albert_debruijn
Taymouth Castle
This is Taymouth Castle in Scotland. It stands at the eastern end of Loch Tay, just outside the village of Kenmore.
This castle has some significance to me as I can trace my lineage back to the Campbells of Breadalbane, the Scottish clan that built this castle in the early 19th century. It seated the Campbell Earls and Marquises of Breadalbane for a while.
This heritage may sound strange coming from a guy with such a Dutch name, but my mother is Scottish so I can lay claim to being 50% Scottish. My mother’s grandmother was the illegal daughter of the daughter of the guy who owned this place . . . or something like that, it’s all very mysterious and the details have been lost over time – along with any formal claims to this place of course :-)
If you look closely in this picture, you can see the castle is surrounded by a wire fence. When I was there (August 2010) it was empty and all restoration work on the place had stopped. Apparently, there was a plan to turn this castle into the first 6 or 7-star hotel in the UK, but work stopped in 2006 and the company restoring the place was declared insolvent in 2009. The future fate of this place is still unknown at time of writing.
When looking at this place, which is huge by the way when you are up close, it is hard to imagine what it must be like to own and run it. Mind boggling in fact and I can not even begin to guess at the cost. Anyway, it is good to get lost in dreams about being the “Lord of the Castle” and money “not being an object” – ha!
One good thing though, the grounds have been turned into a golf course which is open to the public. So, while I might not be able to ever live here, I’d like to go back one day and have game of golf . . . .
From my blog over at www.albertdebruijn.com
Taymouth Castle
This is Taymouth Castle in Scotland. It stands at the eastern end of Loch Tay, just outside the village of Kenmore.
This castle has some significance to me as I can trace my lineage back to the Campbells of Breadalbane, the Scottish clan that built this castle in the early 19th century. It seated the Campbell Earls and Marquises of Breadalbane for a while.
This heritage may sound strange coming from a guy with such a Dutch name, but my mother is Scottish so I can lay claim to being 50% Scottish. My mother’s grandmother was the illegal daughter of the daughter of the guy who owned this place . . . or something like that, it’s all very mysterious and the details have been lost over time – along with any formal claims to this place of course :-)
If you look closely in this picture, you can see the castle is surrounded by a wire fence. When I was there (August 2010) it was empty and all restoration work on the place had stopped. Apparently, there was a plan to turn this castle into the first 6 or 7-star hotel in the UK, but work stopped in 2006 and the company restoring the place was declared insolvent in 2009. The future fate of this place is still unknown at time of writing.
When looking at this place, which is huge by the way when you are up close, it is hard to imagine what it must be like to own and run it. Mind boggling in fact and I can not even begin to guess at the cost. Anyway, it is good to get lost in dreams about being the “Lord of the Castle” and money “not being an object” – ha!
One good thing though, the grounds have been turned into a golf course which is open to the public. So, while I might not be able to ever live here, I’d like to go back one day and have game of golf . . . .
From my blog over at www.albertdebruijn.com