Caerlaverock Castle

Backblip 2 - Monday

As we left breakfast it came on to rain but we took a short walk to the Hermitage in the hotel grounds. It was built by Robert Riddel who was a friend of Robert ‘Rabbie’ Burns who lived just down stream at Ellisland Farm. When Riddel died Burns etched a poem to him on the windows of the Hermitage where he often came to work. The window is preserved in the hotel.
This is, of course, Burns country and there are many trails etc dedicated to him.
The walk we had planned to the Wetlands on the Solway Firth was put off but the walk took in Caerlaverock Castle so we decided to take a look at it anyway. A coffee in the cafe and as we are English Heritage members we could go into this Historic Scotland property free!
A medieval border stronghold with triangular defences it did fall siege to Edward I’s army in 1300. Perhaps more interesting and unexpected is it’s resurrection into a stunning Renaissance residence in 1630. The blip shows some of the decorative stonework.
Well worth a visit - more details in the Flickr set on tomorrow’s blip.
Next time we will do some of those walks!