doune castle

After visiting Loch Lomond we made an unplanned stop at Doune Castle. It would be easy to drive through the town of Doune and miss the castle. Located at the bottom of a narrow road, this grey ruin is hidden in the trees on a curve of the River Teith. Built in the late 14th century, it is fairly simple in construction, with a main block of buildings set with a courtyard and contained by a great curtain wall. This castle was a cool example of medieval concerns for security with gates to secure almost everything, and separate stairs to the lord's hall.

Doune Castle

Loving it

This was the first castle I visited while in Scotland - actually maybe the first castle I have been in ever... definitely the first one I really explored. While walking through the castle I was able to listen to an audio recording about what the rooms throughout the castle were used for. Starting in the courtyard and making my way around the castle I became more fascinated with the structure and size of rooms. I tried to imagine people actually living their life in the castle but due to the dark and somewhat creepy nature of the stone rooms it was difficult. 

Kitchen

My favourite part was making my way to the top of the castle and looking out to the surrounding area. In order to get up there I spent about 10 minutes being terrified climbing what can only be described as a vey unsafe set of stairs. They were small, and wet, and spiralled, and I definitely did not enjoy the walk up (or the attempt to get back down which took even longer). Although the process to get there was painful the view and the feeling I got when I reached the top was worth it. It literally took my breath away - I think I may have even said "oh my gosh" out loud. 

View from top

Castles have officially become my favourite thing. After this I couldn't wait to see the other castle we were planned to see on the tour. We had lunch in the town of Doune at a cute little place called Buttercup cafe. 

Doune Castle

Town of Doune

Fun fact: Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed at Doune Castle. The other castles that were meant to be in the movie withdrew at the last minute so different parts of Doune Castle were used to depict the various fictional castles in the movie. Although this fun fact was not interesting to me at all the other people on the tour seemed to be super excited about it so I though I should share. 

Stay tuned to learn about the last leg of our day trip! xo