We still have a few more days of leave from work and today managed a trip to Inveraray Castle, in Argyll, Scotland.
Inveraray Castle is quite spectacular, and has this sort of fairytale appearance with its lovely four round corner tours and central tower. The stone has this incredible green hue to it, which really makes it stand out.
Its the home of the Duke of Argyll and his family and also the seat of the Campbell Clan, of which, the Duke will be the clan Chief.
The castle sits in beautiful grounds by the town of the same name. The castle came first, with the original castle being built around the 15th of 16th century, and the present one was built in the 18th century. The town then grew up around the castle.
It is very much a decorative castle, as by the 18th century there was not so much call for a defensive castle compared to previous centuries. Its quite ornate with impressive stone workmanship all around.
We've been many times but dont always go in the castle itself because its fairly expensive, whereas you can pretty much visit the grounds for free (although with a nominal fee for parking if needed). But today we decided to do the full tour.
The central hall is quite impressive and is the standout feature for me. As can be seen above it is decorated with tons of old weaponry (mostly muskets, spears and halberds), and goes all the way to the highest point of the castle (which is around 4 large storeys).
It really is quite spectacular and worth seeing alone.
The old weaponry is quite impressive and must be worth a fortune, also noting that there is tons of it.
There are also the obligatory suits of armour dotted around - it just wouldnt be a proper castle without them !
The state rooms are quite impressive, like the dinning room above. The Argyll's are one of the key aristocratic families in Scotland and the UK with close ties to the royal family. The 8th Duke married Princess Louise, one of Queen Victoria's daughters, which means they were certainly up there in the 19th century. The silver punch bowl in the centre of the table was a wedding gift to them from Queen Victoria herself !
We really like our art, and were quite delighted to see the Gainsborough above in one of the rooms. It is around 5 foot tall, so is quite a piece and must be worth a small fortune.
The tour takes in a number of well appointed rooms, but only covers around a third to half of the castle, noting that the Duke and his family still live there. I'm sure they are not there permanently, but there are clearly areas of the castle that they consider their private residence, and you dont get to see those (which I think is completely understandable).
On touring the castle you get told the story of the castle and the family, with portraits of the various Duke's all around.
I also spotted the portrait of George the 3rd above. From then on in I had the tune 'You'll be back' stuck in my head from the musical Hamilton !!!
We really did enjoy touring the castle. The ticket price also covers entrance to the castle gardens, which we hadnt actually gone round before (I'll cover that in another post).
One of the last places on the tour is the historic kitchens which are quite cool. The copperware is awesome.
My absolute favourite things are the copper jelly moulds - how incredible are they !! I want a copper jelly mould collection.
One of the best kept secrets of the castle is its awesome tearoom, which has lots of great home baking. My top tip is that you can visit the tearoom without paying to go into the castle. We will often stop there just to go to the tearoom if in the area - the cakes really are that good !!!!
We really did enjoy taking the castle tour. Although expensive, it is pretty good and I would recommend it. Although if on a budget, its good enough to just pay the car parking fee and get access to the wider grounds and views of the castle (which is what we normally do) - and of course the tearoom ! Well worth the visit !