ABD Day 3 - Floors Castle
When we left off, we had just finished a very busy day in Edinburgh and I was having second thoughts about group travel because of the limited time we had had to explore the major sites in town. But Day 3 promised to be a very different day because it was focused on just one location -- Floors Castle. Floors Castle is in a town called Kelso in the Scottish Borders, which is the area south of Edinburgh, but north of England. (The "border" is the England/Scotland border). Had we done Scotland on our own, the Borders would not have even been on our radar, so Day 3 was in some ways the perfect day by which to judge the value of ABD. How much would we enjoy seeing and doing things that we would not (and, in some cases, could not) see and do on our own?
Day 3 began much the same as our other days in Edinburgh. I got up before the alarm, got ready for the day, and then relaxed until DS got up. DS and I then headed down for breakfast, while DH snoozed. A few minutes before our meetup time, DS and I met DH in the lobby and learned that most everyone else was already on the bus. Apparently, after Day 1, you can just hop right on the bus and grab a seat when you are ready, so people arrived early to secure the choice front-of-the-bus seats. (I was not the only one with motion sickness issues). DS and I ran out to try and get the best seats we could, while DH had one of his famous 5 minute sit-down breakfasts. Everyone including DH was on the bus by the 8:45 meetup time and we were soon on our way. As the favorite parent, I had the privilege of entertaining DS for the drive, while DH got to relax and enjoy the views.
Before too long, we pulled up to beautiful Floors Castle, where most of our group immediately queued up for the bathroom. Meanwhile, Michael and Claire took photos of each family in front of the castle. This is a benefit of ABD that I don't think is mentioned enough. I normally appear in maybe 2 or 3 photos per vacation. On this trip, I was in at least 1 or 2 photos per day thanks to Michael and Claire. Once everyone had reassembled, we entered the foyer for tea and cookies served by the Duke and Dutchess's butler and maid. Now I confess that when I read the description of this activity, I was picturing a sit-down affair where we were waited on. And, of course, Dame Maggie Smith would be there treating us to her sharp observations about the travails of being landed aristocracy. What we actually got was a tea and cookies buffet where everyone grabbed their cups and then drank them standing in the foyer.
From there, we were separated into two groups. Again, this worked differently than I expected. Based upon prior trip reports, I thought that all of the families with kids would be grouped together. Instead, the kids (and I use these term to refer to everyone under 18 since only 3 of the 15 junior adventurers were under the age of 14) were split up 50/50. Our family was assigned to the group that would be touring the garden first. We started in the Millennium Garden and then moved on to some other garden. I know nothing about this second garden area because DS and I instead headed for the kid's play area. The play area was a bit different from your standard American playground. It had a zip line and various climbing structures. My son took an immediate interest in the zip line, but needed some encouragement to give it a try. I did what any good parent would do and tested it for him. He then requested that we try a tandem zip. It was a bit awkward to fit two people on the zip line, especially when one of those people is a grown adult, and our combined weight meant that my bottom dragged on the ground at certain points. These are the sacrifices we must make as parents.
Before long, the teens in our group came over to give the zip line a try and DS and I moved on to the climbing structures. (Seeing the teens cut loose and enjoy the play area made me really happy and I know that the moment was made possible because our ABD group were the only people in the gardens. In ordinary life, a group of "big kids" using playground equipment tends to get the stink-eye. But I digress).
DS and I played on the playground until I dragged him kicking and screaming for a quick peek in the greenhouses before lunch at the castle's cafe. The cafe was closed to the general public for the day, so it was already set up for our lunch when we arrived. I had a pureed vegetable soup to start, followed by a huge plate of vegetable risotto. Both were good, but the portions were so large that my plates still appeared full after I finished eating. I feel pretty confident that we had dessert after our meal, but I have no memory of what that dessert was.
After lunch, we re-divided into our groups and my group headed inside for our tour of the castle. Floors Castle is still inhabited, but the family opens many of the rooms to visitors for tours. (The tours, along with the cafe and a gift shop are all part of the families' plan to keep their estate profitable so that they can continue to live on and maintain their lands.) This particular tour focused on the history of the castle, some of the interesting antiques and art on display there and a bit of the history of the family who lives there. The highlight for my son was a room full of taxidermy birds. There were over 200 specimens on display and there are guides that visitors can use to identify the various species. We were able to identify over 100 birds before it was time to move on to our next activity - shortbread making.
The shortbread making was led by one of the chefs at the castle. The ingredients were already measured for us, so all we needed to do was mix the dough, incorporate any mix-ins and then cut out our cookies. DS says that this was one of the best parts of the day because he is a "great baker." We got our cookies back at the end of the day and I can confirm that they actually were great. (We added chocolate chips and orange zest to our dough and it really took the cookies over the top.)
After making our cookies, there was some time to relax and have a cup of coffee or tea at the cafe. Those items were "on ABD." While we were enjoying our drinks, an older British woman walked past the "Cafe Closed for Private Event" sign and started to help herself to a beverage. At that point, Claire intervened and explained that the cafe was not open to the public. The woman convincingly feigned ignorance, but I have a hard time believing that she truly thought the castle was providing free coffee and tea to guests.
Properly caffeinated, we decided to take a walk around the castle grounds. The castle is situated so that you have lovely views of rolling hills, with the village (and if memory serves me right, a river) in the distance.
ABD had some Scottish flags out for family photo ops and the teens in our group were nice enough to share them with DS, who ran around using one as a cape for a while. One of the castle employees even brought out her puppy and Claire and Michael called DS over to pet him. The weather was just perfect and I was really enjoying relaxing and taking in the views, but DS was starting to get antsy. It was at this point that I realized that the official schedule for the day did not allot a big block of time for admiring our picturesque setting. At roughly the same time, my son, who never forgets anything, asked when we were going to see the "cute baby owl" that Michael had mentioned on the bus ride to the castle. That prompted me to look around and I noticed for the first time that a man wearing a thick glove was standing near the castle looking up into the trees.
It seems that the falconer had arrived while we were baking and set up for the falconry demonstration. But upon opening the crate for his owl, the owl had flown into a tree and now refused to come down. Michael and Claire announced that we would wait a while longer while the falconer tried to convince the owl to join us. While we waited, I nipped into the castle gift shop and bought a book about Greyfriars Bobby and a knights and castles snap card game to entertain my son. We read the book twice, played a few games of cards, and ran around a little more. By this time, DS was starting to worry that the baby owl had no plans to come down from his tree. Eventually, Michael announced that there would unfortunately be no falconry. DS immediately dissolved into tears. He had been a remarkably good sport about the delay and I felt terrible that he never got to see his owl. But Michael and Claire had made the right call. The owl was apparently up in the tree until 9:30 that evening when he finally got hungry enough to fly down for a snack.
While the owl was busy being a prima donna, DH and I were getting DS calmed and ready to return to Edinburgh. Because of the owl debacle, we arrived in Edinburgh later than planned. We decided to forgo a night out in Edinburgh and just grabbed sandwiches at the hotel before heading up for bed.
DH and I agreed it had been a great day. DS, on the other hand, said that he would "never" get over not seeing that cute little baby owl.
I'm glad to hear that they fixed some of the food issues. You are describing food that is edible (risotto, salad, pizza for the kids, etc). When we went the food was so bad that we barely ate the whole trip (adults and kids alike). One of our take-aways from the trip is that you've probably never heard of any famous Scottish chefs.
It's sad if the changes made the food *worse*.
