Thesis stop #1 - Bowhill

After my first night in Edinburgh, I woke up the next morning and did a run (hike?) up to the top of the volcanic hills out here - called "Arthur's Seat" - no pictures because I didn't want to run with the iphone, but suffice it to say I'm pretty proud of myself for that little jaunt. Quite challenging, especially if you get ambitious and decide to "climb down" the vertical drop outside the fence line (I saw a little kid do it so thought 'how hard could it be?!'...I have a few scratches and bruises from the crab-walk I did down that mountain that proves otherwise. Not so easy.)

Anyway, moving on - I took the bus from Edinburgh to a tiny town called Selkirk for the first leg of my journey. This is Selkirk...

From here, I could either take a taxi or walk 3 miles down the road to the house. It was SUCH a nice day out and, let's be honest, Scotland only has a handful of really nice days in an entire year...so I walked! Past some beautiful countryside I might add. 

This was pretty cool - a battlefield in 1645...I stopped to read the sign (what kind of history student would I be if I didn't?!) 

and on we go....how beautiful is this?!

I took a tiny detour to see this guy - a castle owned by the family I'm studying wayyy back in the day - in the 1500s when England and Scotland were fighting over the border between the two countries, this was a stronghold of the Scots. The English actually burnt it down eventually though, and it has remained in this state basically since then. 

then back towards my ACTUAL destination...

Welcome to Bowhill! 

This estate was actually only designed to be a hunting lodge for the weekends. It was not really intended to house a huge art/tapestry/furniture collection, but when the family lost a few properties in London and Edinburgh the 19th century (when they introduced crippling inheritance taxes on aristocratic families like this one), all of the art in those houses was transferred here, to Bowhill. Of course some of it went to Boughton and some to the castle Drumlanrig (more on that next post), but a large majority of the things that I am studying ended up here.

No pictures inside but it was just as beautiful and grand as the best country houses - 18th century French furniture from Versailles, 17th century Dutch masters, Reynolds/Gainsborough/Kneller/etc portraits, Mortlake tapestries...the works. Interestingly, Sir Walter Scott actually stayed here (many say he was in love with the Duke's wife) and his poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel is dedicated to her.

Walking around the grounds, I'd be inspired to write some poetry too! It was such a beautiful area. After taking my time in the house to study the paintings I am going to write about, I took a walk around the grounds.

and stumbled upon what I thought was some kind of medieval prison...

but is actually just the ice box. hah. 

So much walking this morning (at least 5 miles!) so decided it was appropriate to take a taxi back to Selkirk. Back to Edinburgh I went. 

I jumped off the bus a bit early before it got back to the station to check out the University of Edinburgh - its no Princeton, but still a pretty sweet spot. 

then dinner and off to bed - early day again tomorrow!