Day #22 – Doune Castle and a Whiskey Tour

Finally got a group photo in our jumpers!

Today, wile we didn’t get out super early, we did try to get going around 10:00 so that we had plenty of time to make it to Doune.   It started off cloudy, but turned into a beautifully sunny day as we headed west towards Sterling.  It was about an hours drive before we entered the small village of Doune.

Swamp Castle/Castle Anthrax (for Holy Grail fans)

Just outside of the town was Doune Castle.  Not only is this a medieval castle which is still partially intact, but it is also the location for a majority of the scenes filmed for Monty Python’s Holy Grail movie!  We paid for tickets, and were given personal audio tour guides for everyone, narrated by former Monty Pythoner Terry Gilliam.

"Are you sure he's got one? Oh yes, it's vereh naace"

Moooo!

Writing a letter to the Queen

The tour guide took us through the courtyard, into the kitchens, bedrooms and up to the top along the castle wall.  We would enter an area, hear the background on the castle and the room, and then press an additional button to hear Monty Python info.  The courtyard Monty Python info talked about the scenes where the cow was hurled over the wall and the Frenchmen were standing on the top of the east wall as well as the Trojan horse gift that went so horribly wrong (they used audio clips as well, so we just stood there laughing!) This was also the place where Sir Lancelot was killing people while he was coming down the stairs as he was attempting to stop a wedding.

“Some day this will all be yours”

The kitchen Monty Python info talked about how they used the huge kitchen fireplace as the scene where the girls were holding one of the Python crew captive.  Upstairs in the great hall above the dining hall was the scene where the father said “Someday this will all be yours” and his son says “What, the curtains?”  The view out that window was beautiful.  Too bad it isn’t all mine!

Kinda done

Apart from movie history, we did hear about the Mary Queen of Scots bedroom as well as King James and the usual stories of plundering, backstabbing and triumph.

After a very successful trip to the gift store, we were on our way to lunch.  There was a wonderful walking path through a field to get to the center of Doune (it was only ¼ mile walk)  Once in the town, we found a cute little café called the Butterfly Café.  We sat and had a lovely lunch outside as it was still a gorgeous day. My sandwich had bacon, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and pesto mayonnaise on “arctic bread” which was really a flatbread.  It was so good!

At the Butterfly Cafe

<70851>After lunch, we headed back to our cars and started back towards home.  We stopped in Tullibardine to check out their whiskey distillery.  It was about 4pm, and everyone was interested in the tour except Emily and Isobel.  They toured the shops nearby and hung out in the nice weather until we were done.

The tour was very interesting.  This distillery has been in operation since 1488, but started as a brewery.  In 1993 it was closed entirely, but was purchased and reopened in 2004.  It’s a small distillery, so the tour wasn’t very long, but it was very informative.  They keep the spirits in wooden casks.  Different casks give different flavors.  The oldest cask they have with whiskey in it right now is from 1958.  They created a cask in April as a gift to the new Royal couple, William and Kate, but they haven’t heard what William and Kate will want to do with it.

After the tour, there was some tasting and the kids got chocolate for being patient.  In their gift shop they also had a Starbucks, which was kind of funny, and sad.  Starbucks is everywhere!

Always needing more food!

We left Tullibardine and headed towards home.  A little less than an hour later we were in Cupar.  Steve and Chris went to the local Tesco to get items for our Italian feast, and the kids went to the park to play.  Andy and I went to a café to find wi-fi so that he could answer some email from DePauw.  We all met back in the park around 7 and headed for home.

Park fun!

Two different sauces were made, as well as an antipasti tray and a tomato salad.  The meal was very good, and we were all very full by the time we were done.  We aren’t sure what we’re doing tomorrow, but everyone seems to be interested in just hanging close to home.