Recently my husband and I took a vacation and travelled through the Highlands of Scotland. What beautiful countryside there is to be enjoyed there. We saw castles, mountains, lakes, the Glenfinnan Viaduct (filmed in the Harry Potter movie), many monuments to "the clearings" of Glencoe, a restaurant owned by a distant relative of my husbands whose great, great, great grandfather originally opened, views that definitely fit the saying of "taking your breath away".
If any of you make plans for traveling through the Highlands we would like to recommend two hotels in particular that we received the best customer service of all the places we have stayed since moving to England two years ago.
The George Hotel, Inveraray, Argyll PA32 8TT. The room was awesome, the customer service even more so and the food was delicious. Check out their website at www.thegeorgeotel.co.uk. You won't be dissappointed.
Killiecrankie House, Pitlochry, Perthshire PH16 5LG. A country home/bed and breakfast, again with excellent customer service, nice rooms and excellent food. They also offer special golf weekends with connections they have to local courses. Website: www.killiecrankiehotel.co.uk.
No we didn't see the Loch Ness Monster, but we did hike to and picnic on our "mini estate" at Locherby Highlands Estates where we own 200 square foot of land in a beautiful wooded estate on the side of a fell that is protected and can never be built on. What a fun gift this was for my husband and owning land in Scotland gives us the titles of Laird and Lady MacVean . . . a fun bonus for more of our great memories of our time living here in the U.K.
We learned a great deal about the history of Scotland while there as well. For instance, did you know that the Highlands were "cleared" of the clans (so the property owners could raise sheep) many centuries ago and that the clan McDonald (located in Glencoe) was all but eliminated by the Campbells with orders from King William because they were unable to get to the right location on time to swear fealty to the King? The history of this area especially interests me because it's the area of Scotland that my husbands' family originates from and those ancestors were some of the one's "cleared" so they moved to America.
There is also a song called Loch Lomond, which we were all taught in music class in grade school. A line you will probably remember is "For me and my true love will never meet again on the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond". I always interpreted it to mean that he and his true love had broken up or one had died, but in truth it is referring to "the clearings" and that they would have to leave Scotland and would never be able to go to Loch Lomond again. How interesting all the history I have learned here that I didn't learn in school.
I continue to be fascinated with this ancient culture and hope to have many more adventures to share.
Please share your experiences and any enlightened historical knowledge that you have learned because of living here.
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