A Grand Tour of Gardens by Leclercq Anne Sinkler Whaley;

Author:Leclercq, Anne Sinkler Whaley;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

If you go: Sharrow Bay Country Hotel is easily reached in about two hours from the Manchester Airport. It can be found on the Internet at www.sharrow.co.uk (Tel. 44(0) 1768 486301). Levens Hall is five miles south of Kendal by the A591.

Edinburgh and Prestonfield

House, Scotland

A Base for Discovering the Borders

SCOTLAND FASCINATES AMERICANS. It is a heritage that includes men wearing kilts, the male bonding of the haggis ceremony, and the eerie lilt of song and bagpipe. It is also a country that bursts with beautiful gardens, verdant golf courses, and vintage castles.

We left Charleston on a hot July day; our destination was the city of Edinburgh. It provides a perfect base for visiting the border region south of the city, as well as the east coast on the Firth of Forth. Our home away from home was Prestonfield House. Prestonfield sits on the edge of Holyrood Park, an immense hillock in the middle of Edinburgh. It is an old and imposing white mansion with a restaurant, Rhubarb, that has an outstanding reputation. Prestonfield has a country feeling in the middle of a big city. Each day we walked the loop around Holyrood (a four-mile walk), and once we ventured up the steep hillside to Arthur’s Seat, the presumed throne of King Arthur. The Prestonfield golf links were directly below our window. The unwary golfer with a great shot was amazed to hear a voice from on high applauding his skill. The par 70 course of 6,207 yards was designed by James Braid and overlooks Duddingston Loch. There were ten peacocks on the grounds whose screams were enough to arouse one from any dream.

The greatest treat was breakfast at Rhubarb. A huge feast of fresh fruit, scrambled or poached eggs, black pudding, sausage, and delicious mushrooms awaited us. The portraits that lined the dining room lent an air of solemnity to the occasion. Benjamin Franklin once stayed here and is said to have commented, “The hospitality was beyond compare, and even the bed bugs don’t bite.” Prestonfield House was built in 1687 by William Bruce (c. 1630–1710). Today it has been spruced up by James Thompson, who also owns the Whitchery by the Castle, a sumptuous restaurant on the Royal Mile.

To our great surprise, Fred’s cousin Effie Siegling Bowers arrived at Prestonfield with a group from the British National Trust. Effie had grown up in the stately and historic Siegling home at High Battery, overlooking Charleston Harbor and Fort Sumter, a home today owned by Richard Jenrette. What a great pleasure it was to chance upon another Charlestonian in Scotland and family at that. We enjoyed a long breakfast with Effie the next morning at Rhubarb Restaurant, punctuated by spirited conversation and reminiscences.

Our first destination was the town of Peeble in the Borders region. It is filled with small shops and bustling townspeople. We lunched just outside the town in the Cringletie House Hotel. I felt as though I were in my grandmother’s house. There was a wonderful coal fire in the grate and a cozy bar with magazines.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.