Castle Campbell and Gardens

Well, Autumn is well and truly underway and we've officially moved to the 'off-season' part of the year for interesting days out. CastleCampbell has been on the to-do list for a while now as its the site that the Historic Scotland app recommends for taking your dogs.

 

And we were not disappointed. We parked at the 'low' car park and took the walkway up to the castle - we were told it should take an hour to do the walk, but even with my constant stopping to try and get another waterfall photo, we managed it in half that. It was good or Missy to get off the lead before we did the castle as we had left quite early and therefore she'd only had a very short walk to begin her day.

 

As with most castles of the central belt, this one was a symbol of wealth and power and had never really seen any kind of attack barring one where Royalist rebels tried to burn it to the ground over two days. Originally known as Castle Gloom (derived from the Gaelic meaning chasm) it is situated at the top if a hill and surrounded by gullies and waterfalls. There is enough still standing that you don't feel cheated out of a castle, but it's certainly one of the smaller sites.

 

The views from the tower were stunning, and as always we did the kids quiz. No sticker this time for the hubby, even though we got them all right! The 'gardens' is also a 3 tiered garden with lots of benches - inside the tower there is even a sort of picnic room, so it's definitely one of the best equipped castles I've seen in regards to providing space to sit and eat.

 

There was plenty of dogs about as well, which is always nice, and Missy showed off her spiral staircase skills to her new canine friends. By that time it was getting cold and the light was beginning to fade (the nights are certainly drawing in quickly) and we took the longer route back down to the car park and enjoyed a stunning view of the castle. Don't let the length of the post fool you - we had a wonderful time and are already planning on taking the in-laws when they next visit!