Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
10am-5pm; T 01356 623050).
Caledonian Railway tours T 01356 622992,
W caledonianrailway.com. Trains operate every weekend
(June-Aug), travelling along 4 miles of track from Brechin
to the Bridge of Dun (£6 return). Diesel trains run on
Saturdays, steam trains run on Sundays.
Edzell and around
Travelling around Angus, you can hardly fail to notice the difference between organic
settlements and planned towns that were built by landowners who forcibly rehoused
local people in order to keep them under control, especially after the Jacobite uprisings.
One of the better examples of the latter, EDZELL , five miles north of Brechin on the
B966, was cleared and rebuilt with Victorian rectitude a mile to the west of its original
site in the 1840s. Through the Dalhousie Arch at the entrance to the village the long,
wide and ruler-straight main street is lined with prim nineteenth-century buildings,
which now do a roaring trade as genteel teashops and antiques emporia.
The original village (identifiable from the cemetery and surrounding grassy mounds)
lay immediately to the west of the wonderfully explorable red-sandstone ruins of Edzell
Castle, itself a mile west of the planned village.
2
Edzell Castle
1 mile west of Edzell • April-Sept daily 9.30am-5.30pm • £5.50; HS
The main part of the old castle is a good example of a comfortable tower house, where
luxurious living rather than defence became a priority. However it's the pleasance
garden overlooked by the castle tower that makes a visit to Edzell Castle essential,
especially in late spring and early to mid-summer. The garden was built by Sir David
Lindsay in 1604, at the height of the optimistic Renaissance, and its refinement and
extravagance are evident. The walls contain sculpted images of erudition: the Planetary
Deities on the east side, the Liberal Arts on the south and, under floods of lobelia, the
Cardinal Virtues on the west wall. In the centre of the garden, low-cut box hedges spell
out the family mottoes and enclose voluminous beds of roses.
The Caterthuns
Four miles southwest of Edzell, lying either side of the lane to Bridgend, which can be
reached either by carrying on along the road past the castle or by taking the narrow
road at the southern end of Edzell village, are the Caterthuns , twin Iron Age hillforts
that were probably occupied at different times. The surviving ramparts on the White
Caterthun (978ft) - easily reached from the small car park below - are the most
impressive, and this is thought to be the later fort, occupied by the Picts in the first
few centuries AD.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE EDZELL AND AROUND
By bus Edzell is 5 miles north of Brechin on the B966, and linked to it by buses #21, #29 and #30.
ACCOMMODATION
Alexandra Lodge Inveriscandye Rd T 01356 648266,
W alexandralodge.co.uk. Just a short walk east of the
High Street, this is a friendly B&B loc ated in a little
Edwardian lodge built in 1907. April-Oct. £75
Panmure Arms 52 High St T 01356 648950,
W panmurearmshotel.co.uk. The best of Edzell's hotels,
offering sizeable, well-decorated rooms and fairly predict-
able bar meals. You'll find it close it o th e mini roundabout
at the north end of the High Street. £95
Deeside
More commonly known as Royal Deeside , the land stretching west from Aberdeen
along the River Dee revels in its connections with the Royal Family, who have
 
 
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