What do I remember of my first visit to Caithness? The flatness, the stone fences, and the wind. Gorse in bloom. Warm, friendly people who claim to be Wickers, which means they come from Wick, and have no truck with Gaelic and Jacobite woes. These people claim their heritage from the Norsemen and are proud not to be of any clan.
We hit lucky with our visit to the Castle of Mey on 10th April. Recently widowed Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother saw it during a visit to the area in 1952, fell in love with it and decided it must be saved as part of Scotland's heritage. She bought it for £100 and spent her summers there, gradually restoring it. She set up a trust before she died, and it went to her grandson, now Charles III.
It was Easter Weekend when we were there and the Castle was open to visitors. The huge wall protects the castle from the worst of the winds off the sea, and shelters the walled garden. The castle seems a huddle of chimneys and odd little towers, a delight, almost a child's idea of a castle. Once through the gates, we walked round to the front of the house, which faces south across the fields.
Surprisingly, the day I was there the wind shrieked in from the south! and we were glad to get inside those huge doors. Once the nine-inch key had safely been turned in the foot square lock to keep out unwelcome visitors, we enjoyed our tour with Mr Jackson. Just the three of us, through the drawing room, the equerry's room, the sitting room, then up the spiral stairs to view the bedrooms. One housed a romantic four poster bed in a room designated as Princess Margaret's room though she never slept there because she thought the castle far too cold and always went back to her quarters on board Britannia in Scrabster harbour fifteen miles away.
Down a set of stairs so steep the Duke of Edinburgh claimed they reminded him of being aboard ship, (and I wondered how the aged Queen Mother managed them) and into the dining room, the pantry and then down again to the kitchen with the 1950s fridge, still in use. Anecdotes and reminiscence all the way.
The Queen Mother had fifty years of widowhood and we heard stories of Dinner parties in the castle that went on so late that she earned the nickname Midnight Moll. Menu reminders, handwritten in French, were propped up at her place at the dinner table, a kitsch Nessie toured the top of the sixteenth century tapestry in the drawing room. Yes, I'd love the castle to be mine - but could I afford the central heating? Probably not.
It was built for the earls of Caithness between 1560-1580 and stayed in the family for 300 years. Though it is only 200 yards from the sea, I saw no beach but my dogs would have loved it.- acres of space and no one about! I recommend the castle of Mey for your delight if you are ever that far north though I cannot guarantee Mr Jackson will still be there.
