While we would usually be in Newport mid-August, a lovely invitation prompted a re-consideration. So off we went to visit Edinburgh and then cruise the eastern shores of Scotland and a chain of islands (Faroe, Shetland, Alesund,etc.) on our way to Oslo, Norway. 

One of the highlights of that cruise was Dunrobin Castle, with its fairytale spires and turrets, home to the Earls and Dukes of Sutherland. The largest “house” in the Scottish Highlands (tripled in size in the mid-1800s) it is sited on a high promontory overlooking the North Sea. But the real drop dead moment for me was looking down upon the three magnificent and large formal gardens that seemingly stretched all the way to the water!

Once we had traversed the steep, partially pebbled paths down to ground level, I found myself enchanted by the details, especially the creations in the garden on the right.

The oversized, intentionally crooked wooden tuteurs were an inspired Alice in Wonderland moment… all the more enchanting with the elegant pink Japanese anemones clamoring up their sides.

Other details and plant selections (deep purple agapanthus) belied the fact that this is a garden on the North Sea

while generously scaled round parterre’s (bordered by oversized rhubarb leaves) also hinted that these are Scottish, not English gardens.

On our return climb to the castle, one terrace captured a personal favorite garden design feature… repetition, skillfully illustrated here in the stone plinths on the grass and stone globes along the left wall.  

Flowers from these gardens are also to be seen throughout the castle rooms (a note touchingly related to us by castle staff).

Space does not allow me to include all the rooms, but here is a selection of my favorites, especially the comfy and chic bedrooms (the white doves atop the bed posts in the green room were made especially for Queen Victoria‘s visit in 1872). 

I’ll close with an affectionate look back at Dunrobin Castle in the late afternoon as we headed back to the port of Invergordon for more adventures along the North Sea.