troca/destroca

Last Saturday I went on a trip with the Strathclyde International Society (SIS) to Dunnottar Castle in Stonehaven and Drummond Castle Gardens near Perthshire.

Here’s some pictures of them taken from internet:

Now, the real think was not as clear as I might think. Firstly, please consider that Stonehaven is situated in the East cost of Scotland, with a similar latitude as the south of Norway. Temperature outside was about 12ºC (26th April) and foggy as I’ve never seen before.

The Dunnottar Castle is a ruined medieval fortress from the 15th and 16th centuries, however the site has remains from the 10th to 13th centuries.

To reach the Castle one must walk down a big hill, not seen on these pictures, once reaching the valley seen on the upper photo, one must climb again the scarp to reach the entrance of the Castle. Now most if it is completely destroyed, no paths, no ceilings, no interiors, etc… The only thing that last is made of stone.

 

The only thing on these premises that is not completely ruined is a religious room, apparently a place where important people met and took tough decisions. It has been reconstructed as you see bellow.

 

The remaining thing about this place is scarps, the interface between land and sea. For me this was astonishing, the real north face of things, so have happen on these water trough the last dozen of centuries, a feeling that no photos can actually describe.

 

Moving forward to the next place. Just 3 miles outside Perthshire, on top of a mountain there a Castle that encloses a very large garden and beautiful garden. It is privately owned by an English lady, Jane Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. It was a wedding gift, Royal family heritage, UK is a Kingdom after all.

We got a chance to walk trough the Gardens a gesture of compassion by owner, doesn’t charge anything to students.

It an Italian style garden, with an impressive array of diversity. As one walks around the paths with a view to the Castle itself, there’s only one thing that actually came to my mind: these people were really different, in every way! Living like a Queen is one thing, being one is really another. Indeed in our modern society we do find a lot of rich people between us, but having money is really not enough. In the end, having the Class is all that matters. The gardens that I saw were no more no less that a reflection of the Class of these people, as so the Classic does always remains the king of all the forms of living. For that reason, in this place where there was no mobile network, no internet connection and no tv, etc… but still, there is so much more, it touches people more deeply than any other modern life commodity.