So...where to start? ...well I had to pop a couple of wee wedding pics in first! We are now les 'Marchants' as my cousins french boyfriend Francois put it (he's very impressed with the frenchness of our little scottish famille as Sebastien was born on Bastille day! We aim to please!)And now a warning...I like taking pictures! A lot!! So without further ado, introducing TiSA in Scotland! And more specifically in St. Andrews. I feel I should explain, since I am from Aberdeen, why all the photos are in St. Andrews. I am half St. Andrean and it is a far prettier town than Aberdeen, I had meant to take pics in both towns, but as the wedding was in St. Andrews and it is also the town where my grandad lived, we have inevitably spent most of the summer there this year...
This is TiSA with my beautiful wedding dress, I had planned to take a pic whilst I was actually wearing the dress, but as any bride will confirm, the day goes past so quickly that you forget a million things you had planned to do!
This is TiSA sitting on the blanket box in our beautiful turret room at the Rufflets, the gorgeous country house hotel where we had our wedding reception. That's a magnificent four poster bed in the background...and a Rufflets 'Do not disturb' teddy bear that is sporting my veil (the house keeping staff would turn down our bed and put the veil on the teddy every night!!).
In the glorious two days of summer that we had in Scotland this year we did a spot of tourist-type sight-seeing. My husband has never visited the castle in St Andrews, (I used to go with my granny all the time when we could say 'Locals' and get in for free! Gone are those days, now it's £7 each!!!), so I decided it was a must that we take the tour. This is the castle entrance, though not the original drawbridge clearly!
As any good castle is built on the cliffs by the sea, there are many fantastic vantage points. From here you can see St. Andrews pier and the towers of the ruined Cathedral.
Here you find us in the remains of the castle kitchen checking out the handy garbage disposal, straight into the sea! (Don't worry, no remnants of rotting food were present!)
You will also be glad to hear that it has been a long time since this sandstone hole functioned as la toilette!
From here you can see the East Sands that were used to film one of the great sequences from the 1981 british movie 'Chariots of Fire'.
And this is a pic of one of the eeriest places in the castle, the bottle dungeon. So named because the entrance is shaped like a bottle neck, prisoners would be lowered down and left, unable to escape. I kept TiSA safe on my hand, wasn't going to risk her falling down the bottle neck!
...and this shows another of the eery places in the castle grounds, the counter mine. This was dug out during a siege on the castle when the inhabitants found out about a plot to dig a mine into the castle and attack. They dug the counter mine and a battle took place where the two mines met! It's very dark, very small and quite damp!
TiSA, my hubby and I then took a wee tour round the castle visitor centre and met some interesting types.
TiSA jumped into the peasants bucket...
...and then onto John Knox's fist...
...before ending up on King James II table whilst he was discussing pressing political matters with the bishop!
We then went on to visit the family church where we got married, All Saints Scottish Episcopal Church.
This is the beautiful church courtyard.
...and this is the garden of remembrance filled with just some of the flowers for my grandad, (my granny keeps saying her house is like Kew Gardens just now because of all the flowers, there are a lot).
We took a short stop for 'refreshments' (a nice glass of chilled white wine, mmm mmm!) in the Castle Tavern, which is run by my cousin Myk, here he is pictured with TiSA and a massive grin!
...before we moved on to the Cathedral visitor's centre.
Here is TiSA pictured with the intricate bishop's emblems.
...and then at the top of St Rules tower
It was very cold and very windy at the top of the tower, so we didn't stay for long!!
We then took TiSA on a wee tour of the St. Andrews Preservation Trust Museum where she found this 1950's wedding telegram, the message reads, 'Two pints make a half pint!'
The counter at the general store in the museum, (another willing model!)
St. Andrews, as you may know is the home of golf, and this is TiSA at the grave of a very famous St Andrean golfer Tommy Morris...
...and finally this is TiSA and myself ending our tour on the famous Swilken Bridge that looks on to the 18th hole and the club house on the Old Course in St. Andrews.I hope you enjoyed the pics and the tour as much as we did, sorry again that it took so long, but I hope this made up somewhat for the delay!!
Jenni x
2 comments:
Wonderful pictures! Tisa must have had a fabulous time! I spent some time in Scotland a few years ago and also visited St. Andrews, and this was a great reminder! I might have to go back soon now! :)
Good job, you looked beautiful on your wedding day. Makes me want to go visit Scotland one day.
Post a Comment