Thursday's child: Urquhart Castle, Scotland

One of the greatest castles to visit in Scotland is Urquhart Castle.  Although the castle itself was blown up over 300 years ago, the location is so evocative and the view so famous that a visit to Scotland wouldn’t be complete without it.

Unlike the other castles I’ve written about this month, there isn’t much to see at Urquhart.  Over its 500-year history, ownership passed from one side to the other countless times.  Early on, the Scottish and English fought for control.  Later, interclan wars resulted in the MacDonalds repeatedly invading from the western isles.  Finally in the late seventeenth century, as the government pulled their soldiers out, they blew up the building to prevent the Jacobites from using it as a fortress.

All that remains now is crumbling stone remains. The location is so peaceful, it’s difficult to conjure up the castle’s violent history.  We had to use our imaginations to picture what it must have been like for the local villagers, living through century after century of siege and tumult.

And using our imaginations also came in handy when we took in the view of lovely Loch Ness which Urquhart overlooks, and which is probably much more well-known than the castle.  No sightings of the Loch Ness monster were made by the Pollock family that day, although one of us wistfully claimed to have seen a fin.

Thursday's Child: Castle Levan, Gourock, Scotland

From time to time, I might be accused of being a romantic traveller.  I’m not interested in staying in a chain hotel, where the rooms look the same no matter what country it’s in.  I love to stay in an inn, bed and breakfast, or even a casbah that really reflects the place I’m visiting and its people.

So it should come as no surprise that when we visited Scotland seven years ago, I wanted to spend a night in a castle.

Great idea, but here’s the problem: most castles are really expensive.  The amount of money it would have cost for the Pollock family to stay one night in many Scottish castles would have eaten up half our trip budget.

So I started researching castles that were a little off the beaten track, and found the charming Castle Levan.  Recently restored by Historic Scotland, and run by Lady Lydia and her husband Jan, it perfectly suited our budget and our need for romance.

We loved exploring the castle inside and out, and Lady Lydia was eager to show off her wonderful homestead.  A narrow stone staircase wound up to our third floor bedrooms. Our rooms were homey rather than glamorous, which suited us perfectly. Most important, there were enough turrets, stone walls and arrow loops to make us feel like we were experiencing a small part of the Middle Ages.

Best of all, the castle even came with its own ghost, The White Lady.  Since we were traveling with our two little girls, we were grateful that Jan waited until breakfast the following morning to tell us the story.  We didn't see this apparition, but shivered to hear the tale that involved Lady Marion Montgomery and Mary of Guise (the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots).  Forget the girls – I’m not sure I would have slept a wink had I known about this ghostly being that haunts the premises.

And how smitten were the girls with Lady Lydia?  When she was too ill to join us for breakfast and see us off in the morning, they drew her Get Well cards.

Photo credit: Castle Levan