Yesterday I visited Doune, where the main attraction is Doune Castle, which you might recognize from your favorite movie or tv show!
The most iconic movie that Doune Castle has appeared in is Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Most of the movie was filmed on the castle's grounds, and the gift shop sells coconut halves for anyone interested in recreating a scene or two. Outlander fans will know this Doune Castle as Castle Leoch, which has appeared in past and present day scenes of this time travel fantasy. Doune Castle was also featured as Winterfell in the Game of Thrones Pilot episode.
Coming off the bus, I met a American woman named Pam who was traveling Scotland for the 7th (!) time by herself. She was also going to Doune Castle so I invited her to walk there with my friends and I. The castle is pretty small, so we ran into her in most of the rooms we wandered through.
My favorite part about the castle is that there are tons of "hidden" rooms that are open for exploration. My friends and I had way too much fun ducking under the short doorways and climbing the spiral staircases to find new areas that we hadn't expected to come across. The rooms were pretty empty for the most part, with only a few pieces of furniture.
However, thinking back, that is probably why so much of the castle is accessible to visitors. In the few other castles I have visited so far, the rooms are so lavishly decorated that there are staff in every corner and many areas that are off limits because people actually live in them. So actually, I preferred Doune Castle for letting my friends and I live out our childhood dreams.
After we went through the main area of the castle (and visiting the gift shop,) Pam joined us to walk around the grounds. Yesterday's weather was the coldest I have experienced in Scotland so far, but the sun was strong in the afternoon so it made being outside bearable. Around the back of the castle, we found a public walking path along the River Teith. The path reminded me a lot of the trails back home that my best friends and I love to go walk on.
We walked around for about an hour before heading back into Doune. There, we visited a few of the shops. For such a small town, there are a lot of boutiques and shops that sell handmade goods. Our favorite shop was Doune Time, where I ended up buying more than a few keychains to bring home. There were also prints of artwork by local painters, soaps and lotions handmade with local ingredients, and jewelry. I like gift shops, but sometimes seeing the same generic Scottish souvenirs gets disappointing, so I was really happy that this shop didn't have any of the same coasters or magnets that every tourist spot in Scotland seems to sell.
In total, we spent about 4 hours in Doune. There wasn't much else to do, besides go to a cafe or pub, so it ended up being the perfect half-day adventure. We took the bus back to Stirling and, after parting way with Pam, my friends and I went to the Bluebell Tea Room. It's safe to say this is our new favorite spot to eat in town. The woman who works there is British, and she is one of the friendliest people we have met. She is genuinely interested in talking to everyone who visits there and once she gave us a bag of scones for free!
Doune may not have been the most exciting place I've visited in Scotland, but considering I have midterm essays due tomorrow that I am still working on, I didn't mind a low-key outing. Getting off campus for a few hours was a much needed break from writing papers. My only regret is that we didn't ask Pam for her Facebook!