
However, the Lorimers were collectors - because they had a whole castle to fill, so there are many things of greater age in the castle. But quite interesting is that the Lorimers were a family of architects and artists - and you see that everywhere in the castle.
The castle is famous for its impressive plaster ceilings, of which the room above was the best example (atleast to me).
It had this amazing central artwork in the ceiling, and then these lovely molded plaster works all around - it was quite stunning to see.
The castle was renovated for family use, so a lot of the rooms we saw were functional - like this bedroom above.
Although its not a great photo, I absolutely loved the painting above, which dates from around 1890, which was above the fireplace in the main hall. Its by the Scottish artist Phoebe Anna Traquair. I absolutely love this arts and crafts style, and the tour guide was telling us that there is a church in Edinburgh which has a ton of her work in - so we will have to track that down and visit it as well !
We all really enjoyed it, and my daughter really liked the history of the castle. The tour guides were great and really new their stuff - bringing the stories of the castle and the Lorimer family to life.
It really was a great place to visit, and I'd recommend it thoroughly. We'll be sure to go back at some point - it was that good.