The oldest parts of the castle are from 1300. In Shakespeare's play" MacBeth", there are references of the "Thane of Cawdor" and the death of Duncan was rumored to have occured here. In real life, Duncan was killed by MacBeth in 1040 during a battle, and in 1057 his son (Malcom) got his revenge by killing his fathers murderer. This was 300 years before Cawdor castle was built.

The late Earl of Cawdor made plaques for each room where various items are explained...often with great "tongue in cheek" humor. I would have liked him! Each room is intimate....yet very elegant. It would be wonderful to walk through rooms sporting famous portraits and to have them be ancestors of yours!

The red bedroom called the " tapestry room" (for all the silk tapestrys) contains a velvet canopied marriage bed that I wished I could have hid in and spent the night.

The thorn tree room (old guard room) was built around what was believed to be a hawthorn tree. I read somewhere that a Hawthorn tree was used for Christ's cross. When this tree was radiocarbon dated it was from 1372 and turned out to be a holly. Behind the tree is a dungeon with a plaque that explains that it was well used at one time.

Head outside now to the many gardens! The oldest one is the walled garden with the maze made out of holly. It was closed off, since the 500 year old plants are showing their age. Boxwood shrubs form the backbone of plantings in forms of stars and other geometric patterns while rose's bloomed with purple salvia and the royal Scottish thistle in some odd forms such as the black thistle. Arborvitae form walls that open to hidden slate floored enclosures while water flows, spurts or ripples along from bird baths to fountains. The kitchen garden had nut trees and an esparieled fruit tree grown along an ancient stone wall.

The path behind the castle leads to the wild garden. You know you are approaching when you pass the largest red Japanese maple tree I have ever seen and enter the blue door. Feeling a bit like Alice in Wonderland, I wondered why I have trouble growing this maple in the Midwest, when this area of Scotland is above the latitude of Moscow? Cross the bridge over the bubbling peat colored stream and you'll run into a.....California Redwood? It must have been planted several hundred years ago. There are walking trails here that are 1.3 km-5 km. long.

The last garden is from the 1700's, and is to your left as you approach the castle. Perennials are in constant bloom and butterfly's flew about. Colors splashed about my vision while I roamed in this real life Monet painting.