Both castles have their charms. Tantallon is very romantic-looking as it is built right on the cliffs of the North Sea and just seems to spring out of the water. We were lucky enough to go while the gannets were massed at the Bass Rock, and they turned the whole thing white with all their activity.
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| The Cheungs and a Hoskin with Tantallon Castle. |
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| The Bass Rock swarming with gannets. |
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| Close up of the lighthouse and the birds. A Hermit used to live on the Bass Rock. Wonder what he thought of the bird invasion! |
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| Roots of the Castle lead into the North Sea. |
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| Farmer's fields, cliffs and the North Sea. |
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| Hitch-hiking or taking the bus? |
After we had poked our heads into all the nooks and crannies of Tantallon, we took 2 city buses to get to Dirleton Castle, on the other side of North Berick. Dirleton has 2 beautiful gardens surrounding it and, lucky for us, the sun actually came out a bit for us while we explored. You enter and go through the longest herbaceous border in the world (they are in the Guinness Book of World Records) before wandering around the castle, and then at the end of your visit you tiptoe around a set of Victorian gardens that are so precise and geometric that you wonder how many hours of labour go into maintaining its perfection.
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| Turret peeking up above the herbaceous border at Dirleton Castle. |
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| More herbaceous-ness! |
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| Picnicking in the gardens. |
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| Matthew strutting his stuff in front of Dirleton. Doesn't he look like he belongs? |
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| "Here it is! We're going in!" |
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| Meaghan helps me demonstrate the largess of the bake oven. |
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| Hide and seek in the storehouse. |
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| We feel the need to hang out and have a chat. :) |
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| Lovely castle walls. |
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| Atop Dirleton. Can you see the turbine in the bottom right? |
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| Ruined chimneys and a cotton ball sky. |
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| Farewell! |
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| Crazy-groomed gardens that I am pretty sure are trimmed and planted with the aid of a protractor. |
